When did you start giving your child - utensils to eat with?

Sarah&Mackenzie wrote: When did you start letting your child eat with a spoon? Mackenzie is 13 months old and still eats with her hands, but was wondering if I should try and let her use a spoon? I am just concerned that she will play with it more than anything and then not eat as well because she is playing around with the food and spoon. Any thoughts or suggestions??

MyBlueEyedBabies replied: She will definately play but that is half of learning.

Katy started taking the spoon from us when we were feeding her at about 6 months. Then started eating with the spoon by herself about 12 months or so.
Matt couldn't have cared less about taking the spoon he was more concerned with how fast you could get food in his mouth. He too started using the spoon alone about 12 months
As for mastering it...15-18 months i think don't really remember though

Hillbilly Housewife replied: As soon as they wanted to hold the one i was feeding them with.
I don't remember the exact age he started...... but Zach was eating on his own with a spoon by the time Emilie was borm - and he was 16 months old then.

Emilie was eating on her own with a spoon by the time we moved to Quebec... and she was about 15 months old. She regressed a bit because of our gorilla ex-sitter... but she's been fine since we fired her after our wedding in may.

mom2tripp replied: I started with Tripp about 5-6 months ago and he takes it from me, puts it in his mouth, and hands it back to me. He would rather eat with his hands still though!

GERBER makes great safe spoons and forks for toddlers

A&A'smommy replied: yeah Alyssa was around 10months old (maybe younger) and she was a pro by time she was 13 months old. Its messy but its all apart of learning!!

PhiMuMommy replied: alex used baby spoons from way early on with supervision. (he'd always grab them from me when i was feeding him anyways) i'd say about 9 months old.. but without me sitting right there he was a little over a year old.. i let him use a fork when he got good at eating meat.. so i'd say about a year and a half. i didn't write any of this down in his babybook.. so i'm guessing...

~Kellie~ replied: Luke started trying to take the spoon at around 5 months...he was eating on his own by 13 months. With Maddie, she started grabbing the spoon at around 7 months, and was feeding herself at around 18 months.

My3LilMonkeys replied: As soon as they wanted to. Madison is already grabbing the spoon from my hands - she won't feed herself for a while yet but she tries to put it in her mouth.

But don't worry - Brooke is 2 and still eats with her hands sometimes!

3_call_me_mama replied: As soon as tehy could hold one on theri own. they actually started using it to get food to their mouths about 10 months and by 13-14 months they used it full time. I gave a frok or spoon depending on what they are eating. Sometimes they still use their hands (even cameron who's 3 btu most of the time he uses the fork as does KathleenZ)

MyLuvBugs replied: We just started introducing them to Lorelei. She's got the part of scooping up the food, but then she grabs it off the spoon or spork with the other hand and eats it. OH WELL! lol They gotta start somewhere. Just remember to be patient.

Mom2Boyz replied: I think Conner was around 9 or 10 months old when I first gave it to him, and by 13 months he was REALLY good with it. He's always done alot better with a fork than a spoon, so that is what he uses most of the time. He is 2 now, and still uses his hands sometimes though.

kimberley replied: i bought a bunch of plastic kids ones and gave them to her with her meals from a year old or so. she felt like a big girl but mostly ended up using her hands because food kept falling off lol. she is good with both now.

Sarah&Mackenzie replied: I am going to buy some of those gerber toddler spoons this week when I go shopping and give it a go. She already makes a mess, when the litte stinker is done eating she throws her food on the floor for the dog.

Insanemomof3 replied:
LOL at least you have a dog for that. I gave my kids utensils at about 12 months. Tristan is 3 now and is really good with them, hardly uses his hands at all. Demetri uses his fork/spoon AND his hands. LOL