Ok... self feeding question.

[missjess]

How often do you let them feed themselves? Every meal?

I'm so insecure with this... I think I will feed Josh until he's 30 years old
We do quite a lot of finger food and sometimes I will let him eat with his spoon, but 1/10 of it gets eaten and the rest goes on the floor...

 

[x-amy-x]

caitlyn feeds herself 70% of the time, she prefers it. And TBH i dont mind coz she cleans, as does the mess. I'd rather her feed herself than have a fuss eater xxx

 

[x-amy-x]

sorry hun im not a 12+ mummy

 

[missjess]

It's fine, thanks!! I'll have to try to let him more...

 

[Alexas Mommy]

I let Alexa eat som of her snacks on her own, because like you said a lot of it goes on the floor. The dietician I saw said until they can properly feed themselves, it's best to only let them eat on there own at snacks, and then gradually work their way up to meals.xx

 

[x-amy-x]

practise makes perfect! xx

 

[ColtonsMom]

practise makes perfect! xx

this is what I say!

Colton is such a good eater now! He cannot really eat with a spoon (although looks like he is close, he was dipping it in his bowl yesterday and then putting it in his mouth ) so uses his hands mostly.
And he usually gets most in his mouth, sometimes he will drop some when he is trying to get it in his mouth, or he will start playing when he is full. But right now I dont just hand him all his food because he shoves mouthful after mouthful in his mouth and then chokes.. so I give him 1-2 bites at a time and he eats them fine. I sit at the table with his food on a small plate already cut up and stuff and then scrap off a couple pieces after he finishes what was in front of him already.

Colton has been feeding himself since our food since 9.5-10 months though The only thing I feed him right now is his yogurt after dinner. But he even eats oatmeal at breakfast himself! Thats probably the messiest thing!

 

[Vickie]

We let Hannah feed herself probably 50% of the time. For breakfast she usually gets cereal which I feed her (though if she's fussy I throw Cheerios on the tray--distracts her ) For lunch and dinner she usually has a finger food and a puree (I give the purees) and one of her snacks usually consists of a finger food

We honestly just put it on her tray and let her go for it. She LOVES feeding herself and is actually quite good at it now (but she uses her hands not a spoon )

 

[oOKayOo]

I wouldnt dare let her feed herself , apart from finger foods She gets it everywhere and not in her mouth otherwise!

 

[missjess]

I wouldnt dare let her feed herself , apart from finger foods She gets it everywhere and not in her mouth otherwise!

Ohh good Kay, I thought I was the only one lol. They're almost the same age, so good! I'm just confused with how he's gonna get full time with the spoon.

 

[JennTheMomma]

I don't think I let Hunter totally feed himslef 100% until he was past a year. He is 20 months now and feeds himself every meal and snack, and is really good with spoons and forks.

 

[smartie]

We mostly feed Hannah but she is now trying to spoon feed herself so we have a spoon each at mealtimes and I let her have a go at the end of every meal. She also gets finger foods at lunch and tea which she is now really good with.

 

[JennyLynn512]

Valerie feeds herself about 80% of the time. She will refuse to eat sometimes if I try and feed her with her spoon. She does pretty good by herself and I'm always impressed at how good she eats. I still feed her, oatmeal in the mornings and maybe every now and then something else during the day with the spoon. For the most part though, I let her go at it.

 

[bev309]

Oooh good thread - I was worried about this myself. Jack will feed himself finger foods until he has enough then he will mash everything into a pulp in his fist & get it everywhere ,so I haven't really tried him with a spoon on his own yet. I am dreading it!!! I give him the spoon when we have finished his meals usually, & he knows how to put it to his mouth, but recently he has started to turn it to the handle end & put that end in his mouth instead of the spoon end, so if he does that with a spoon full of food, it is going to get VERY messy

 

[BurtonBaby]

I rarely let Erica feed herself with a spoon. If its finger foods, she does fantastic.. but she has a tendency to shake her spoon around, which makes quite the mess. I have been letting her more and more often.. but thats mainly because when I try to feed her, she usually will try to grab the spoon from me, and end up getting food everywhere anyway...
I hate when she gets really messy when she eats, I constantly am wiping her face lol..

 

[xKimx]

i don't let Ciaran feed himself he only gets sandwiches or snack things to feed himself , if i let him feed himself he would not eat it just play with it and then i would need to give him something else because he will get hungry

 

[ColtonsMom]

i don't let Ciaran feed himself he only gets sandwiches or snack things to feed himself , if i let him feed himself he would not eat it just play with it and then i would need to give him something else because he will get hungry

Colton played in his at first, and honestly I dont think it will make a difference how old he is when you finally let him self feed, he will still play in it the first times because its something new. The only difference would be a 1 year old who is just learning to feed themselves and making a big mess, to a 1 year old who has been self feeding for awhile and is good at it and alot less messy
And when I started just giving Colton his food what he ate decreased alot, however, I just continued with his normal schedule and after one or two meals he will know to eat whats in front of him

 

[luckyme225]

Connor will do finger foods himself but I still feed him his yogurt and his dinner. My pediatrician said to start trying after one, once they have more coordination. When Connor gets a spoon he normally just takes the food and flings it.

 

[Holldoll]

If it can be cut into bite size pieces I let her feed herself. I don't care if it ends up on the floor. She LOVES to feed herself!

 

[leeanne]

I made the mistake of allowing Amanda to feed herself just before 1 years of age, and, unfortunately, she lost interest in it quickly and barely ate her solids. She was hell after that and it was hard to get her to eat anything for a year afterwards.

With Jayden, I fed him (when it wasn't finger foods) even until he was 3 and I didn't mind because I could keep shoveling food into his mouth and knew he was getting his food intake.