Introducing utensils

steelerbaby29 · May 2014

My son will be 1 in two weeks, so I'm coming over from the 9-12 months board.
Just curious when did you start introducing utensils for your LO to have during meals? I started setting the plate with food on my son's high chair tray versus just setting the food on his tray. He seem to be responding well, so now I'm wondering when should I give him a spoon or fork? It makes me nervous that he will poke his eye or something lol. I have both plastic and the metal gerber spoons. Just curious to what others have used and when did you start?

=Lee=B · May 2014

Give it sooner than later. They will throw them before they start to use them...much better for a 12month old to be throwing utensils than a 24months old :-)

After they get over the throwing stage they will typically hold the fork in one hand and eat with the other hand...in time they use the fork to eat.

Let them explore and figure it out...sooner is better :-)

I've been using them since maybe 10months of age. At 14 months now my daughter effectively uses it part of the time and still just holds it the rest of the time...but she doesn't launch them :-)

steelerbaby29 · May 2014

=Lee=B said:
Give it sooner than later. They will throw them before they start to use them...much better for a 12month old to be throwing utensils than a 24months old :-)

After they get over the throwing stage they will typically hold the fork in one hand and eat with the other hand...in time they use the fork to eat.
Let them explore and figure it out...sooner is better :-)
I've been using them since maybe 10months of age. At 14 months now my daughter effectively uses it part of the time and still just holds it the rest of the time...but she doesn't launch them :-)

Do you use the all plastic type?

MomIn2013 · May 2014

We have the all plastic ones and have been giving them to DS for several months, pretty much since he started feeding himself with his fingers. Right now he sort of plays with the utensil while he eats with his other hand, but sometimes he uses his hand to put something on his fork or spoon, then is able to get it into his mouth.

ashiscute · May 2014

We started with plastic and that was around 7 or 8 mos or whatever. We switched to the metal ones once they were regularly trying to use the plastic ones to eat.

[Deleted User] · May 2014

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MommaHen1984 · May 2014

steelerbaby29 said:

Give it sooner than later. They will throw them before they start to use them...much better for a 12month old to be throwing utensils than a 24months old :-)

After they get over the throwing stage they will typically hold the fork in one hand and eat with the other hand...in time they use the fork to eat.
Let them explore and figure it out...sooner is better :-)
I've been using them since maybe 10months of age. At 14 months now my daughter effectively uses it part of the time and still just holds it the rest of the time...but she doesn't launch them :-)

This EXACTLY. DS holds his fork in one hand and shoves food in his mouth with the other. Sometimes he will use, sometimes not. He just likes to hold it.

mysticl · May 2014

I like the plastic take and toss spoons. They work really well for DS. Some days are better than others as far as him actually using them.

LisaLisa1980 · May 2014

If I'm feeding DS yogurt, I will dip it in & give him the spoon, but I don't plan on letting him spoon out yogurt on his own or use a fork. He's 13 months old & it will be a while longer before I do

kjsmith9 · May 2014

We always gave DD a little plastic spoon with her meals (started BLW at 6 months). She banged it and threw it around for awhile. Then around 11 or 12 months we started giving her pre-loaded spoons of applesauce, yogurt, etc... She started to consistently get the spoon to her mouth around 13 or 14 months.

The baby spoons are the only baby dinnerware we own (and only because we got them as a gift). We gave her a regular metal fork with meals around 12 months and she's never poked herself with it. She eats appropriately with it about 50% of the time now (will be 18 months old in a few days).

honeydew01 · May 2014

LalaMama81 said:

I gave them spoons from the get-go (6 months) and forks soon after. Just put them out and if they use them, great, if not, NBD. The longer you wait, the harder it gets, IMO.

This is our case too. I gave her spoons from the get go and forks shortly after. At first she was amused then she ignored them as she was working on her pincer grip..then at 13 months she suddenly became interested in her fork again so we worked on teaching her how to poke and grab her food, she loves it now. She pokes various stuff, shows it to us (in which case we say the name of whatever it is she has poked (ex. broccoli, carrot) and she attempts to say the word, so for us it's a language learning too), she then shoves it in her mouth.

Some days she is into using her utensils, other days she doesn't care for them and I honestly don't care how she eats as long as she is eating. I have a friend who wasn't into her kids playing with food so she didn't let them play with utensils either and then at 4 years old the kid was still being helped with using the utensils. So in my opinion the sooner you introduce them the better.

MrsLele · May 2014

We have a mini set of "real" silverware, and DD prefers it to her plastic stuff. She specifically asks for it and loves to use it.

Jackiemxoxo · May 2014

we started with plastic spoons but now dd prefers metal spoons/forks with the plastic handle. I think they are easier to handle because they are shorter and not so narrow.

LisaLisa1980 · May 2014

theresat858 said:

LalaMama81 said:

LisaLisa1980 said:

If I'm feeding DS yogurt, I will dip it in & give him the spoon, but I don't plan on letting him spoon out yogurt on his own or use a fork. He's 13 months old & it will be a while longer before I do

Why? I find that really odd.

This was my thought, too.... how can he learn to use a spoon if you don't give him the chance?

mainly because we have carpet in our dining room and him throwing around a spoon full of yogurt is not fun. He knows how to use a spoon, but what's the point in using one if he just throws it? I HAVE tried to let him try to scoop out the yogurt and he just laughs and makes a mess. He's not ready for it. The majority of his food is not "liquid" like yogurt, so he eats everything with his hands and I dont see anything wrong with that - brocoli, carrots, peppers, cheese, watermelon, strawberries etc etc.

honeydew01 · May 2014

LisaLisa1980 said:

theresat858 said:

LalaMama81 said:

LisaLisa1980 said:

If I'm feeding DS yogurt, I will dip it in & give him the spoon, but I don't plan on letting him spoon out yogurt on his own or use a fork. He's 13 months old & it will be a while longer before I do

Why? I find that really odd.

This was my thought, too.... how can he learn to use a spoon if you don't give him the chance?

mainly because we have carpet in our dining room and him throwing around a spoon full of yogurt is not fun. He knows how to use a spoon, but what's the point in using one if he just throws it? I HAVE tried to let him try to scoop out the yogurt and he just laughs and makes a mess. He's not ready for it. The majority of his food is not "liquid" like yogurt, so he eats everything with his hands and I dont see anything wrong with that - brocoli, carrots, peppers, cheese, watermelon, strawberries etc etc.

We have hard wood floors with a persian rug on it upstairs and normal carpet downstairs and DD eats at both places. What we did back when she started eating solids at 6 months old was to buy a cheap clear plastic thing (it's round and about 3 feet in diameter) at babies r us (or really you can get it anywhere) and put it underneath the high chair. It's easy to clean, you can wipe it or wash it i the tub.. Kids will throw food, their cups, utensils, etc. My DD is a very independent, "I want to do it myself" kid so after about 2 weeks of spoon feeding her she was done with it and wanted to do it herself and we let her, messy yes, very messy but I am okay with it, that's how she will learn.

honeydew01 · May 2014

LalaMama81 said:

LisaLisa1980 said:

If I'm feeding DS yogurt, I will dip it in & give him the spoon, but I don't plan on letting him spoon out yogurt on his own or use a fork. He's 13 months old & it will be a while longer before I do

Why? I find that really odd.

I thought the same thing when I read that. I don't know Lisa or her background but based on my own observation this might be a cultural thing as well. I moved to the US when I was 13 so I mostly grew up here and know what I know from growing up here and that's how I parent as well.

We gave up spoon feeding DD after about 2 weeks because DD would not tolerate being spoon fed and wanted to do it herself so we gave her the utensils and food and let her go at it. This of course meant a lot of mess, sometimes when we have tacos or chili, she looks like she has had a very bad tan! And food gets on the floor as well..so when my family comes over and sees this they almost freak out, their expression is literally wtf is happening here? why is there food on the floor (on the clear plastic mat).

My mom has passed away so I can't asked her this, but I can't imagine that they let kids eat on their own back then or maybe in my culture, this got to be true because whenever my family sees DD they can't grasp why we let her eat food on her own if she is so messy. In their minds, she must not be ready because if she was, she should be using the fork/spoon and putting the food right in her mouth. I get comments like "but she is not getting all of it in, she is playing with her food!!" I just ignore. Anyway, I'm rambling, but I just wanted to say the more I think about it, the more I think different cultures might not be comfortable letting the kid play/eat food until they're much much older..

zbeesma86 · May 2014

we started giving her utensils when she started sitting in the high chair- she didn't really start using them until 12/13 months. But she loves to hold them. And she would try to use them the older she got. I would spoon feed her purees and she would dip her spoon and suck on it. It was good practice and now she eats with a fork all by herself. Spoon we are still working on, but she's getting there- haha. She can do yogurt and applesauce in her chair with a spoon. Haven't tried cereal solo yet.

LisaLisa1980 · May 2014

Meh, I'm not worried about it. I'll focus more on it in a few months

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