Only eat when I hand feed my baby

A

a mum

Registered User
My 8 month old only wants to be fed when I use my hands. She will keep her mouth shut if I offer the same food using a spoon. It is rather messy when eating out. Any advice.
 
At 8 months she is still reliant mostly on milk for nutrition, so solid foods are for exploring textures and tastes and you can therefore probably be comfortable with finger foods in public without fear she is missing out on puree nutrients. As for at home, I assume you already tried to show her that you eat with a spoon (that is, you let her see you eating the food with a spoon and emphasize how delicious it is, then offer her a bite), and I think just continue to do that until she finally gets curious as to why you are so happy eating whatever the substance is in the bowl off a spoon. She may just come around on her own in a few weeks or even tomorrow...things change so quickly at that age!
 
Eventually give her a small spoon so she can play with it in the bowl. My daugther is more interested when she uses her own spoon and has started to "feed" herself in the same time I feed her. Yes it's messy... I've just put a large plastic tablecloth on the floor, we wash hands and clothes, and it's fine !
 
Sorry, I didn't read the "eating out" part... in fact I always manage to feed her before to go out, and will only give her finger food. Have you tried the poaches with puree ? I put it directly in her mouth, not in the spoon, she loves it !
 
I would just find a lot of different kinds of finger foods that are suitable for going out. Even get her to feed herself. Often when we are eating dinner, I'll give my 11 month old a big piece of cooked broccoli and she loves to chomp on it. It's not that messy really. You could even follow a more "baby led weaning" approach in which you give your baby big chunks of everything to eat including pieces of meat etc. If they are large enough for the baby to hold, then they are too large for them to choke on and the baby can learn to gnaw on it and self feed. Alternatively I would try what Frenchy mentioned and give your little one her own spoon to play with.
 
DS was like that for ~ a month when he was 10 months old. Just keep offing spoon/ folk/ chopsticks. It's also a good idea to give them a separate spoon to hold and play with during meal time.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top