Should i spoon feed my toddler

This is just part of the learning process. Your toddler probably won't understand what's wrong with making a mess yet, so let her freely explore her food if you can. Investing in a wipe-clean mat to go under her highchair can make clearing up quicker and easier. But don't worry, it won't be messy forever! Bear in mind that your toddler experiences something new each day. She may have taken her first steps or said her first words. Using a spoon is just another thing to explore. Enter your due date or child's birthday dd 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 mm Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec yyyy Trying to conceive?

Many families love sharing some of the family meal with their babies to give them a chance to explore flavors and textures, and discover new sensations involved in eating. As the website for Dr. Sears noted, once your baby starts a major independence streak around 12 months , they'll want to do everything on their own. While this may not be entirely effective, it is a good way for them to learn and practice the skills needed to feed themselves. A good way to start is to prepare a a bite ready for them in a spoon, and help guide that spoon to their mouths while they hold it.

Practicing poking larger pieces of fruit or vegetables with a blunt fork is also a great learning activity. Taking advantage of their focus and determination at this age is a good idea, as you'll be working with their will instead of against it. Hey Jeanne, We understand how difficult this can be! But you are definitely on the right track with buying the puffs and other meltable items. You can also make sure that he is getting some play with foods outside of mealtimes to just touch and explore as this can be really helpful along the way!

We have a free workshop that can help with getting him past the gagging! I have started solids before 6 months and my son eats nicely in the morning, but when I give him anything during evening or night time he never opens his mouth and will become fussy.

I tries finger foods as well and he threw everything down. Can you help me with that. Hey Isha, Thanks for reaching out! Sounds like your doing some great things, if he is eating in the morning. Here is an article all about scheduling of foods. Best, Desiree. I need help. My 2 year 4 month old daughter will not eat from the spoon unless I feed it to her. She hates sitting in her chair at the table to eat and just throws her spoon on the ground. She hates getting her fingers dirty n wont finger feed with liquidy foods.

Hey Candi, Have you tried playing with a spoon outside of mealtimes to get her used to the feel and how to complete the scooping part? I know how frustrating throwing of utensils can be and sounds like your doing a great job at trying to teach her! I started right after you suggested it.

She has baby dolls and I have been taking different kinds of spoons and pretending to scoop food out of a bowl and feed it to her dollies. Then I take the dollies hand and have them scoop the food out and into their mouths. She has been at least taking the play spoon and putting it into her mouth when she wants to.

During meals, have the spoon pre-loaded and see if she picks it up like she does during play! Keep us posted! Very informative post!! My baby is 9 months. We started purees at 6 months, the usual baby rice cereal, pear, apple sauce, pumpkin etc. I would possibly get 2 baby spoons in at a sitting. At 7 months my child health nurse suggested I start trying 3 meals a day instead of 1, and offering mixed purees with lumps as well as finger foods such as cucumber sticks, cut strawberry or toast soldiers so my baby can easily feed herself.

She is now almost 9 months…. Sometimes she may let me give her baby spoons at the most.. She is frustrated quickly…. Any tips would be appreciated. Some babies definitely eat far less. At a minimum, I would keep offering. Try adding stronger flavors or making food blander.

Does she respond to one over the other? One of my kids ate a spicy lamb stew that my mom made for dinner and we pureed it in the blender for him, he refused all regular baby foods. Focus on the table foods and definitely check out how to transition to table foods for more tips! Hope you are doing good? My love is 22 months old.

Still he is taking his food by own. I am spoon feeding. But he if I gv him fruits he lleat by himself. Our stable food is rice. But he always refuse to eat that.

I am forcing him to eat every time and still he is not chewing the food but he chewing well what he takes own.. Pl help me out.. He can learn to eat rice, but that is more difficult for some babies. Hello, hoping you can offer some advice. My son just turned 3 years old. He has been receiving OT for a year now. He is verbal and understands commands. He will finger feed himself dry foods only, he can drink out of open cups, and straws. He can eat foods that are easy to stab with a fork.

He can sometimes eat foods with a spoon without hand over hand. He does have some sensory issues on his face, so we have tons of napkins for every meal. Our issues are more behavioral. Getting him to sit and feed himself an entire meal is close to impossible. He can undo his seat belt and climb out of his highchair.

Letting him sit at the table with us leads to him trying to stand on his chair or run away. So leaving him go, and not feeding him while he runs around the house can mean possible dehydration.

So I end up chasing him around trying to get him to eat. Do you have any suggestions of things I could try to help him? Thank you! I totally get where you are and this can be so overwhelming! As I listen to your story, I think he could really benefit from a sensory diet. He may benefit from using tools like a weighted lap pad, a wiggle seat, or proprioceptive activities beforehand or during the meal.

I have a guide for weighted lap pads here and I have a new post coming out next week about the wiggle seats. Lastly, I have this post on how to keep your child seated for meals. We, as parents are frustrated now. We made mistake of spoon feeding our 2 year 2 months old boy. Still he does not eat easily- needs some distraction like colors, toys, screen to eat food. Each meal is minimum of an hours when he does not eat a large meal.

So every evening is about cooking and then feeding him mainly after whole day of work. And weekends same cycle for all three meals so all weekend is only at his service. It works sometimes if he is hungry for a lil time. I really really want him to develop interest in food and start eating by himself! Please help and suggest a way to be followed. I know how frustrating that can be! I have a free picky eating workshop that I think would be really helpful for you.

You can sign up here. I think these are the first steps you need to take. My little one is about 16 months. He self feeds some of his favorite food like crackers, cheese, gold fish, fruits etc. Its a dilemma for me because it is him eating some food versus not eating at all. He goes to day car and the same story continues, he does well with his snacks and fruits but not with the main course. How do I encourage him to eat by himself and how do I deal with the quantity that he eats is enough for him or not?

This age is all about learning to use a spoon. He probably just still needs some help, but if you become more concerned, I would definitely check with your doctor. I have this post on Toddler Portion Sizes that I think will answer your other question. Hi Alisha! First off thank you so much for all the information. He only eats them when I put them in his mouth. I have tried hand over hand with him, but when I do that he gets frustrated and throws the puff on the floor.

What can I do to help him feed himself the puffs? Should I wait till he feeds himself before I start introducing new finger foods? Any information is so greatly appreciated! Thank you!! I know that sounds odd but it will help teach him the idea. My son will be 1 next week and we have been on a very wild food journey.. He will pick food up with his pincer grasp yay! He just removes it from his mouth and drops it on the floor.. Im not quite sure how to teach him to let go of the food inside his mouth.

He also is a very slow eater and can only handle one small bite at a time ie: one puff, 2 cheerios , then it takes quite some time to clear his mouth to prepare for the next bite. At this rate I feel like he will never be able to eat portion sizes or anything near the portion sizes that other toddlers eat.

He also gets intimidated by utensils at times so I feed him often with my own hands. And recently he had started acting aversive to drinking formula both from a bottle and a sippy, but he will drink water happily. I wonder if the formula hurts his belly. I just am feeling pretty stuck and want him to thrive and be happy. Any tips you can give me are greatly appreciated! It can be really challenging for kids that have been tube fed to learn to eat, this is very normal.

Of course, it can be done! He also may have some oral aversions to work through. I hope that helps a little! My son is 3 and a half years old and he still does not eat himself. He only drinks water by himself. He didnt even bite chocolate, chips etc. I am worried. Please help me so that he can chew food and take it himself. If you have any questions let me know! I am having trouble getting my daughter to eat with a spoon. Before trying to feed her from a bowl and with a spoon.

I would place her food on her tray and have her eat with her hands. She would eat but not enough as she would start to play with her food. She does not want to eat. How can i fix this. I really hope you can help me. My son is 2,5 year son old and is really really messy when he eats. He has very little patience and just crumbles everything or smears it all over himself when he gets tired of trying or is finished eating.

He is not a picky eater though. So we are on a deadline to try and help him learn to eat mess free. Hi we have a 25 month old daughter. She is a great kid but when it comes to her eating it is always hard. She eats ok with me on her own but with my wife she struggles. My wife puts her front of the TV and puts the food in her mouth as she watches the TV. I protested to this as well and now she plays games with her and tries to give her the food to hold by hand which she usually dropes.

It takes about 30 minutes to an hour to feed her in any of these various ways. I know we are doing everything wrong but my wife disagrees. I wanted to know the problems this could cause down the road so that I can explain it to my wife. Also please tell us what we should do to get everything in order and move in the right direction. I do have to say though that she is healthy physically she is 50 percentile in weight and 60 percentile in height.

Thank you in advance. There are so many kids just like your daughter that are thriving and doing well, but have a serious case of picky eating. I actually have a lot on here that I think will be really helpful. First, I want you to check out this post about distractions. Maybe you guys could watch it together?

You can sign up free here. They tend to over-eat and can further make negative associations with food. I hope that helps! My son is almost 21 months he can and will self feed with a spoon and fork if he feels like it. Most of the time he will just play with the food and spill it or throw it to the ground. He will let us feed him and will eat a decent amount but he is also very fussy. He will not eat much meat except hamburgers which is a rare treat so most of his protein comes from eggs, hummus and peanut butter.

I feel bad feeding him the same foods everyday. And, also, I have a free workshop you can take that teaches you 3 important strategies to helping kids eat better.

You can sign up for free here. I am a mom of twins. They are 16 months age adjusted. Everyday eating takes hours the mess is amazing. They refuse the suction plates they take them out of their table and poor all the food over the table top. One of them love to through down to the floor all the food. He became a really picky eater.

How I can make them keep the food in the plate? And use bibs? To be honest I might forget the plates for now and try again in a month, just give them a break. Put just a couple pieces of food at a time on their plates. As for the bibs, I know its so hard, I went through a battle with each of my kids at this age and really it just takes persistence and patience. I would always put them back on and ignore the cries, it took some time but they eventually got past it. My son is 14 months old. He is a great eater in that he eats all kinds of solid foods.

The problem is he does not self feed at all. Rather, he puts it in his high chair or drops it on the floor. I have tried to show him with Cheerios but no luck yet. Also, he rarely reaches for the spoon when we are feeding him. How do I fix this? Hi I need some advice! She screams when I try to help. She wants to be the only one with a spoon. How do I let her learn but still make sure she is getting the nutrients?

Will she allow you both to have a spoon? Give her her own bowl with a little in it while you control the bigger bowl. Hi Alisha, My son is 16 month old. He is not eating anything by himself.

I have seen him biting his toys but not picking anything from floor and eating it. But he could use his pincer grasp to pick say, peanut from floor. He just explores it and throws away.

I even tried offering his favorite finger foods on his palm when he is hungry asking him to eat it by himself. He just throws it away crying or giving it back to me expecting me to feed him.

He is a premature baby born on 34 weeks. Is this a normal thing for my son? Please assist me on what I should do to improve his eating behavior. Take his hand to his mouth so the begins to understand.

This will take a lot of repetition. Ya he eats well and eat variety of foods too. Only problem is he is not eating by himself.

Sometimes he plays with food. But he never tries taking it to mouth even when he is at the peak of hunger. I can wait even for months training him, just wanna make sure that this is not something abnormal. Thank you so much for your quick reply! He used to do good feeding himself and being independent. He keeps the food in his mouth.

He seems not to enjoy eating so much and that is stressing me out. How can I get him feed himself and enjoy his meals like he used to do? I appreciate the help! Hi Rani, Based on the little your shared here, it sounds like he is having food aversions, which can be incredibly stressful. Do me a favor, head to my start here and take a look at the couple of articles I have listed for picky eating.

I think this is a really good starting point for you. There is a way out of this! Hi,i have same problem how I can teach my 16months old to feed himself. This is very common at this age, as frustrating as it is. I will say only give him a few pieces of food at a time and be patient and consistent- not always easy, I know! My son is He loves food and is pretty good about trying different things as long as we feed him, though he takes a while to warm up to new textures.

If I put food on his tray he will carefully pick it up and hand it back to me and whine until I put it in his mouth. If I put it back on his tray he will hand it back to me, and will keep this up until I feed him or until he gets frustrated and throws it on the ground. If I walk away he will pick it up and throw it on the ground, methodically throwing every piece until his tray is empty. If I give him a larger piece of fruit a whole strawberry or a chunk of banana he will sometimes take one nibble and then he will squash it and rub it all over his tray.

Any advice? He has never been the kind of kid who puts toys or other things in his mouth except very occasionally when teething. He also had issues with feeding early on including a lip and tongue tie, which we had cut.

He never was able to suck well enough to breastfeed. Thanks for your help! He definietly needs to start getting things into his mouth. Brush his tongue, encourage him to chew on it. Get his teethers out, dip them in foods he likes. This will help immensely.

I would also consider calling early intervetnion in your state, search for that in my search bar or see the article index in the menu bar.

This is totally free, and could be really helpful. Great question! Hi, Your article is very helpful. Another big problem is that she wont accept to be fed by anyone else. What can i do to make sure she eats even when am not around her. Read there and click through to eating basics.

Make sure you are following everyone of those items for a week or two and then we can talk about some more advanced strategies. If you are already doing that then let me know! My son is going to turn 2 next month. Whereas he eats it all if I feed him. He was making a good progress when he was 13 months but we had a nanny who started feeding him and now the situation is that he keeps waiting for us.

He refuses to eat on his own. He would eat things like cheerios,french fries etc. Basically, things that are completely non-messy and dry, he would eat. He hates it if anything gooey touches his hands. They have to be wiped immediately. Same with his face, it just cannot get dirty. We have got him enrolled into part time school now and I am wondering if we should be looking to get therapy or I am just not sure how to go about it.

Please advise. I am very tensed right now. I know it can be really stressful. It is never a bad idea to get an evaluation and see if he needs more help. Start following all of those steps. Try to have meals on the table a bit sooner, so that you have at least minutes to comfortably eat, deal with inevitable spills and messes, and spend time with your child, teaching him or her how to self-feed. When you feel rushed or stressed, you will be more tempted to spoon-feed your child, you'll be less patient and attentive, and your child will feel rushed and anxious as well.

Allowing enough time for meals takes the pressure off of everyone, and allows for a more enjoyable, relaxed meal. It also gives kids an opportunity to learn how to be more mindful and "listen to their tummies" so that they can decide when they've had enough.

Part of learning how to be an independent eater is learning how to self-regulate how fast or slow to eat, and how much to eat at any given time. Give your kids a time limit for meals about minutes and snacks minutes so that they are able to learn how to pace themselves.

If you've been spoon-feeding because you have a slow eater, try setting a timer. Give two to three warnings "there is 10 minutes left to eat your dinner! This will take some time for your child to get used to, but he will learn eventually that mealtimes aren't a two-hour ordeal. Otherwise, your child won't have a chance to build up hunger for the next meal or snack, and he or she won't know what comfortable fullness feels like either. Setting time limits at meals helps kids learn how to self-regulate.