When do babies start self feeding

7 Tips for Teaching Your Baby to Self-Feed

Now that your baby has been introduced to solids and is experiencing different foods and flavors, you may be ready to help your little one begin to self-feed. But when is the right time to encourage this new skill? What are the signs of readiness that we should look for? And what are the best foods to begin with when teaching baby to self-feed? We are answering all of your questions and sharing our tips on making this milestone easier for you and your child.

When will my baby be able to self-feed?

Usually, by about nine to 12 months of age, you may notice your baby showing an interest in self-feeding. They have become more experienced with eating solids at this age and are feeling the different textures of foods between their fingers. Hopefully, they are also making attempts at bringing some of that food to their mouth to lick and taste. This usually looks like them grasping for their food with their whole hand in a raking-like motion and then trying to shove what they have in their hand all into their mouth. You may even notice your baby trying to grab the food with their thumb and forefinger, which is an important fine motor skill called the pincer grasp. These are all good signs and are great indications that your baby is ready to begin self-feeding.

What are the signs that my baby is ready to self-feed?

There are a few readiness signs to look for that will indicate it’s the right time to begin teaching your baby to self-feed:

Grabbing the spoon while you are holding it during mealtime.
Reaching for their food on their plate, bowl, or tray.
Reaching for your food or plate.
Practicing the pincer grasp — bringing food and other items to their mouth during mealtime or playtime.
Pushing your hand away when you try to feed them.

It’s important to pay attention to these readiness signs and not just rely on your child’s age. If a baby is 9 or 10 months old but does not show these readiness signs, parents should wait until they do. But once your baby does show these self-feeding readiness signs, it’s important to provide many opportunities for them to practice this skill. Allow them to try and try again. That’s how they will learn and master this skill!

What are the best foods to start with self-feeding?

The best foods to give your baby to practice self-feeding are easy for them to grab, hold, pick up, and bring to their mouth. Here are some recommendations to try:

Stonyfield Organic YoBaby Yogurt Pouches
Soft cooked carrots, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, or peas
Small pieces of soft, ripe bananas, avocados, kiwi, or peaches
Soft-cooked apples or pears
Soft-cooked whole grain pasta
Diced pieces of cooked chicken, turkey, or fish
Cubes or strings of cheese

YoBaby® yogurt pouches are a great option for multiple reasons. First, they are easy for your little one to pick up and bring to their mouth. Second, they nourish little tummies with real fruit, live and active cultures, vitamin D, calcium, protein, and prebiotics! Third, the consistency is creamy and delicious — easy for baby to eat and swallow. And four, it combines whole milk yogurt and oats for a quick meal for baby!

All foods should be soft, easy to mash, and big enough for your baby to pick up but small enough to prevent them from choking.

What are the foods to avoid when my baby is beginning to self-feed?

Foods that should be avoided when beginning to teach your baby to self-feed are foods that pose a potential risk of choking.

Nuts
Popcorn
Raw carrots
Whole grapes
Raisins
Hot dogs
Portions of food that are too large

Your baby doesn’t have all of his teeth, so all foods should be soft. Once your baby’s 2-year molars come in, your child will be able to chew harder food properly. If you want to test to see which foods are safe and soft enough for your baby to eat, take a piece of their food and try to mash it between your fingers. If you cannot easily mash it, it’s probably too hard for your baby to chew.

How do I teach my baby to self-feed?

Now that you know your baby is ready to start self-feeding and you know which foods are best to start with, how do you begin? Here are some helpful tips.

1. Give your baby lots of opportunities to practice.

The more opportunities you give them to practice, the quicker they will learn and master self-feeding. Give them opportunities to try self-feeding with their hands and with utensils.

2. Begin with encouraging hand feeding.

Before introducing feeding utensils to your baby, encourage her first to use her hands to move the food toward her mouth. A good way to start is to place a yogurt pouch or a few pieces of food on your baby’s highchair tray. Encourage her to reach for it, feel it, and play with it with her pincer grasp. It may look as if she isn’t doing much and not eating, but that’s actually how she starts to learn.

3. Also, introduce and encourage baby to use utensils.

It’s never too early to introduce utensils to your baby! It’s good for them to get used to utensils during mealtime. In the beginning, I recommend having two spoons–one for you to help feed baby a few bites and one for them to hold and practice using. He may even try to imitate your motions by dipping his spoon into the food and maybe attempting to bring it to his mouth.

Another thing you can try is pre-loading his spoon with food and handing it to him. This can help him practice balancing the food on the spoon as he brings it to his mouth. With this, I recommend using thicker foods like yogurt and oatmeal. They are good practice foods since they stick more easily to the spoon. Overall, be sure to allow plenty of practice opportunities with both utensils.

4. Stay close to your baby during meals.

As your baby practices self-feeding, it’s important that you stay close and monitor her. We don’t want any food getting stuck in her nose or anywhere else, and you want to ensure that she is tolerating all of the new textures and flavors. By staying close, you will also monitor how much or little she is putting in her mouth and eating. These are all reasons why remaining by her side is necessary. She’s learning something new, and she needs your help and guidance!

5. Be prepared and expect a big mess.

When babies are allowed to touch and explore new foods and feeding themselves, things get messy. And that’s okay! Don’t stress about it, and expect the mess. Have your baby wear a baby apron, put a towel on the floor if you’re worried about food falling, or undress your baby down to her diaper! Also, have baby wipes and power towels close by. You may even have to give your baby a bath after mealtime. Again, this is normal. A messy meal is still a success because that means your baby was trying to self-feed. Soon enough, she’ll get better at handling the different foods and make less of a mess. This is all a part of the process.

6. Eat together as a family.

One of the best ways to teach your baby to self-feed is to have them watch the family eat. Babies are learning new things all the time, and they learn from modeled behaviors. By watching how their parents and siblings use their utensils and eat their food, babies want to mimic the same behaviors. They gain confidence watching you and believe that they can do it too! If you are feeding your baby at a different time than the rest of the family, they are missing out trying to mimic your movements with utensils and foods and observing other appropriate mealtime behaviors.

7. Be patient.

It takes time to learn how to self-feed, so be patient with your little one. Don’t try to rush the process or mealtimes. Your baby should set the pace because they understand their hunger and fullness cues. This is why it’s good to allow plenty of time for their meals. With lots of practice and patience, your baby will be self-feeding in no time!

What if my baby starts gagging or choking?

When teaching your baby to self-feed, expect some gagging to occur. Gagging is a natural occurrence and is the body’s natural defense against choking. This happens when babies have too much food in their mouth and are presented with new textures and flavors. As long as they aren’t gagging too much during mealtime or causing them distress, gagging is common. However, if they are frequently gagging when trying to self-feed, this can cause them to have negative associations with eating or eating aversions. If this happens, avoid giving those foods or preparing those negative associations at the next mealtime.

Choking, however, is different and much more serious than gagging. Choking is when a piece of food gets lodged in the airway. Your baby may first begin coughing, then become silent. He will show difficulty breathing and will not be able to cry or make sounds due to the food obstructing his airway. This is a serious and life-threatening matter. This is why the types of food, foods’ sizes, and the consistency of foods are important when teaching your baby to self-feed.

Final Thoughts

This is an exciting time in your baby’s development. Remember, self-feeding is a learning process and takes time. If you see that your baby isn’t able to self-feed enough foods to fill them up during mealtime, which is common in the beginning, alternate feeding them purees and finger foods to fill them. I also suggest offering them a YoBaby yogurt pouch to fill them and allow them to continue practicing self-feeding! In the meantime, take lots of pictures of this fun and messy milestone and enjoy the process!

Note that the views and opinions expressed in this post are solely that of Baby Chick and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of Stonyfield. The content provided and in any linked materials are not intended and should not be construed as medical advice. If you have any questions about health or nutrition, we always think it’s best to consult with your doctor or healthcare practitioner.

4 Mistakes that Slow Baby Self Feeding

Feeding your baby real food is an important step for all parents. But baby self feeding is a goal for all parents, especially during the first year of life.

The stakes are high for developing healthy food preferences and learning to eat, so don’t let these four common mistakes slow your baby down.

Baby feeding and the journey that goes with it is not always smooth-sailing, or easy.

In my many years of working with new mothers as a pediatric nutritionist, I know that the decisions made in this first year are always made with good intentions.

However, some decisions are made out of fear, hype, or lack of knowledge.

As a result, feeding mistakes that slow your baby’s abilities around self feeding can be made.

Don’t let them get in the way of really raising a healthy eater down the road.

Why is Starting Solids a Challenge?

In a nutshell, the quick pace of food transitions your baby will make in the first year is the crux of most baby feeding mistakes.

In a period of 6 months, your baby will move from an all liquid diet to eating your family’s mealtime food.

That means the food transitions are fast.

Once you get used to one thing, it’s time to move on to the next.

For instance, you and your baby master pureed foods.

But, now your baby wants finger foods and seems unsatisfied with baby cereal.

Yes, the pace in the first year of life with food is quick.

Another challenge is the wide range of nutrients babies need in the first year.

Key nutrients for brain development, bone growth, and sufficient calories and protein for weight gain and kid’s growth should be top of mind.

Being mindful of these and fitting them all in can feel overwhelming.

If that isn’t enough to worry about, the repercussions of moving too slowly with food transitions can have its own set of ramifications.

For example, your baby may lose interest in infant rice cereal if they see it every day and at most meals.

Or, your baby may tire of exploring solid foods if she isn’t progressively challenged with new textures and flavors.

She may even prefer purees, baby food pouches, or get stuck on a liquid diet (hello, sippy cups of milk), if she isn’t challenged with more food flavors and textures.

If you’re like most parents I know, you want to get the baby food stages right.

From setting a reasonable baby feeding schedule to knowing when to start solids and make important baby food transitions, not only do you need to know what to do, you need to know what not to do, as well.

Signs You’re Hindering Self Feeding

If feeding your baby gives you a nagging feeling that things are getting off track or aren’t going as well as planned, you may be making some feeding mistakes.

Whether you need more information, or got the wrong advice, you may unknowingly be caught up in some very common mistakes.

If your baby isn’t gaining weight as predicted, is struggling with the spoon or baby led weaning, or if transitioning to a balanced meal plan isn’t going as well as you had hoped, you might be hindering your baby from moving forward with eating.

Your feeding style and approach may be counterproductive, especially if you’re using negative feeding practices.

Unfortunately, these can interfere with your baby’s eating, development, and food learning.

4 Self Feeding Mistakes You’ll Want to Avoid

In my line of work, I see several mistakes parents make when feeding their kids.

It’s not that I look for snafus, it’s just that when parents are really struggling, they show up on my doorstep.

As a way to help you side-step some of these challenges, I’ve outlined the top four feeding mistakes I see parents make with their baby.

Some are related to the process of feeding, while others involve food selection.

Mistake # 1: Trying to Keep Baby Clean while Eating

In the quest to stay clean and tidy (and lessen the laundry load), you may be swiping your baby’s mouth with a washcloth after every bite, staying with spoon feeding (because it’s cleaner), or avoiding messy foods to cut down on the time and effort it takes to clean up after a meal.

Why is this a mistake?

It robs your baby of important learning experiences, such as exposure to different textures, smelling food completely and learning how to manipulate food using his hands and mouth.

Serious investigation happens during meal time, and there’s no better way to learn about food than to get down and dirty with it.

Those pictures you see of babies covered head to toe in yogurt, spaghetti sauce and cake?

Yeah, that’s what I mean.

Case in Point:

Long ago, I taught one of my clients to let her baby self feed with a spoon. I asked her to refrain from using the washcloth until the end of the meal, and charged her with the task of offering her daughter more food variety.

After implementing these interventions, both mom and baby started having a grand time with meals!

How to Keep Baby Clean While Eating

Use the kitchen sink as a back-up bathtub.

Stock it with towels, soap and plastic measuring spoons and cups so your baby can go from high chair to kitchen tub (with supervision, of course) for a quick clean up.

Get the Food & Nutrients for Baby’s Brain!

Mistake #2: Spoon-feeding Your Baby for Too Long

This ties into #1 as a way to keep a cap on the mess.

But also, there may be a misconception that babies need to be spoon-fed for a year.

Not true.

Babies can begin the transition to chopped, table foods around 8 months of age.

And if you’re a follower of baby led weaning, you know that solids can be introduced at 6 months.

By one year, your baby should be eating table food. In other words, the food your family is eating.

You’ll just modify this into age-appropriate textures (shredded, chopped, etc), and encourage baby self feeding (with assistance as necessary).

Your baby should also be using an open-top cup with small amounts of liquid so that spills are minimal.

Of course, follow your baby’s developmental progress and cues for readiness to see when the time is right to transition to more textured finger foods.

If you’re testing solid foods with a baby led weaning approach, be sure to read about iron and baby led weaning in this post or grab my up-to-date, step-by-step book called The Smart Mom’s Guide to Starting Solids.

It includes advice for spoon-feeding, baby led weaning and guidance for using both to optimize nutrients and self-regulation of eating.

When to Stop Spoon Feeding Baby

Baby Ben was 14 months and still being spoon-fed.

He came to me because he wasn’t gaining weight and his length had fallen behind.

He was simply disinterested in the spoon—he wanted to feed himself, and he didn’t want mush anymore—he wanted the real food his family was eating.

Most babies will want to start self feeding between 6 and 8 months.

This usually coincides with the development of the pincer grasp.

While Ben’s mom was understandably afraid to give up spoon-feeding (because he wasn’t growing well and she wanted to be sure he ate enough), once she introduced table foods, gave him some independence, and let him eat to his own satisfaction, Ben started to thrive again.

Most babies will want to start self feeding between 6 and 8 months. This usually coincides with the development of the pincer grasp. #startingsolids #selffeeding Click To Tweet

Mistake #3: Offering Foods that are Too Healthy

I believe all babies should receive real, natural, unadulterated foods of all flavors, with an emphasis on food introduction and lots of food variety and exposure.

But I see a trend in feeding babies that emphasizes fruits, vegetables and whole grains.

This can become a problem because babies have limited stomach capacity and these foods are filling.

When your baby’s tummy is full, there’s a risk of missing other important foods and nutrients such as choline and DHA.

Whole grains, fruits and veggies also tend to be low in fat, which is an important nutrient for babies and their brain growth.

Certainly babies need these healthy foods, but they also need meat (or non-meat substitutes such as beans), fortified cereal, healthy fats and dairy (or fortified non-dairy) sources.

In fact, if I had the opportunity to re-write the food introduction guidelines, I’d advise the following:

Meat First (because it’s full of iron, zinc, B vitamins, choline and other nutrients important for brain development.)
Vegetables (because these are a learned taste and flavor and need more time and exposure for acceptance.)
A variety of iron-fortified whole grains, fruit, and dairy products (or non-dairy alternatives if necessary, introduced as yogurt and cheese or as a baked in ingredient. (Note: no liquid milk until one year of age.)

Of course, there’s eggs, fish, peanuts, and nut butters — the food allergens that need to be introduced before 12 months, too.

My stance on “which foods first” is based on nutrient priorities and your baby’s budding flavor palate.

[Read: How to Introduce Peanuts to Your Baby]

Case in Point:

Josh, at 13 months, was eating a high fiber diet, filled with whole grain breads, lots of vegetables and fruits, and very little added fat.

In fact, his mom stated,

“I never thought to add fat to his meals—I thought that would be unhealthy.”

Josh’s diet appeared very healthy on paper, but in reality, it wasn’t meeting his nutritional needs.

For example, babies need 40-50% of their total calories in the first year from fat.

Josh certainly wasn’t getting this.

Once Josh’s mom understood that babies need a good amount of fat daily and where and how to get it, she was able to plan more appropriate meals for him.

The added benefit?

With fat, foods (especially vegetables) were tastier and he ate better.

Mom opened up to more variety (French toast, pancakes, sandwiches, etc—all cut up in bite-sized pieces) and Josh enjoyed eating again.

Mistake #4: Allowing Bites or Gulps of Adult Foods

Just a little sip of my coffee? Sure.

A bite of my brownie? Why not!

What’s the harm in a little sip of soda, a taste of coffee, or a bite of a brownie?

Nothing immediate, but over the long haul, you might find your little infant growing up to be a soda swigging, sweet tooth kid if you’re not careful.

It’s true—what we offer babies now influences their taste preferences later on.

Regarding sweets for babies, I suggest holding out until age two.

The American Heart Association makes the same recommendation.

What about the one year birthday cake?

It’s ok because it’s not a “regular” offering.

Avoiding sugary foods early in life may help curb your baby’s sweet tooth.

She may kick the sweet preference into high gear later on, but you’ll have armed her with early exposure to healthier fare.

Remember I said those tummies are tiny?

They don’t give much leeway for sweets. I wouldn’t want you to sacrifice nutritious foods for them.

I also recommend holding off on caffeine, too.

Babies don’t need a stimulant (aren’t we mostly trying to calm them down?!), nor do toddlers or children for that matter.

There’s no place for caffeine in a child’s diet—so if you can manage to avoid it, bravo.

Last, artificial sweeteners and colors fall into this category too.

Try to limit them, especially for babies and young toddlers, even if “just one bite” seems harmless.

The dose relative to body weight is considerable.

I’ve searched and searched, and there’s no upside to offering artificial food colors to young children.

Move Forward with Self Feeding Wisdom

Of course, don’t beat yourself up if you’ve made any of the above baby self feeding mistakes.

Just take a step forward and make the adjustments you need to feed your baby well and with confidence.

That’s the fast path to encouraging self feeding and helping your baby move through his feeding and eating milestones.

Need More Help with Encouraging Self Feeding?

My book, The Smart Mom’s Guide to Starting Solids is a quick read that cuts through the fluff and gives you exactly what you need to know to feed your baby in the first year.

A baby feeding schedule, baby feeding chart, baby food stages, baby food chart, when to start solids and more!

Grab your copy today!

Don’t forget to check out our workshops, classes and guidebooks to help you raise nourished children, inside and out. And read, The Ultimate Guide to Baby’s Nutrition in the First Year.

BABY FEEDING MISTAKES | AVOID 4 Baby Blunders & Start Your BABY on a HEALTHY EATING PLAN (For Real!)

Watch this video on YouTube

This post was updated September 2020 from its original.

How and when to teach a child to eat independently with a spoon

Every child sooner or later learns to use a spoon, gets used to the rules of behavior at the table and begins to eat on his own. We will tell you how to help the baby with this, when to start teaching him, how to make this learning interesting and easy for the baby.

When to start learning to eat on your own?

The ability to eat and drink from a cup is a very useful, necessary, important skill for a baby. Everyone learns it differently. And here a lot depends on the desire and patience of the parents.

Self-feeding can start from 6-7 months. At this age, it is already possible to give instant cookies, fruit purees in soft packs, drinking cereals through a straw, banana pieces.
At 6-8 months you can start learning to drink from a cup. You can use a drinking cup as an intermediate link, or you can offer the baby to drink from a baby cup from the very beginning. Give the child a cup in his hands, help bring it to his mouth, tilt it. Children usually learn this skill fairly quickly. At first, pour only 3-4 sips of liquid into a cup so that the baby does not choke or choke.
Closer to 8–10 months, most babies develop an active interest in self-feeding. Invite the baby to feed mom or some toy. Try to do this with two spoons at once: you feed the crumbs, and he tries to eat himself.
If the baby willingly starts to do everything on his own, but quickly gets tired, feed him yourself. Mastering new skills is always difficult, the baby needs your help.

It is important to start training only when the baby is ready for it. Do not rush things. Pay attention to how the baby eats: whether he reaches for food himself, whether he tries to take the pieces in his hands, put them in his mouth. When the baby begins to show independence, you can offer him to use a spoon. This usually happens after 6-7 months, but sometimes later or earlier - all children are different. In any case, you should not force the baby to use cutlery before he himself becomes interested in them and what is on his plate.

How to choose the right spoon?

The spoon is the first piece of cutlery your baby gets to know. It is important that he likes her, that she is comfortable for him. It is worth buying it in advance and keeping it nearby during the introduction of complementary foods. Let the kid get acquainted with a new subject, study it. Then it will be easier for him to start using the spoon for its intended purpose, without being distracted by its “research”.

When choosing, the material from which the spoon is made is important, as well as its shape and size.

Materials

The most commonly used baby spoons are:

silicone;
rubber;
food grade plastic.

High quality silicone, heat resistant, hygienic, does not absorb grease or odors, easy to clean. It does not slip in the hand and is pleasant to the touch. Silicone spoons are soft enough so that the baby does not get hurt when using them on their own. When teeth are cut, it is very pleasant to “scratch” the gums on such a spoon. There are silicone spoons that change color depending on the temperature of the food - it is very convenient to make sure that the baby does not get burned.

Rubber is similar to silicone in that it is soft, easy to clean, but it is not so durable and can absorb odors and stain over time.

Food grade plastic suitable for older babies. It is safe (if there is a marking about the absence of bisphenol A in the composition - BPA-free), durable, easy to clean, but at the same time quite hard. If the baby learns to eat when he is teething, a plastic spoon can injure the gums.

Often, wooden or silver spoons "for the first tooth" are also used as children's spoons. Wood is a wonderful natural material, with proper care it will last a long time, but it can absorb odors or stain over time. Silver is hygienic, does not absorb odors and does not stain. But for feeding very small children who cannot handle a spoon, it is better not to use it: babies can inadvertently damage milk teeth with a metal appliance or break fragile objects nearby. Such a device is suitable for older children who already know how to eat on their own and coordinate their actions.

Shape and size

When your baby is just learning to eat on his own, he needs specially shaped cutlery. The fact is that until 2-3 years old, fine motor skills in children are not sufficiently developed. They hold cutlery in the center of the handle, pinching it with their entire fist. It is easier to hold the handle if it is wide enough and non-slip.

Sometimes a special curved shape is used, which makes it easier for the baby to put the contents of the spoon into his mouth. With the help of such devices, you can quickly teach the crumbs to eat on their own, but then they will have to be replaced with regular-shaped spoons. It is also important that the size is not too large. To make it easy for a child to hold a spoon and handle it, its length should be no more than 10 cm.

Learning to eat on your own

To teach your baby to eat with cutlery, you need to proceed in the following order.

• Start preparing early.

As early as three months old, you can put different objects in your baby's hands so that his muscles can get stronger, and he himself learns to hold things.

• First let the baby eat as he pleases.

Many children from the very beginning of the introduction of complementary foods try to eat by grasping food with their hands. Allow to do this so that the coordination of movements gradually improves.

• Start with cookies.

First, the baby needs to learn how to hold the object in his hands and put it in his mouth. You can start with Heinz baby cookies. When the baby's fingers are strong enough, he will begin to hold it in his palm.

• Offer to take a spoon.

Two spoons can be used at once. Let the mother hold one of them and feed the baby from it. The second can be put in the palm of the baby. Let him move the spoon around the plate, knock it, get used to the new object. It's okay if he throws away his spoon and reaches for his mother's: let him experiment.

• Show what to do.

Show your child how to scoop food with a spoon, explain what needs to be done. Many children first observe adults and then imitate them. Bring the spoon to your mouth, show how cool and comfortable it is. While playing during the day, you can "feed" soft toys or dolls.

• Praise your baby.

It is important to praise the baby every time he manages to hold the spoon, scoop up some food with it and put it in his mouth. The kid must understand that he is doing everything right. The best way to show him this is to praise him. If the child has not finished his portion, is tired, has thrown a spoon, but is clearly hungry, feed him.

Accept in advance that the feeding may be delayed, and everything around will be stained with food. The kid is learning! He learns a new instrument and its possibilities, he can throw food on the floor, try to turn over a plate. Relatively calm independent feeding should be expected only closer to 1–1.5 years. And children learn to use napkins and all cutlery neatly and skillfully only by the age of 3-5.

Helpful Tips

Here are some tips to help your child learn a new skill:

• Have your child sit at the table more often with other family members. Watching them, imitating them, he will quickly learn to use appliances and drink from a cup.

• Use bright, pretty baby utensils. It is important to attract the attention of the baby and like him.

• Feed your baby in a high chair with a table. It is important that he eats in the same place so that the situation does not change and he is not distracted by it.

• Teach at the right moment. If the baby is crying, irritated, or teething, a new spoon is unlikely to interest him. It is better to choose calm days to start training, when the baby is in a good mood.

• Help: lightly guide the baby's hand so that he brings food to his mouth, put a spoon in his palm.

• Use the right food. Already at six or seven months, the baby can hold a cookie in the handle and bring it to his mouth. Later, when he gets comfortable with a spoon, offer porridge or mashed potatoes that are easy to scoop up and put in his mouth. It is important that they are not too liquid, do not pour out of the spoon.

Be prepared for the fact that the baby himself, and everything around him will be in mashed potatoes or in porridge. Use bibs, lay down an oilcloth, choose a place in the kitchen that will be easy to clean up after feeding.

During training, it is important to follow a certain ritual, to follow a clear, familiar sequence of actions for the baby, for example:

washed their hands;
sat on a chair;
tied a bib;
put a plate on the table, and put a spoon in his hand;
started feeding;
after eating they took off their bib, washed their hands and washed their faces;
removed the dishes and food from the table.

This is necessary so that the baby understands what is expected of him, what will happen right now. It is also important that everyone in the house knows what stage the training is in. Otherwise, it may turn out that the baby refuses to “cooperate” with the mother just because the grandmother continues to feed him with a spoon herself.

What should I do if my child refuses to eat on his own?

We'll have to be patient and keep trying over and over again. Sometimes such failures are associated with training errors, for example:

The child already holds the spoon but prefers to play with it and with food. This needs to be stopped, gently but persistently stop the game.
Teaching too fast or too slow. Let the skill develop gradually, but do not do for the baby what he already copes with himself.
The baby is distracted. Cartoons, toys, fairy tales, songs make it difficult to focus on learning. It is better to remove all entertainment during meals.
The kid was scared. He could choke, hit, burn. You can take a short break and then continue learning.

The skill of eating independently is formed gradually. This will take several months. First, the baby will learn to hold the spoon, then - to collect food in it. For quite a long time, children need the help of their parents during feeding - sometimes up to two and a half or up to three years, and this is normal. It is important to act persistently, but gently, not to force or scold the baby. Let the learning be interesting and easy, and then the baby will quickly begin to eat on his own!

How to teach a child to eat with a spoon and at what age is it better to start

Usually, parents spoon-feed their children not out of emotion, but out of practical considerations: it's faster and cleaner. Pediatrician Olga Kulakova explains at what age a child can handle eating with a spoon and fork and whether this process can be somehow accelerated.

Question. My daughter is already 1.5 years old, but she just can't eat with a spoon on her own. By what age should a child learn to use cutlery? And are there ways to teach him?

Answer. The first acquaintance of a child with a spoon begins in the first year of life and coincides in time with the beginning of the introduction of complementary foods. At 6–7 months, the baby may begin to show interest in the spoon as an object. This is an excuse to buy another baby spoon and put it next to the plate. Let the child turn it in his hands, examine it and try to use it for its intended purpose.

At around 9 months of age, your baby can start picking up a spoon on their own. But this does not mean that he will be able to scoop up food and bring it to his mouth. Rather, it is about the fact that the child is trying to copy the movements of adults.

A child usually masters a full-fledged spoon by about one and a half years. But here it is important to remember that everything is very individual. Someone already a year old is excellent at using a spoon, and someone is still fed by their parents even at two years old. And it’s not worth worrying that the child is over a year old, and he is still just learning and he doesn’t succeed.

Under no circumstances should children be forced to master this science. Aggressive training can cause a backlash: the child will no longer want to pick up cutlery.

How to teach your child how to use a spoon:

Sit him at the table, let him watch how family members eat.
Do not force feed your baby. Let him eat with his hands. He will not be able to eat porridge and soup like that - he will have to try to master the spoon.
Play role-playing games with him more often, in which the child feeds his toys from a spoon.

At this age, the child actively copies the behavior of his loved ones, and it is important that he sees how the whole family eats with cutlery.

Children learn to use a fork around the age of three: at this age they already understand that a fork is a sharp object and can be hurt.

Pay attention to how the child grasps cutlery:

At 1-2 years old, he holds a spoon in his fist in the middle of the handle.
By two years - closer to the wide back.
From the age of three, he can begin to hold the spoon with three fingers: thumb, index and middle.

Sooner or later the child will pick up the spoon and fork on his own as it should be

Children are given large time intervals to acquire certain developmental skills. For example, some children can learn to walk at 9 months, and others by one and a half years, and both will be the norm. The same story with cutlery: one child may become interested in them at 7–8 months, another at 9 months or after a year. All of these are variations of the norm.

However, by the age of two, a child should normally pick up a spoon and try to eat on his own. This does not mean that he will eat all the soup in the bowl, but at least a few spoons he should be able to bring to his mouth.