9 month old refusing to eat anything from a spoon...aaargh

[Haylstones]

Ds is just 9 months and was eating a mix of finger food and mush on a spoon. However, for the past week he is just refusing anything on a spoon. Sometimes he'll have a bit if it's fruit or yogurt and I can get him to taste it with his mouth firmly closed.
Is this just a phase? I know how important finger food is but it's pretty difficult to feed porridge, fruit purees etc with my fingers! Last night I made tomto pasta and he wouldn't eat it from the spoon so I had to hand him bits veeeerrry slowly.
He's also refusing any jars of food- thankfully we don't use them often!
He was poorly last week and went off his food but is better now so I wonder if it's connected.
Any suggestions or advice much appreciated

Hi Haylstones.

My DS started fussing about the spoon at around the same age, so I just let him do it himself.

It made an horrendous mess, but some of it went in, and he filled up on finger food.

HTH.

You could try putting the food onto the spoon, then handing the spoon to him.

Is he teething? Ds is really rubbish at eating when teething.
I stopped spoon feeding completely at 9 months. He went off "wet" food so now only eats with his hand.
As long as your ds is eating something, I wouldn't worry, see what happens in the next few days. Is he still having milk too?
Maybe up the finger food to compensate

dont bother with the spoon then

just put it in front of him, spoon there if he wants it and let him get on with it

I'd just go with the finger food if I were you. Have a look here.

I'd just go with the finger food if I were you. Have a look here.

fantastic - he is making early steps towards baby led weaning. soon you can impress your friends with his independent eating skills
stick porridge in the fridge first and it sticks together
don't bother pureeing fruit - give him cut up pieces instead
voila - problem solved
check out www.babyledweaning.com for more info

Thanks. I've checked aitch's blog out but found there were still times when it was convenient (for me [blush) to spoon feed him quickly. He is huuuuge so is obviously getting enough- I am still bfing so atm it's impossible to tell how much he gets in total.

I'll just have to get creative with cooking and plan a bit better!

Don't blush Haylstones. If we didn't do things because they were quicker, we'd never get out of the house!

Don't bother with the spoon then! Finger foods are fine. He can still have porridge if you make it really thick and stiff - my ds used to just eat it with his hands. (Not as messy as you might think). Eventually, left to himself, he decided to learn how to use his spoon.Uses a fork now too (at 2.8).

It does make mealtimes a bit slower, but then again you can get on with other things while he feeds himself.