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Weaning

Find weaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Weaning forum. Use our child development calendar for more information.

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Original poster

Help - 10 month old will only feed himself!

32 replies

MumtoAnne · 08/11/2006 13:33

that of course limits what he eats!
He is taking his ready brek and weetabix out of his mouth when you feed it.

Supper also comes out. Tried to 'bribe' him and give his favourite fromage frais for lunch and he also spits and then uses his hand to hand it back to me!

today he had toast fingers for breakfast (most on went on the floor) and breadsticks for lunch.

He has his own spoon to hold etc. what should i do, he can't live on this

ive just cooked meatballs for supper but that needs to be fed to him...

OP posts:

hunkermunker · 08/11/2006 13:35

Have a look at for more ideas of things you can feed him

He can live on this! I have a 9mo who is very similar - he loves feeding himself, but isn't as keen on being spoonfed (though he is when I'm at work).

And your thread title made me laugh - I wondered who else you wanted him to be feeding

lulumama · 08/11/2006 13:38

DD did this...and was only happy when feeding herself....she eats everything with her hands...including spaghetti bolognese....I don't give her soup though!!!!!!!!!!!!

she spat out and threw the majority of her food on the floor for a long time....started ignoring it...taking her out of the high chair when the food was gone and letting her play and then try again next meal time..trying to shovel it in was a big mistake for us and encouraged more spitting.....

no child self starved ...he will eat enough!

as long as having enough milk..would;t worry too much

starting giving her dry cereal for brekky...shreddies or something like that...toast & cheese sticks...fruit pieces....

little sandwiches for lunch...veg sticks , [pasta shapes, strips of chicken, eggy bread etc......

she is 15 months and i have started giving her a spoon and fork and she is starting to feed herself with those..and eating more than enough!

lulumama · 08/11/2006 13:38

definitely second that link!!

harpsichordcarrier · 08/11/2006 13:39

he can feed himself meatballs - where's your sense of adventure
my one year old dd1 entirely feeds herself and always has. you can give him:
stick of cheese
lumps of well cooked chicken, fish, ham
cornflakes etc
soft fruit banana etc
cooked veg sticks
cucumber sticks
cherry tomatoes
bread dipped in soup he can suck off
porridge...
have fun .... and get down with the mess

beckybrastraps · 08/11/2006 13:39

Ds did this. I would load up his tray with finger food and he'd go for it. MIL nearly had a heart attack as it meant no meat, but he ate beans and cheese and bits of fish, so I figured he's be OK. And he was .

hunkermunker · 08/11/2006 13:50

It doesn't mean no meat - you can give strips or big chunks of meat for them to gnaw. Both DSs have loved doing that!

lulumama · 08/11/2006 13:53

Babylulu will be eating honey & lemon marinated chicken, pak choi , sugar snaps & noddles with her fingers for dinner.....meatballs! not a problem!! strip LO off first as the tomato is hard to get out of clothes!!!!!

beckybrastraps · 08/11/2006 13:53

Tried it. But ds kept gagging on it so I took it away. He had no teeth until 12mo - don't know if it made a difference, but it had to be food he could squash with his tongue.

beckybrastraps · 08/11/2006 13:54

Dd is 2.5 and still eats pasta naked from the waist up!

BopScotch · 08/11/2006 13:54

I've always let DS hold his spoon loaded with food to put in his mouth, and he's recently started grabbing handfuls of his meals from his bowl - stuff like porridge, mashed veggies, lentils etc. I also give him sticks of fruit,veg, bits of meat and sandwiches. I just don't worry about any mess

NotQuiteCockney · 08/11/2006 13:55

Babies can self-feed anything. A v brave friend used to let her children self-feed yogurt.

Seriously, though, a child who insists on feeding themselves is a good thing. DS2 was always like this, and now, at 2, he's very good with a spoon.

fruitful · 08/11/2006 14:07

Pasta twirl shapes are good - the sauce gets stuck in the twirls. Just give him some of everything you eat. You'll soon learn what works and what doesn't. Generally it is quite nice to be able to hand over the food and let them get on with it.

Ds is like this, except he is now 20 months and still not feeding himself with a spoon (he loads the spoon up, laughs, flicks the food off, loads the spoon again). And still spits out half of every mouthful. Argh. Sometimes I look at what is in his bib and on the floor after a meal and wonder if he swallowed anything, but he keeps outgrowing his clothes so I guess he is ok.

He does pretty much eat everything that we do. Although he won't eat rice so if we are eating rice I microwave a potato for him. He'd live on jacket potatoes and cheese if I let him.

fruitful · 08/11/2006 14:08

NQC - what about a child who insists on feeding themselves - but only with their fingers? Off to start my own thread I think.

DizzyBint · 08/11/2006 14:10

i've just started my 6 month old on blw. she's never been fed anything from a spoon. her favourites are courgettes cooked in olive oil, peaches (skin left on, cut into segments) and broccoli (nice big fluffy florets she can shove her face right into!).

Flamesparrow · 08/11/2006 14:11

DS is doing this... the spag bol was fun last night - he had little spaghetti bracelets

We just go with it - strip him off, and clear up the mess later.

Tis easier than the battles.

Can't even feed him different clean food anymore... for an 8 month old he can throw incredible tantrums over us eating something that he isn't .

I'm taking it to be a good thing... (I'm insanely optimistic )

FredArthur · 08/11/2006 16:04

Lots of my relatives have twins - they always fed themselves because from pretty young it is really hard to feed both at once. The oldest are now six and very healthy eaters with excellent table manners.

Use plastic tablecloths and thank your lucky stars you won't be tied to spoonfeeding for years and years! My younger still sits there trying to get me to feed him at three and it is a real bind

Flamesparrow · 08/11/2006 18:01

We have that with my eldest FA - she keeps saying "I can't eat myself" (feed)... keep pointing out that DS can do it so she can

SweetandTenderTatties · 08/11/2006 18:05

Also have a look at a book called Finger Foods for Babies and Toddlers by Jennie Maizels.

Original poster

MumtoAnne · 08/11/2006 21:04

wow, what a response! these tips are great.

meatballs are not that good for self feeding...they are nice and squishy. squeeze them in your hands, rub them about....!!

What seem to work was giving him a breadstick to hold, and then shoving meatball and rice mixture in whilst he was busy. it worked some of the time.

you have to be really relaxed to let them self-feed. i hate see it go all over the floor, because then what do you do, give a second and third portion?

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CantSleepWontSleep · 08/11/2006 21:25

My DD (9 months and no teeth) eats meatballs by herself. Did you make them yourself? Just make them stiffer next time if so.

To answer your last question, you keep the floor clean, or put a clean mat on it, and when the bowl is empty you pick it all up off the floor and give it back. Repeat as necessary.

Welcome to baby led weaning .

Original poster

MumtoAnne · 08/11/2006 22:20

there's also lots of food on his lap, between down the sides of his legs etc im not sure how we could reclaim all that.

after he eats i tip the highchair forward, let it all fall out and then sweep the whole area. obviously when he is already out of the highchair!

OP posts:

Flamesparrow · 09/11/2006 08:38

I just give DS big portions to allow for the fall out, and reclaim lap stuff (my floors ain't good

DizzyBint · 09/11/2006 10:36

have you got him some plastic bibs with a 'pouch' at the front? tommee tippee do some nice ones. then you don't get so much food in the lap. you can easily scoop what's in there back out for them to have another go, and he'll figure out he can do this himself soon enough.

and as the others said, you just serve up maybe double portions to allow for bits thrown overboard. you really have to see it as being about him playing and learning about textures of food himself. it's not particularly about feeding hunger, that should still come from milk.

for squishier things you can try putting them on harder things or in things. so for example you can pour soup onto toast, he'll pick up the toast with the soup absorbed into it. you can get mini pitta breads to stuff with things like meatballs, make a sort of sandwich. also rice cakes are good for holding things like humous, guacamole etc.

you will be surprised what he can manage, working out how to do it will be half the fun for him. and you will just have to get over the mess problem!

AitchTwoOh · 09/11/2006 21:42

i second the advice to try the tommee tippee bibs, my dd now saves things in the pouch that she fancies returning to later. as for the mess, we have a piece of washable wallpaper that we put down and just chuck it and cut a bit more off when it gets manky. i'm happy to pick food up from it as i know it's clean.

i'm not sure about this as dd is only 10 months old, but mightn't it be true that if babies have to learn to self-feed at some point, we might as well get the mess over with before their throwing arms get muscles on them? what normally happens with children feeding themselves, surely mess must be normal whenever it starts?

Original poster

MumtoAnne · 09/11/2006 22:42

well, after so many positive messages from mumsnet, i gave my ds scrambled egg to feed himself, and he did it! . Even dh was enjoying it.

re the tommy bibs, great idea, will buy some over teh weekend.

AitchTwoOh - some kids are just not messy, my dd is an extreme neat fanatic, asks for a bib whenever she has yoghurt etc, would rather not eat chocolate when its starts melting in her hand, but she is rarity, and actually is not a very good eater.

The mess doesnt bother me, I think my only worry with blw is that he wont 'get enough'. If i spoon feed him i know what he has had. The obvious thing would be to trust his appetitite. It is only hard for me as i do not trust my appetite one bit. I am hungry all day long, so eat by the clock as my body 'says' starving all day long.

Also, i dont believe in a kid not being able to starve themselves, as my dd did not gain any weight between 4 and 8 months, was not interested to eat one bit, and had to be seen at outpatients at the hospital. She was prescribed high energy formulae to pack in th ethe nutrients into the amount she would have.

Though its all academic, as we will have to do blw, ds wont have it any other way! (and i am quite enjoying it...)

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