how do encourage toddler to self-feed with spoon?

[eeky]

She is 13/12 and very happy finger feeding most things. Good appetite and will eat a great variety of foods. I still spoon-feed her gloopy stuff, such as soup, breakfast cereal or yogurt. Although she accepts this, she is keen (and I am!) to try spoon herself. I have half-heartedly tried with 2 spoons up till now, which usually ends in her chuckling as she discovers how far she can flick yogurt...

Not worried about mess, but wondered if you had any equipment tips - shorter spoons for her to hold more easily, sticky dishes with rims or corners etc. Have been recommended "Salmon Luke" set which looks good. Wish manufacturers would avoid making stuff only in bright pink or bright blue... - guess it's a good way of selling twice as much?

Also tips for cups she can drink her milf from, pref with handles, that are non-spill but not bad for her teeth? She uses Tommee Tippee little cup with pop-up spout, which is free-flow and ok for water, but keen on showering dog with it rather than drinking much..again, mess ok, would just prefer milk to go into her tum rather than elsewhere

Many thanks

oops, that should be "milk" rather than "milf"

My 17 MO DS has just needed lots of practice, lots of "use your spoon" "use your spoon" etc (he's doing it right next to me with his malted wheats, I am saying it amongst typing!) At some point they must see the point in using one, I hope! You just have to stand well back while they try to master it. I have used the plastic spoon from the ikea set of plastic cutlery and also his soft first weaning spoon from tommee tippee.

Salmon Luke bowl and spoons are brilliant. (no I don't work for them!).
Just be careful not to scrape the cutlery into the bin along with the leftovers... sigh...

anyone used a good dish for self-feeding other than salmon luke? Also struggling with getting her off bottles for milk. She uses a little tommee tippee free flow cup (with the pop-up spout) for her water with lunch and will drink from it, but only sips. Also likes to shake little streams everywhere, which is ok with water but a bit more smelly with milk. She won't drink much milk from this cup, whereas with a bottle will chug down the wholee lot. tried a couple of sippy cups with handles and rigid spout which again she's not keen on. Is it a case of of just not giving her bottle and she'll drink it eventually?

Have you tried her with a Doidy cup? It's a sort of angled cup which children seem to find much easier.

Re dishes, I give my DS a lot of stuff he can eat with his hands and we used to do yoghurts together. He does them on his own now but still sticks his fist in the pot and he's 26m!

He is much better with a fork than a spoon to be honest and actually if you think about it, forks are easier to use. I wouldn't stress too much if I were you, she'll get there in her own time

I don't understand her age.
Make sure you are not giving her a long weaning spoon to self feed. Any cheap tommee tippee ones will be OK.
Shreddies are easy to get on a spoon and eat. Easier than weetabix.
Stick with tommee tippees, but if she's spilling it ask her not to as you'll have to take it off her if she does it again. If she does it again take it off her - I'd do this no matter what age, she'll soon understand not to do it.

eeky - Your DD Is only 13.5 months, I wouldn't worry too much about weaning her off the bottle. As long as you don't leave her to suck on the bottle while she sleeps or something, then I don't see the issue with her still having a bottle. DS is 15 months and has a bottle 3X a day, he drinks his water from a sippy cup or a doidy (I second the doidy but its use needs to be closely supervised as DS loves pouring the water onto himself after he has had a drink!). Have you tried something with a straw as well? DS loves drinking from a sippy-type cup but with a straw attachment. I would just vary between the different things to drink from just so she learns to drink in different ways.

If I were you, I would use the double spoon system - give her a spoon to play with and you feed her with the other. I started giving DS a spoon a few months ago and in the last few weeks, he's finally worked out (mostly) how to get the spoon full of food into his mouth without losing it half of the way. Yoghurt is a good one to start self-feeding with, DS does best with those! Otherwise, with 'non-sticky' food, it gets very frustrating for them very quickly. My DS also sticks his fist in the pot, it's very funny to watch! DS gets a fork for spaghetti etc and he's getting pretty good with those too. Good luck!

eeky - A really good way to get your DD using a spoon is to use the 'baton passing' method. It's similar to angel1976s' method i.e using two spoons but you load one spoon with food and place it on the table or resting in the bowl. The idea is that DD picks the full one up, drops the empty one, which you then load again for her. It worked for us like a charm in the early days, and I know others who have had success too. If your lucky, she may even let you feed her the odd spoonful on the sly too. Happy feeding!