help! teaching my boy to use spoon

[simplemama]

i need ideas/input! my son is 14 months, and he doesn't know what to do with a spoon yet.

i give him one when i put him in his high chair, show him how he can use the spoon to scoop up food in the bowl and bring it to his mouth. other than that, i'm lost!

right now, if i don't help him, he uses it to move the food around in the bowl, which of course spills onto the high chair tray, and he then proceeds to move/mush around the food on the tray some more. he also chews on the spoon -- his molars are coming in, i think.

i do think we're on the right track, since he likes to hold the spoon and he does attempt to touch the food with it. however, i can use more input -- what did you do that helped??? and what shape spoon worked well with your child? what are the advantages of the different types of spoons?

thanks!

[parkersmama]

The only thing I ever did is just what you're doing. It just takes them some practice to get used to it. If you've been feeding him with a spoon, he knows what they are for he's just not quite coordinated enough to make it work. My kids always grabbed for the spoon during feedings when they were ready to give it a try. To make mealtimes more livable for me, I gave them a spoon to play with while I continued to feed them myself (for the most part). I also scooped some food up for them so that when the spoon reached their mouth they'd get a taste. Try thick foods such as thick oatmeal or a fairly thick applesauce. Something that doesn't fall off the spoon too easily. I like the Sassy spoons that have the holes in them. For some reason the holes help the food stick to the spoon and make it to the mouth. And finally, don't get discouraged if this process takes a while. That's completely normal! We were still spoon-feeding my 1st son when he was 18 months...he just couldn't seem to get it. Ds #2 was doing it himself by 12 months! You just never can tell!

[brubeck]

I also liked the Sassy spoons with holes in them. You can get a 2 pack at Target for about $3.

My favorite spoon-teaching food was (and is) mashed potatoes. It is so sticky that if the child gets even a little on the spoon it will stay there until eaten. Try serving it (you can mix in some veggies if you want to up the nutrition) and then guiding your child's hand with the spoon to the plate, scooping up a little and then putting it in his mouth. He may not want to do it, and it's tedious, but eventually he will get so frustrated with it that he may wrench his hand out of yours to do it by himself.

The important thing to remember is that it will not be overnight. It may take a long time of serious teaching sessions to do it.

[KathyO]

If it makes you feel any better, my daughter is days away from her second birthday, and still very vague on what to do with the spoon. She has, at least, picked up on its potential as a food carrier - I would "load" it for her with yogurt or oatmeal or something sticky, and set it down on the tray for her to grasp and bring to her mouth. We're still making no progress on picking up food with it, but she's getting good at eating off it. When she's not decorating her face with whatever's on it...

Another way to create good "sticky" food for spoon practice is to take cooked rice and mix in some of those toddler casseroles they sell in jars. That seems to go down well.

Good luck!

KathyO

[atlbaby]

Arielle is not close to being adept at using a spoon either, and she'll be 17 months in a few days. While she's good at getting the spoon in her mouth once I've filled it for her, she really hasn't shown much interest in trying to feed herself from a bowl yet. I suppose it doesn't help that the bowls I have (Sassy) don't really suction to the tray well. (I think someone mentioned that using a bit of water helps the suction stay, so I'm going to try that.)

She really seems content in having me feed her yogurt/fruit/cereal--is that bad? She went through a phase where she wouldn't take the spoon from me at all, but that was months and months ago, and once it passed she went back to wanting me to feed her. I guess I should make more of an effort to get her to do it on her own.

-Rachel
Mom to Arielle Jill, 10/30/01
#2:) EDD 10/24/03

[twins r fun]

Yeah, we're not doing much in this area either. Jacob and Caleb play with a spoon, know what it's for, can get wet/sticky foods on it but then have no interest in eating it. It's just a game to them. I hardly ever give them spoon foods though-it's almost all finger foods. I too figure I should be making more of an effort (ie, giving them more opportunities), but I just keep thinking about it and never DOING it! I guess I'm just happy with our finger feeding mode and not ready to move on to a messier way of life!

Nicole

[simplemama]

thank you, ladies, for your input! it was interesting reading about your experiences.

i didn't even think to put sticky food out for him, since i've been in a finger food mode for a while. that makes sense, though... with finger food, he has been able to put food on the spoon (with or without my help) and bring it to his mouth, only to spill it when he tries to put the spoon in his mouth.

on a side note, i had an idea and got him a fork, and he got the hang of it on the first try! the very first food i tried was sliced string cheese, which has a really good traction on the tray and worked really well for him to spear. pineapple chunks were too slippery. broccoli was a relative success as well.

i'll try mashed potatoes with the sassy spoon next.

[KathyO]

Just a note for those of you having angst because your baby just isn't getting the hang of it...

I had resigned myself to DD eating finger foods all the way into university (hey, well, there's pizza, and burgers, and sandwiches, right?) since she had spent WEEKS using the spoon mostly as a device to apply yogurt to her face and hair. If it slipped into her mouth and she got some food thereby, well, that was okay, but it really wasn't the main goal of the game.

Well, suddenly this week she has picked up the spoon and begun to EAT with it. Actually REFUSES finger foods unless they come with a fork! ("Cool!" says my brother, "she's a tool-using primate now!") I guess something just clicked. Oh, and her second birthday is a week from now.

So... the transition to spoon use may not be a slow-steady thing - it might, after a LONG period of messing around, be overnight!

Cheers,

KathyO

[egoldber]

Just thought I'd add that Sarah has now achieved "tool using primate" status!

After months of my half-hearted attempts to teach her to use a fork and spoon, the infant educator suggusted this would be a good way for her to practice her fine motor skills (duh! you say, but it didn't occur to me!). So I began in earnest with the spoon and fork. After struggling myself one day to spear a piece of food with a plastic baby fork, it occured to me that if I were having trouble how could she possible do it??? So I bought a few "kid" forks that are relatively sharp, and LO AND BEHOLD she instantly began using a fork!! After a couple days of success with a fork, she also began using a spoon successfully (although still a bit messily).

She also now refuses food unless at least a fork accompanies it. We had MUCH angst yesterday while she struggled to reconcile the concept that Goldfish were NOT meant to be eaten with a fork, but she got over it eventually.

So I can also attest that it DOES happen!!!

[muskiesusan]

LOL, Nick has been doing the same thing, refusing to eat anything w/o a fork! I finally got him to eat goldfish crackers by putting them in his frying pan on his stove. He cooks them up and then eats them! It's too cute!

BTW, he hasn't gotten the hang of the spoon yet.

Susan
WAHM to Nicholas 10/01/01

[mamahill]

Oooh, thank you for asking this, and thanks for all the replies. Ainsleigh sometimes tries to "brush" her hair with the spoon, but that's about it. Also, she really only eats off a spoon at breakfast. Otherwise she wants to GRAB the food. Oh well.