BLW question - is it wrong to hold the food for them? DS nearly 7mo and wont pick up food

[Cazwa]

I did BLW with DD and although slow to take off is a great eater now. However she was always really good with her hands and could pick things up straight away.
DS is a different kettle of fish. I started him at 6mo and he has never picked up a piece of food. I waited a couple of weeks and have started in earnest again this week as he turns 7mos in a few days. He cries when he sees us all eating and mouths for food like a baby bird, so I know he wants to eat. But if I put it in front of him (chip shaped, suitable food etc etc) he wont pick it up. He flails at it a bit then cries. So, Ive been picking it up and holding it up for him to chomp on. Now Im thinking is this really in the spirit of BLW?? Obvs Im not forcing him to eat it, he is certainly leading this, he just seems to have forgotten about his hands doing the work.

Its a faff cos Im having to one-handed eat myself at the same time and I wonder if Im creating a rod for my back by doing this, but at the same time its very hard to just leave him to it when he seems incapable yet hungry.

Any thoughts?

i didn't need to do that at 7 months, but i think i did it at the very beginning with dd (as much because i found it difficult to let all that control go in the first instance and was a bit petrified of choking).

i don't really subscribe to the hard-core 'they MUST pick it up' thing but if it were me i suppose i might concentrate my efforts on trying to get their little hands round the food rather than just holding it, iykwim? even if you're holding but they're grabbing then i'd have thought that would be a good step in the general direction. what do you think? does he put his hands out at all?

Thanks Aitch.
He pushes it around the tray but cant seem to pick it up, if he does then he cant bring it to his mouth, he waves his wrists around admiring it then drops it. I try to put things in his hand but he just does the above. Had limited success with some rice cakes just now, I put them in his hand and guided his hand by the elbow to his mouth, but he only managed a few seconds.

I think he'll get there in the end, I sit him beside his big sis whos only 21 months so still eats with her hands a fair bit, and he watches her intently. I just wondered if its a sign they arent ready, but with him nearly 7mo and clearly interested I feel he is.