When do they start to use a spoon/fork?

MommyToAshley wrote: Ashley grabs the spoon from me when I feed her now, but when do you let them use the spoon to get the food out of the bowl? If I gave her the bowl right now, she would use it as finger paints. haha!

jdkjd replied: Bailey just started grabbing the spoon too. I'm afraid that if she gets a hold of it that food will go flying...

MommyToAshley replied: Does she like to squish the food on the end of the spoon sometimes? hehe. Ashley will put the spoon in her mouth until she starts to get full, then she plays in her food. After it is all over her hands, she has to smear it in her hair, her forehead, the highchair, etc.... all this just in the time it takes me to grab a wash cloth and wipe her off.

jdkjd replied: Bailey's actually good at keeping her hands away from the food usually but lately has started getting more involved.

Should I let her help with the spoon? She wants to put her hands in the bowl but I think she's just curious not necessarily trying to get the food.

Do you give Ashley a bath every night? Seems like she would need it.

Hillbilly Housewife replied: Zach loves to eat, so he's generally content to sit there... patiently waiting with his mouth open.... and I feed him. I don<t as soon remove the spoon from his mouth that he's got his little beak open, waiting for more. He has no interest in grabbing the spoon, nor grabbing at the food.... although if I put pieces of food on his tray, he knows to grab them and put them in his mouth. If I let him play with a cloean spoon, he puts it in his mouth..takes is out... looks at it, then puts it back in his mouth.

jdkjd replied:
LOL

MommyToAshley replied: LOL, ZachsMom, that's cute!

MommyToAshley replied:
Ashley has grabbed the spoon almost since the beginning of when I started solids. She won't let me feed her most of the time unless she gets to put the spoon in....stubborn little bugger. hehe.

She hasn't really started playin in the food until lately. She used to blow raspberries when she was full and spray it all over me, now she grabs the food on the spoon when she is full. Any other time, she puts the spoon with the food into her mouth.

I do give Ashley a bath most nights now...I didn't used to. But, she gets soo messy. She spits up a lot still and that gets in her hair...yuck.

CantWait replied: I honestly think that's how they learn, by getting messy. I don't remember when Robbie started using his own fork and spoon????? I would think though that helping them and guiding it in their mouth while they hold it wouldn't hurt, and might help teach them.

MomofTay&Sam replied: Sam grabs everything that is in *his* range. Usually he will leave the spoon alone and go for the bowl. He is not ready for the spoon yet, maybe another month or so.

Heather replied: Alison grabs the spoon all the time. We eat a lot of finger foods (veggies, fruits, etc...) now so we don't use it as much. But when we do use the spoon, I let her have it towards the end of the meal so she can play and get use to it...she does pretty well with putting it in her mouth. But she just ends up playing with it. It is good to let them "play" with their foods for now, that is how they learn how to eat...strange, but I guess it is true!!!

mommytohaley replied: Haley can't scoop the food with a spoon by herself yet, but she wants to try. So I hold her hand while she holds the spoon and we scoop together. Then she puts the spoon in her mouth by herself. I try to give her both finger foods and spoonable foods at each meal, that way she can practice with the spoon, but still get plenty to eat with the finger foods.