When did your LO start using cutlery?

[Bevziibubble]

Your mum is being very unrealistic in expecting a ten month old to be able to use a spoon. My 20 month old still can't use a spoon, she likes to try but she makes so much mess and hardly any ends up in her mouth. She is mostly able to use a fork for the last few months.

 

[ktod]

There is no right or wrong but my personal choice was to teach them to use it ASAP.

Since day 1 of weaning I've always let him spoon feed himself. Yes it was messy at first but he now uses his spoon and fork like a pro.

My friends toddler is 6 months older than my LO and she has only just let her child feed herself in the last couple of months. It is taking a really long time for her daughter to master it. I know every child is different but I can't help feeling that leaving it so late has made it harder.

I'm not saying to make them spoon feed at 9 months but I think letting them practice with no pressure is really important.

 

[Shadowy Lady]

lol your mom is expecting way too much! Mine still uses her fingers and she's 14 months. Yes I could give her cutlery at this point but it's just waaaay too messy for me to want to deal with. I let her have her yogurt with a spoon though.

 

[ruby09]

My lo takes the pre-filled spoon, flings the food on the floor, then puts the spoon in his mouth. It's just a toy to him right now, and he's had plenty of chances to practice. He's only been able to put food in his mouth with his hands for the last few weeks, so I have no expectations that he'd be able to use a spoon correctly, and he's almost 1.

 

[Larkspur]

My 14-month-old has been able to put a pre-loaded spoon in his mouth very well since about 10 months (no mess). I give him lots of chances to practice scooping with a spoon too, but he's not great at it and will mostly just play, so most of his meals that need spoons are fed to him by me, or half-half him holding pre-loaded spoons. I won't give him a fork until he is more agile with the spoon.

I don't have the patience for cleaning up huge messes or for him getting really frustrated because he's hungry but can't get anything on a spoon to leave him to it at the moment. I figure when he's ready, he'll just 'get it'. That's the way he seems to work; he'll be mildly interested in something for a while, but not pay too much attention, then all of a sudden he'll seem to work out "Hey, THIS is what you do with it" and get hugely interested in it and master it in a very short space of time.

 

[rjm09]

Ds was about 12-13 months before he could do it himself. Mostly preloaded, as he knew what he wanted the fork to do, but took forever for just one poke.

DD takes the preloaded utensils, but wont try getting the food on it now herself.It will come in time.

10 months is just unrealistic imo.

 

[bananaz]

I agree with the others here. 10 months is really early to expect a child to feed him/herself with a fork or spoon.

I don't remember when I started giving my LO preloaded utensils, probably somewhere in the 8-10 month range, but in the beginning I only did it occasionally. When she was around 13 months old she suddenly decided she wanted to use utensils to feed herself and it took about a month before she was really proficient. If she hadn't expressed interest I wouldn't have pushed it though. I think most kids have it down by around 18 months so really there's no rush.

 

[izzlesnizzle]

I give my LO a spoon and I have a spoon and she has the chance to feed herself with it and I slip some cheeky mouthfuls in (as shes very slow and im very impatient!). She has started to use utensils only very recently. She still needs helping with a fork but shes getting there. At 10 mths there was no way she would have been even using a spoon on her own.