Self feeding

[Tilly]

Bethanie is joining in meal times with us properly now and she uses her little metal fork but hasn't mastered picking up food alone (she just moves it around the plate and taps it - still good progress I know, but fairly rare for her to pick much up for herself). Usually if we give her toast or small snacks, we let her eat it with her fingers and put small things on the highchair tray (raisins for example).

The problem is, if we put something on the fork for her she just takes it off with her hands and puts it in her mouth. Or she drops it onto the highchair tray with her fingers and picks it back up off of there to eat it lol. She knows how to use the fork as she does it sometimes and offers us some a lot... I know this isn't a major problem, but did your little ones do this at her age??
Also, she takes AGES to eat recently.. mainly at dinner time

 

[Tezzy]

Rhys is just a few weeks older than Bethanie and he mostly eats with his fingers and a fork, he struggles to pick some things up with a fork so he picks it up with his fingers, puts it on his fork and then puts his fork in his mouth.

bear in mind that we did baby lead weaning with rhys so he has been feeding himself since 5 months old.

 

[Tilly]

When you say he's been feeding himself since 5 months? you mean finger foods? as Bethanie has been doing that from about 5-6 months also.
Im in a rush a lot of the time and admittedly, just feed her main meals myself.. it's only the past month or so that i've tried to encourage her more with her own fork and can see a big improvement. Im glad to hear that Rhys is similar with his eating though. ty

 

[beanie]

Seren still will use her fingers at times even now, she is ok with a fork and spoon but it is still hit and miss

 

[Tezzy]

When you say he's been feeding himself since 5 months? you mean finger foods? as Bethanie has been doing that from about 5-6 months also.
Im in a rush a lot of the time and admittedly, just feed her main meals myself.. it's only the past month or so that i've tried to encourage her more with her own fork and can see a big improvement. Im glad to hear that Rhys is similar with his eating though. ty

yeah i mean finger food, rhys will never let me feed him, only when hes feeling unwell

 

[Tilly]

Thats good! I wish Bethanie was like that. At the minute we are eating dinner all 3 of us and me and my boyfriend take it in turns to help her out.
She isn't eating loads at dinner times a lot of the time either. Maybe it will just pass as she gets more confident with the fork!

 

[Tezzy]

rhys definetly eats more at lunch time that dinner time. i find that he will eat snacks during the day when hes offered them.

 

[Tilly]

Could you give me a rough idea what he has during the day (including his milk)??
Just asking as he is about the same age as Bethanie and it's good for a bit of comparison.

 

[Tezzy]

he will have a small bowl of cereal for his breakfast with hardly any milk, usually rice crispies or cheerios. he feeds himself with his spoon and his fingers or if hes tired/grumpy i will feed him.

for his snack(morning) he has half a banana or apple which i chop up, put in a bowl and leave on the table so he can help himself when he wants. he usually takes about half an hour to eat it all. if im at work our carer gives him fruit in the same way.

for his lunch he will have 1 slice of brown bread folded in half with ham/turkey inside cut into soldiers. i also give him things like cubes of cheese,ricecakes,sliced cucumber etc. out of everything i give him on average he eats all his sandwich, about 2 cubes of cheese a slice of cucumber and thats it really.

before his nap (about 3pm) he has an 8oz bottle of full fat milk.


for dinner he hardly eats anything, we give him whatever we cook for ourselves. if we have pasta for example he will have maybe 3/4 pasta twists and a broccoli floret.

before bed he will have another 8oz bottle of full fat milk and he will have another during the night.

he also has water always available to him throughout the day

 

[Tezzy]

its also varies from day to day, some days he eats less some days hes starving.

 

[Tilly]

Oh thats good, they sound fairly similar. I give Bethanie her milk slightly differently though as she loves it in the morning.

120ml milk first thing, then she has either a weetabix, small bowl of ready brek or a slice of toast cut into pieces.

Lunch is either: an omelette, scrambled eggs, pasta, small bite size things like cheese, toast, biscuits, yoghurt or fruit puree.

120ml milk at about 3:30pm

Dinner is whatever we have

She usually has some little snacks in the day too, like some raisins, fruit and cereal bar or biscuits. She drinks water.

Then she has 120ml milk before bed which really helps to settle her.

 

[Tezzy]

that sounds about the same as rhys has, for lunch i make loads and loads of different foods so he can try new things every day, he loves it!

if i have snacks throughout the day rhys will also have some of mine too, cheeky thing wont let me eat without his tasting it first lol!!

 

[Tilly]

I try to do the same for Bethanie, i've got a toddler recipe book so I can get some new ideas from that too or im always thinking of new things she might like. Her favourite is omelette at the minute and when I eat my omelette she shouts "more" and "yea" at me until I give her some. Then I ask her if it tastes nice and she nods her little head lol. All food needs the Bethanie seal of approval.

 

[Tezzy]

lol thats very cute