Self-feeding - Bowls, plates, spoons, forks

Guest_juliajaj wrote: DD is a pro at using her fingers to grab food & eat. She's also great at eating from a fork/spoon that DH or I have already put food on & handed to her. I've tried using a suction cup bowl to put her food in & give her the spoon to see how she would do eating alphabet noodles, small pieces of carrots & chicken. She'll hold the spoon with one hand & grab food out of the bowl with the other hand. I've showed her how to scoop the food up, but now she's more interested in finger eating. I'm sure this is something she'll become a pro at with practice. Also, she's figured out how to break the suction on the bowl (I bought it from Target, and I think it's a Sassy brand), and flipped the bowl over on her tray (I'm sure this will be a common happening to until she's used to it). Just thought I'd ask for some helpful hints & if there's any type of bowls, plates, spoons, forks that you & your toddler like.

Thanks!

Julie

DansMom replied: Yes, tips tips! Daniel is at this exact stage---likes to try using his own fork or spoon to pick up food and eat it, but not to be trusted with a loose bowl full of food at all.

paradisemommy replied: lol..none here - every time i try putting his food in a bowl that's the first thing he does - tips it over and dumps it all out! and those stupid suction bowls didn't work for us either..why the heck did they even make em if they don't work??

not that this is safe but all of childrens forks are soo dull that you can't stab anything with it and get it on the fork so i usually give taven a plastic one(a real plastic adult one)..those are pretty sharp but at least he can poke it in the food and it'll stick and he can get it to his mouth...he loves to eat peas and veggies that way!!

DansMom replied:
That's what I do too! I agree that the ones made for children don't work.

kit_kats_mom replied: Katherine won't eat out of anything but our dishes. I have my Great Grandmotbers set of china and it came with the regular plate, bowl, cup & saucer. But it also has a soup bowl, and two sets of smaller bowls, one holds about 1 cup of food, the other .5 c. Katherine mostly eats out of those bowls and uses our silverware. To keep the bowls from slipping on the table, I cut some of that shelving liner...ya know, the puffy kind with holes?

K feeds herself very well but I have to stay nearby because when she is done, anything can happen

Daddy of Schnoogly replied: Iain can eat if we put stuff on the spoon for him, but he enjoys finger eating, so we just stick with that. Anything to get him to eat!

MomofTay&Sam replied: Sammy enjoys finger foods, or us feeding him. I have to stay close to, he will throw the dishes when he is done. He does not really try for the spoon, if we put it on than he eats it. Did I help at all? LOL nope

MomToMany replied: Sorry I don't have any ideas for you. I let Hannah use regular adult silverware and dishes, but she still mainly uses her fingers to eat with. I remind her to try to use her spoon/fork, then she does for awhile.

coasterqueen replied: No ideas here either. We struggle like this daily, lol.

3_call_me_mama replied: Cameron uses the child sized forks and spoons that have the metal tips. the edges are sort of blunt but sharper than the childrens disposable stuff or the plastic stuff that we have found. He also likes these because they come in a bunch or different designs blues clues, Elmo and a set we got in Florida that says my first Disney Fork and Spoon are among his favorites. Elmo (not surprisingly) is the one he picks the most. Usually at dinnertime i send him to his cupboard (one of our lower cabinets where all his dishes, sippy cups regular cups and utensils are kept) to get his things to help set the table. He picks a plate, a cup (sometimes a sippy sometimes a regualr one) and a set of silverware (fork and spoon). Then he comes adn finds me and tells me what he's picked he'll say either "mama blue" or "mama elmo" or mama mouse" and he will come out with his stuff adn then helps me put it on the table and get his smock out (he refuses to eat with bibs but loves his elmo smock so that works for us). Sometimes we will just let him eat with the salad sized forks that came with our silverware set adn he does fine, but he prefers the ones with characters on them.

But if anyone wants real childsized silverware try www.onestepahead.com they have real silverware (fork spoon and knife) that is child sized and even comes in three different styles to match your real silverware. Just a thought.

MommyToAshley replied: Ashley can eat some things well with a spoon and other stuff she eats with her hands. If it is gooey and sticks to the spoon (like oatmeal, yogurt or mashed potatoes), then she uses the spoon. If it requires a fork, like spaghetti, then she mostly uses her hands. I think because she has such a hard time getting the stuff on the plastic baby fork. Maybe I will try the adult fork like the others said, thanks for the suggestion all.

I've been pretty lucky that she has always done well with a plate. I started out with a suction plate that worked really great (I don't know what store came from, we got it at her baby shower) It had three compartments, and a space at the bottom for putting hot water to keep the food warm, and then the suction thingy. Well, Ashley knew how to get the suction thing off by sticking her finger under it to break the seal, but she actually left it alone during dinner. She never broke the seal and pulled it up until after dinner. DH, on the other hand, couldn't figure it out and pulled and pulled and pulled to try to get the plate off the highchair and ended up breaking it. All of the other suction plates that I have found don't work very well, and she doesn't leave them alone because it is more fun to make them slide all over the tray. So, I just give her a normal plate most of the time and she does fine with it. Every once in a while, she will dump her food when she is done.

CantWait replied: I don't know how old your dd is, but I say if she does fine with finger feeding, stick with it for now. She'll show interest in eating with utensils at her own pace. And if she's eating, that's something to be happy about. As for the plates, no advice here, but gl

Hillbilly Housewife replied: Zach is 17 months, and he has been using regular silverwars for months now. In fact, he will NOT eat unless he has his own fork or spoon. He`s pretty good at spearing food with his fork, but once it`s on, he usually grabs the piece with his hands. He eats fine with a spoon, if it sticks to it. He`s getting better with pieces of food on it...he`s learning. He uses plastic bowls and spoons that are shaped like big olorful flowers. I got a 12 piece set (3 colors, 4 sets in each color) of plates and bowls...and he mostly uses those. We WERE thinking of moving him into a booster seat... but we had a bad experience with one of those at a crappy restaurant that didn`t have any actual highchairs. It was pretty classy...i guess they`re not used to having small children there.