1 year old refusing to be spoonfed (but not terrific with the spoon as yet!)

K

kyojee

Registered User
Hi..

My close to 1 year old daughter has refused to be spoonfed lately. While I'm all for independence and self feeding,but she is unable to scoop up food from the bowl with the spoon herself as yet. So what I do is scoop and offer her the spoonful of food. She would hold the spoon and eat up if she likes it or if she's hungry.

The trouble sets in after a few mouthfuls, she would refuse to take the spoon and try to eat with her hands instead. And she absolutely does not allow me to feed her unless there are some distractions like songs, tv or people watching (unfortunately it's usually just me and her most of the time) I have no qualms about offering some finger food as she eats readily with, though she would play and throw some around, but my saucy recipes (don't mind the pun!), congee and jar food would be impossible to feed w/o a spoon. Do I:

Can I find out how you manage at this stage of feeding?

- give up the recipes with sauces/congee/jar food for the time being and offer just finger food. Omit spoon totally and wait for this phase to pass. (Will it pass anytime soon? Shiversss...)

- continue with a mixture of recipes with sauces/congee/jar food and finger food, and let her try to self feed with spoon and fingers. (Total mess and nightmare to clean up.)

Any suggestions would be welcomed! Just as I thought her appetite increased and became less picky about what she eats, she got fussy with HOW to eat it?!?
 
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i always have a spoon for my son and a spoon for me when i feed him. in btw his feeds, i insert a spoonful from me.

snacktime can be more figure friendly foods, but i would not change his meals as it's usually not a phase. for our son, it was his way of showing us he was becoming more independant and more confident in his fine motor skills.

you should be happy he wants to feed himself!! :)
 
Yep I do the same a spoon for me and one for my son. He soon realises that he gets more food if I feed him than if he feeds himself! And maybe try offering some finger food with her meal like toast soldiers or even after her meal like some fruit.
 
I also always give a spoon to my son as well. As he`s working it out, I am shoveling food into his mouth.
Also, I always try to give him finger foods with each meal. While he`s busy with that, i`m spooning in soft stuff like rice or jar food. I find it works very well. Also, he`s been obsessed with taking apart his cup and playing with the parts - while he`s doing that is the only time I can feed him. If he`s done playing with that, he either needs something else to play with or he won`t feed.
I think that this is how it`s gonna be from now on.... but on the bright side, at 14 months, he is now getting more and more proficient with finger food and feeding himself with a spoon(slowly but surely). It`s good that your baby is taking the initiative - it will make your life easier in the long run, I think.
 
my daughter is in the same phase...i too have 2 spoons but i do try to help her with holding the spoon and having her "get the feel" of using the spoon to get her food (which for her is the hardest part), feeding is actually not a problem once she scopes the food...i actually like to use the fork too...for things for banana / cooked carrots / small chunks of soft food, cause it's easier (at least for my daughter)...
 
I agree with the others--two spoons worked well for us. And even though it's messy for awhile, they do get better and then it's so much easier if they can feed themselves! My two-year-old is really a great eater and is quite pleasant at the table, and I think it's because he's been feeding himself for so long. The other thing that always helped is if it was the same food we were eating, he was much more interested than if it was "baby" food. If something was very saucy, then I'd thicken it up a bit with rice cereal to make it easier. But finger foods are very helpful too, and it's good for them to be eating foods with more texture too ... helps develop those jaw muscles, which helps with speech development. So don't stay with the purees for too long. It will get better!
 
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