when should my dd be able to feed herself with spoon?

[lyssie28]

Hi my dd is almost 14 month old and mainly feeds herself with her fingers and other times we are feeding her still.  When should we stop doing it for her and just let her do it? She will not sit long in a high chair so sits on the floor or sofa which is why i have been hesitant to just give her the spoon. 

[lolsyb1982]

Hi my DD is almost 14 months. Most foods even things like lasagna she will eat with her fingers but now if it's something that requires a spoon I will give her one and I have one. She will hold the yoghurt pot and dip the spoon in and eat and then when she loses interest I will spoon feed the rest to her.

It's very messy though now she's attempting it herself!

[lyssie28]

Yeah i tried her with her porridge this morning and she as good as threw it all over floor!  but i guess its practice for her?

[LovelyLilyandJack]

Jack is 14 months and will dip the spoon in food or feed himself with a loaded spoon but isn't dipping, scooping and then feeding himself yet.  I figure he'll get there when he wants to.  He already has times when he only wants to feed himself so he'll probably just do that more and more over time.  We do BLW (though he got lazy at some point and asked to be spoon fed certain things, rather than feeding himself from a loaded spoon), so if he is using a spoon I take his lead.  Sometimes he opens his mouth for the food, sometimes he holds out his hand for the spoon.

[Scottishmummy]

My 14mo was the same with eating with his hands. I started giving him the bowl of food with a loaded spoon or fork in it a few weeks ago. He quite quickly got the hang of picking spoon up & putting it back in bowl. I taught him to scoop the food through hand over hand prompting- getting him to hold spoon & I held his hand to help him scoop. Now he holds bowl in one hand & scoops up his food with the other! He still uses his hands if he's very hungry or towards the end of the meal if he's getting tired or fed up with spoon

[lyssie28]

Thanks everyone  I've started giving her the spoon more and guiding her hand.  I havent given her the bowl yet though as she likes to put it on her head! 

[becj86]

There's forearm development that means it can be 18months + that their arm can bend properly to let them feed themselves with a spoon. Dipping they can do but the twisting to put a loaded spoon into their mouth probably won't be something they can do yet.

[Mama2Athena]

My DD was given the spoon to feed herself at daycare, shortly after turning one.  At home I continued to spoon feed her, although I did give her practice with really thick food.  By about 18 months, she was very good with the spoon.  My DS, on the other hand, went to a home daycare where his provider didn't want to deal with the mess, so spoon fed him until about 2.  He didn't master the spoon until almost 3 because we didn't give him the chance to "get messy", LOL.

[BabyKain12]

We've given my 19 mo a spoon since he started eating on his own. At first he wouldn't touch it, then moved on to playing with it in his food, then just holding it and eating with the other hand. He's now 19 mo and has been using it for the most part for about 2 months now. But still prefers his hands with most foods. No worries, yours will use it when she's ready, just keep giving it to her