Hi Kelly, glad you seem to have had a bit of a break through today.
With regards to putting too much on her plate, i keep her plate with me and then just put some food on her tray bit by bit, as she mushes it up too much then I put a fresh piece on for her.
As for the cutlery, I haven't done it yet but I was thinking as she becomes better with her hands then I will just put them on the table at each meal and let her use them when she is ready. I'm sure to start with they will just get thrown on the floor but eventually she will pick them up and use them. Like everything else babies learn from watching you and then will do themselves in their own time.
We did the loaded spoon thing from very early on (we started weaning in September and I seem to end up making a lot of soup in winter anyway). I also let him play with a spoon during meal times - best toy ever! He could eat off a loaded spoon by about 9 months, started dipping it into containers at 9-10 months and scooping things up and feeding himself successfully at about thirteen months. It is very, very messy but he loves it so I just let him get on with it these days.
I will qualify that with the 'every child is different' caveat. Peter has always been very good with his small motor skills and didn't pick up the scooping trick until he had been at nursery for a month, in a room with older children who feed themselves. I don't think he would have picked it up so quickly without that example to follow.
Hi Sarah Thanks hun, that sounds like a really good idea - think i'll give that a go (with regards putting bit on her tray one bit at a time). We went out for lunch yesterday, i took a pack up with me for her (just some sandwiches) and i gave her a triangle at a time, she ate more that way that she did normally when all 4 pieces are on her tray. I did offer her a spoon last week with one of her meals (can't remember what it was i'd made now) but she wasn't interested in using it as cutlery iyswim. I might buy a baby knife & fork for her though to see how she gets on with that. Thanks xx
Quickly though - if i put more than one bit on tobys tray he gets confused. Much better one bit at a time - towards the end i put more on for him to play with more than anything. My childminder gave g=him the whole bowl ntoday and he was fine but i know he wouldnt do that for me! Monkey x
Just to add my little man is just discovering how to use a fork at 9 months, its a lot easier for the food to stay on the fork than it is on a spoon, you can just push the food onto the fork and give it to your little one who will probably decide to play with it but rather than the food falling on the floor, when the fork eventually makes its way to the mouth the food will probably be still on the end iyswim rather than using a spoon all the time when the food falls off.
what we do is a mixture, her main food will be puree and then after I usually give Olivia a bit of cheese and one of her Plum biscuits ot eat, which she now loves!! I find that the two different textures work well for. As for using cutlery sometimes Olivia tries to grab the spoon off me and when she does I let her take it and she does get it into her mouth, some falls on her but she does get most of it in there. Weaning isn't easy and you are doing a great job xxxx
Hi, I usually do a mixture too. For sandwiches, I give him a bit and put a small bit on his tray and I feed him the rest bit by bit. I sometimes have soup with that as well and spoon him that as he feeds himself the sandwich.
Hugs hun. Sorry you are struggling. I am finding it really tough too. Beth will not take the spoon AT ALL now. Not even sweet stuff And even with finger foods she is very picky and will only eat certain things. Breadsticks are always a sure thing so if she won't eat her meal she ends up having those with cheese!
I am just finding ways around her refusing spoon. So to get her to eat yoghurt this morning as she'd only had 3oz of milk I dipped cereal pieces in it and she was well happy eating that!
I ALWAYS only put one piece on her tray at a time. Any more and it just becomes a game. I also give her the most important food first. So at breakfast it's fruit first. At lunch it's protein and veg before I offer any carbs. At dinner it's carbs first and any veg she has is a bonus. So at least I know she has had some food from each food group each day.
I offer her pureed stuff every now and then but she just won't take it. So I am just going with the flow. If one day she will take spoon again I have no problem with spoon feeding her soup or something. I don't think it has to be 100% one or the other.
The main thing I hate is the mess but all children need to learn to eat themselves at some point so hopefully we are just getting this stage out of the way earlier!
Replies
With regards to putting too much on her plate, i keep her plate with me and then just put some food on her tray bit by bit, as she mushes it up too much then I put a fresh piece on for her.
As for the cutlery, I haven't done it yet but I was thinking as she becomes better with her hands then I will just put them on the table at each meal and let her use them when she is ready. I'm sure to start with they will just get thrown on the floor but eventually she will pick them up and use them. Like everything else babies learn from watching you and then will do themselves in their own time.
I will qualify that with the 'every child is different' caveat. Peter has always been very good with his small motor skills and didn't pick up the scooping trick until he had been at nursery for a month, in a room with older children who feed themselves. I don't think he would have picked it up so quickly without that example to follow.
Thanks hun, that sounds like a really good idea - think i'll give that a go (with regards putting bit on her tray one bit at a time).
We went out for lunch yesterday, i took a pack up with me for her (just some sandwiches) and i gave her a triangle at a time, she ate more that way that she did normally when all 4 pieces are on her tray.
I did offer her a spoon last week with one of her meals (can't remember what it was i'd made now) but she wasn't interested in using it as cutlery iyswim. I might buy a baby knife & fork for her though to see how she gets on with that.
Thanks xx
Quickly though - if i put more than one bit on tobys tray he gets confused. Much better one bit at a time - towards the end i put more on for him to play with more than anything. My childminder gave g=him the whole bowl ntoday and he was fine but i know he wouldnt do that for me! Monkey x
what we do is a mixture, her main food will be puree and then after I usually give Olivia a bit of cheese and one of her Plum biscuits ot eat, which she now loves!! I find that the two different textures work well for.
As for using cutlery sometimes Olivia tries to grab the spoon off me and when she does I let her take it and she does get it into her mouth, some falls on her but she does get most of it in there.
Weaning isn't easy and you are doing a great job xxxx
I usually do a mixture too. For sandwiches, I give him a bit and put a small bit on his tray and I feed him the rest bit by bit. I sometimes have soup with that as well and spoon him that as he feeds himself the sandwich.
I am just finding ways around her refusing spoon. So to get her to eat yoghurt this morning as she'd only had 3oz of milk I dipped cereal pieces in it and she was well happy eating that!
I ALWAYS only put one piece on her tray at a time. Any more and it just becomes a game. I also give her the most important food first. So at breakfast it's fruit first. At lunch it's protein and veg before I offer any carbs. At dinner it's carbs first and any veg she has is a bonus. So at least I know she has had some food from each food group each day.
I offer her pureed stuff every now and then but she just won't take it. So I am just going with the flow. If one day she will take spoon again I have no problem with spoon feeding her soup or something. I don't think it has to be 100% one or the other.
The main thing I hate is the mess but all children need to learn to eat themselves at some point so hopefully we are just getting this stage out of the way earlier!