Baby wants to feed herself!

[Perplexed]

Initially I intended to BLW but after immense pressure from my family I ended up starting with TW. I felt very disappointed as here I am again failing against the pressures of family.

But to my surprise, a few weeks into it my baby plain refused to be spoon fed. When I load the spoon, instead of opening her mouth she reaches out with her hand, takes the spoon from me and puts it in her mouth instead.

When mentioned to my mil she told me this is dangerous and she could hurt herself...

But I guess my question is... for BLWers, when can you give your baby the spoon? I take it still not at the beginning?

I should also start offering things that don't require a spoon since she's made her choice but i'm also curious.

Thank you ladies.

 

[MindUtopia]

That's great. Yep, you're doing it exactly right. We did BLW from the start, but my daughter had no interest in feeding herself with a spoon until about 9 months (honestly, I guess she never really saw a spoon until then as she started nursery and I think they would spoonfeed her yogurt with her meals). It's great she has an interest already. Just let her do it. It's perfectly safe to offer both finger foods and a loaded spoon from 6 months. Eventually she'll also start to dip her spoon in her food and feed herself without any help too. It's not at all a choking risk - actually it's much safer for her to feed herself with a spoon than for you to feed her because it gives her control over what's in her mouth, meaning she's less likely to choke. I'd ignore your family and do what feels right for you. Our family made some comments about us doing BLW, that it was "too messy" and that she'd never learn to "eat properly" and would still be feeding herself with her hands when she's 5. My daughter is now 16 months and is a fantastic eater. She tries EVERYTHING. And she feeds herself with her own fork and spoon (though she still uses her hands too, just like all toddlers do). Those same family members who made those comments are now always complimenting us on what a joy she is to have at the dinner table, how well she is able to feed herself, and say they wish they'd known they could have done this with their own (now grown up) kids when they were little. It's really turned them around completely. Just keep doing what feels right to you. They can eat their words one day when they see what a great job you've done.

 

[Smiler82]

I am not a BLW-er exclusively, more of a mixed-approach as BLW didn't work for us to start with but pretty soon he wanted to control feeding himself so I just let him get on with it, though there are days when if he is quite tired he does prefer for me to spoon feed him, so I just go with what he wants.

But anyway, my DS has been taking a loaded spoon himself from a relatively early stage and it's not dangerous at all! I don't see how it can be. As MindUtopia says, they can feel when something has gone in too far, whereas you can't.

It's not up to your family how you feed your child. You know your baby best so just go with whatever approach works for the two of you.

 

[KayBea]

sounds like shes doing fine

my LO was TW at 4months & then BLW at 6 months, this included me loading up the spoon for her & she would take it off me (usually yogurt or minced beef if we had spag bowl etc).

i dont see how mil thinks she can hurt herself except if she jams the spoon down her throat in which case her gag reflex will stop her which is all part of the learning xx

 

[Perplexed]

thank you so much ladies

I will continue to give her the spoon and offer finger foods as well.

offered her half a carrot earlier and she actually took and and sucked on it and I'm so pleased with her progress!!

 

[pollydolly]

Leo also takes the spoon off me, he's 6 months on Saturday. He grabs it and gets it in his mouth then pulls it out clean and drops it ha. I just load it again and wait for grabbing hand! I can't wait to start BLW next week hopefully. Well be doing a mix of both x