11 Month Old Still Doesn't Feed Himself

kemocloud · October 2013

Help! My 11 month old still will not feed himself simple finger foods. He picks them up, but will not bring them to his mouth. I know he likes them, because he eats them just fine when they are feed to him. Is there anything I can do to encourage him to feed himself? I try to give him time to practice, but he just sits and screams if I don't start feeding him.

rjeller32 · October 2013

Let him figure it out is what I would do. Mine both would get really frustrated, but eventually if I let them sit there and try, they would figure it out. It's not going to hurt them to throw a tizzy, because nutritionally they still rely on FF or BM, so finger foods are just practice.

leesa031906 · October 2013

my daughter is the same way, she wont eat foods herself. she'll pick them up, hold it and then just throw it on the floor. I am not sure what to do anymore.

christinasullie37 · October 2013

I have the same problem with my one year old but in addition she also will not let me soon feed her or feed her the little pieces

mamato3girls · October 2013

Sit with him and show him. Put some in your mouth, talk about it and mimic what he should be doing. He will catch on.

cvpis4me · October 2013

Our 10 month old is the same way. She also hates holding her own bottles because her hands are more useful when they cover her face while she's eating lol. The ONLY thing she will put in her mouth (besides all the non-food stuff she's not supposed to have in her mouth) are Baby Mum Mum's. I'm not sure what it is about those crackers but she will feed herself those. Have you tried food with different textures to see if that's the issue?

hmontty · November 2013

I agree with PP. At 11 months, the kid needs to figure this out!

Have you tried putting the food in his fingers and bringing his hand to his mouth?

Is he doing OK with his pincer? Is he able to pick up the food? If so, I would guide him a number of times and then try again on his own.

Destinyofcourse · November 2013

My 10month old will feed himself finger foods but not with a spoon. He just chews on it. My experience is they are advanced in some things and slower in others.. I wouldn't worry

vrj0522 · November 2013

DS was about a year before he was interested in feeding himself. I would just put the food on his tray and feed him. Eventually he became interested enough to try to do it himself. I wasn't concerned. He is also just now learning to eat with a spoon... once again not concerned. My mindset is that as long as there are no signs that should be of concern (signs of autism or speech delay signs for example) then they will learn to do everything at their own pace.

My son was an early walker and we didn't even encourage it. They will just learn to do things when they are ready. With that however, I see nothing wrong with encouraging development, like showing him how to do it.

jmjb2008 · November 2013

I agree with the PP that said to show him how and use his hands to feed him instead of yours. Babies are such copiers at this age that he should figure it out if you teach him.

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