self feeding and lunch question

[kels]

my 15 month old eats finger food well and has cereal in morning, snacks at lunch as doesnt seem to want much and very good dinner. my concerns are that he doesnt seem to want to feed himself in highchir-throws bowl wont use spoon! i give him a spoon to hold but he plays with it. he will only feed him self if i leave food on the trey itself whilst he can play moving around-not on highchair, its his trey thats attached to a seat called a bumboo.
anyway he seems tired at so called' lunch time' so i give him a bit before and a bit when he wakes so not to overfeed him before dinner at 5pm.
how can i encourage him to seat and eat in chair without him not eating, and also feeding with a spoon or even from bowl with fingers would be improvment,mess doesnt bother me!

[firsttimemummy]

He is still young - DS the same age and is just starting to want to spoon-feed himself.  He can do it okay (well, with lots of mess but some goes in) - but after a few spoonfuls he reverts back to his fingers (even with Ready Brek!) ... other days he wont even take a spoon ... other days he will let me feed him, other days he wont let me!  I think it depends on their mood, tiredness, etc - as long as your LO is eating I wouldn't be too worried yet.  Good to hear you don't mind mess as there is certainly a lot of it when DS eats!

[kels]

yeah i think he will get the spoon thing in time.

[~ Vik ~]

Ds is 18mo and has just started doing well with the spoon in the past few weeks! I have always given him one (since about 9mo old). He went from throwing it or waving it around, to holding it in one hand while he ate with his other , to trying to use it but getting frustrated, to finally getting better and using it more consistently. Even now though, if he's tired or cranky, he'd prefer me to feed him.  I would keep offering the spoon, loads of praise when he uses it, and model it youself too! It'll come

hth!

[kels]

thanyou, i will.x