wants to self-feed, not quite able

[x95stocchier]

anyone have suggestions on how I can get my lo to develop self feeding skills F-A-S-T ?

He pretty much refuses anything from a spoon anymore, and wants to self feed, so I have given him some gerber fruit puffs, peas, small pieces of carrot etc, but he really just mushes everything around on his high chair and cries in frustration.  He won't eat what I try to feed him, he can't quite do it himself, and definatly won't let me pick up a piece off his tray and feed him.  What's a mommy to do?  Anyone have suggedtions to improve this skill quickly?  Or ideas of foods easier to self feed?  The pincher grasp is really just starting to come...most days it's more rake action, then food is in the middle of his palm and he can't get it to his mouth. 

Thanks for any suggestions!

[lisamichel]

Wow,  I went through the exact same thing with my daughter,   She was about 6 months old though and she wanted to feed herself everything and she just couldn't quite do it.   Same with her bottles also,  she wanted to hold them and if you even had your finger on it she would push it away,   She is about 7.5 months now and she has been able to self feed now for almost a month now.    It was really frustrating and she wouldnt take her food from the spoon either,   So what I ended up doing is giving her as much as possible as finger foods which rarely made it in her mouth but she tried very hard and if she made it to her mouth I would help the food kinda go in.   I don't know if there is any fast way of helping them do it.  She just kinda finally got it on her own.   I used the gerber puffs also and that seemed to help a lot because she was able to pick them up easier.   With Leia is was kinda a stage she went through because now she will self feed and let me feed her also,   She does get kinda frustrated with the spoon now and wants to hold that herself but she has no idea that the food on the end of it goes in her mouth.   All I can offer is bear with it and be persistant and he will get the hang of it.   You might go through a lot of food that doesnt get eaten but he will get the practice.   I think it took us about 2 weeks or so of just pure persistance and she finally got it.   Im sorry I cant offer a quick fix,  but I hope this helps.    Lisa

[x95stocchier]

thanks for your reply.  Anyway, good to know it won't last forever! 

The problem with the fruit puffs is that they stick to his hand, and then he can't fine them....I'm thinking maybe cherrios since they don't melt/stick as easy....might pick soe up next time I'm at the store.

What foods were easiest for your lo?

[lisamichel]

She did great with the puffs - which she had the same problem, it would stick to her hand,  when that happened I would just help her out and get it in her mouth.   What seemed to work ok was green beans from the can -not to slippery and dont completly fall apart when you pick them up,   the puffs,  mandarin oranges from the can were great also.    I even gave her lumps of my baked potato and she loved that,   I havent tried the scrambled eggs yet,   we dont have any allergies so I might try them this weekend.   She has eaten the cherrios too -   I even put yogurt on the cherrios and she likes that too.   The one thing she will let me spoon feed her is the yo-baby yogurt!  She loves that stuff especially the pear flavor.  I figure it is just as good as 5oz of her milk cause it has 120 calories and the extra nutrients and she loves it.   Now at almost 8 months (August 15 she will be 8 months old) she is pretty much self feeding herself everything.   Oh and mac and cheese is great in the beginning also.         Lisa

[Marisa's Mom]

My LO is 16 mos now, and we still go through phases where she doesn't want me to spoon feed her.    So when that happens, I try to give her less messy finger foods.

Does your LO like holding the spoon while he tries to eat with his hands?  If so, try guiding his spoon hand to scoop up some food and guide the spoon to his mouth.

Is he just objecting to YOU holding the spoon while feeding him? Maybe he really wants to try on his own. Of course, he'll need some practice. You can try loading up the spoon, then offering it to him so that he can grab onto the handle (while you help suport it too), then guide the spoon to his mouth. He'll love the feeling of being able to do it himself. 

I think the motivation to eat will help him quickly to either learn how to use the spoon and/or learn how to pick up food with his fingers/palm.  That's how it worked with DD. 

Our early finger foods included the Gerber fruit/veggies puffs and Cheerios. We also broke up waffles & pancakes into tiny pieces. Tiny cubes of yams were also a staple in the house. Banana and avocado were good foods for spoon training cuz they kinda "stuck" to the spoon better than other things. Is he doing cheese yet?  Tiny cubes of soft cheese work well, and not too messy when it falls.