Spoons

[vikivoly]

When did your baby efficiently use a spoon? A lot of the books say 12 months, but that seems really early to me.

What type or brand of spoon do you recommend for self-feeding? Do the loop handle ones work good?

DD is 14 months and will use a spoon, but would starve if it was her only way of feeding.

[cma]

DD loved to hold spoons when we started solids at 6 months, but didn't start using them to feed herself efficiently until 14 months...at least what I would call efficient.

We bought every spoon out there...the munchkin color changing ones, the tommy tippee red hots, the sassy ones with holes, etc...

But the only spoon that she liked to use was the gerber one with the loop handle. Now at 2 1/2 she uses regular utensils during meals, but if it's yogurt, she'll only eat that with her pink gerber one!

Good Luck! They get the hang of it eventually!

[JElaineB]

DS at 16 months is now finally really good with spoons and also is starting to use a fork. He is feeding applesauce to himself right now in fact. I would say it wasn't until around 14 months that he started to really get the hang of it. He tried at 12 months and earlier but wasn't very successful. I am using metal baby/toddler spoons and forks for him to self-feed that I got at an Oneida outlet a month or so ago for just over $3.00 a set. They are very small and the perfect size for him. He likes them because they are like the real utensils that he sees mommy and daddy using.

Jennifer
mom to Jacob 9/27/02

[Momof3Labs]

Colin isn't very good with utensils right now. He's better with a fork than a spoon, though. We just give him our utensils (or a child-size set would work well, too, like the Oneida one mentioned) and he does MUCH better than with any plastic utensils.

[Karenn]

Colin was able to get the spoon to his mouth as soon as he started solids. It's only been since 16 or 17 months that he's been able to get the food onto the spoon and THEN get it to his mouth. The loop spoons do work very well for him. He's more likely to hold the spoon correctly if it has a loop rather than a plain handle.

[kransden]

DD now wants what we have, so I give her a regular teaspoon and dessert fork. She eats ok with it if I help guide the spoon into the food. I "help" her spear things on her fork too. About half way through dinner she just uses her fingers.

Karin and Katie 10/24/02