When could yours feed himself/herself?

[kellyds]

Joshua is eleven months old. With all of my other kids, I've plopped them in a high chair as soon as they could manage to sit and they've been responsible for getting the majority of their own food to their mouths (at five or six months old).

Joshua has NO pincer grip and still can't sit well enough for a high chair. I put him in a reclining seat to feed him, because he swallows more easily if he's sort of reclining. He'll use a Safe Feeder (that thing where you put the food in a mesh bag), because he can hold it between the palms of his hands. Other than that, I spoon-feed him. He's cooperative and opens his mouth when he sees the spoon . . . attempts to chew with his two teeth . . . still, I'm curious how long I can expect to feed him? He can eat tiny chunks of other things now, not just baby food, so I break of little pieces of cheese or bread and stick them in his mouth.

[ValerieC]

Kelly,

If I remember correctly, Alethea's pincher grasp developed around her 1st birthday. As I saw her able to scoop and grap, I required more and more her independence in self feeding. Yet, really, not until I'm guessing around 18 months did she begin to feed completely independently.

Actually, as I'm typing I'm remembering the first time I let her go with a spoon to see her abilities was in a Cracker Barrel last July on the way home from Tenn. That would make her 1 year and 9 months (21 months) when I made her begin to eat primarily on her own. At times I still help, but very rarely as she won't let me now!

She was drinking out of an open cup on her own 22 months. No help from mommy whatsoever! She's amazing with that!

Hope my rambling thought process helps. BTW, she's 26 months old now.

Valerie C

[Jackie]

If I remember back" when."..Emily needed a bit of a kick start compared to her SIBs...but...boy am I sorry I ever did that as now at age 25 we are trying to get about 80lbs OFF of her...LOL

Jackie mom to Emily 25

[Chris]

Sarah's fine motor skills are very delayed and feeding has always been a problem. She is four and can finally feed herself using a spoon or fork. She has made so much progress since September. ;D Remember, our kids all have their own time table so it is difficult to predict when they will reach certain milestones.

My only advice is that you keep encouraging Joshua to self-feed and give him a big variety of foods. I don't think you can really expect much until he is able to sit with some stability in his highchair. I know that it is very important for kids to have to correct posture to eat correctly.

Chris

[ethansmammy]

Hi,

It was at around a year - maybe earlier that Ethan fed himself 'bits' like banana and cheerios - he did it by using all his fingers to grasp the food into the Palm of his hand and then eat out of the palm (hope that makes sense). He eventually used the pincer grip but it was some time later - he is 4 1/2 now and we are still working on that to some extent. Ethan has been using a spoon from very early, I gave him a spoon for 'thick' foods like minigo that he just had to dip the spoon in to get some on and then put it in his mouth, this worked very well and we just went from there. I personally think the sooner you can start the better but obviously being able to sit up in the high chair is a must. I would maybe try little bits of eg. banana in a cup that you could hold for Joshua so he doesn't have to reach from his reclining position for it, and its sticky so some is bound to stick and then it automatically goes to the mouth. Ethan eats very well now and drinks from a regular cup and we rarely have spills. Joshua will get it soon I'm sure, and then like me you won't be able to remember the exact time when he did

[Emilysmom]

Emily was pretty "late" in self feeding, but I'm pretty sure she COULD have been doing it much much earlier......IF her mom wouldn't have been so overly concerned about NEATNESS!!! I've always had a hard time with that, and Emily being a GIRL made me even more obsessive about it! I sort of went overboard shopping for cute clothes for her and even MORE overboard in protecting those cute clothes from getting dirty. So, SIGH.......I didn't give my girl the opportunities for self feeding as early as I should have. I think she was eating Cheerios and other finger foods between 14-18 months......but didn't have a good pincer grasp that early. She would sort of curl her palm around the food and pick it up that way.

I think, if I had it to do over again with her, I would have given her lots more chances to do whatever it took to get her food into her mouth.....even if it was very messy. I know that it took her much longer to use a spoon than it did a fork. She loved eating foods with a fork.......MUCH easier to just stab the food and eat it!

Susan

[andrewsmom]

I think Andrew was around 13 months or so before he would put food in his mouth on his own. He is now 22 months and has just begun using a pincer grasp, before he would scoop up the food in his whole hand and shove it in his mouth using his palm. He still can not use a spoon or fork on his own.
Before he could get any food in his mouth I would put it in for him. As a matter of fact, that is how I know when he is sick because he won't pick up his own food but will look at me and open his mouth for ME to put it in LOL!
-Trisha

[momofrussell]

My first sentence would just JUST like Susan's first sentence LOL. Russell was 3 when we really started focusing on self feeding. The PT worked on it with him since he was around 2 or so, but Russell never did finger foods (still doesn't) and due to the chronic reflux, I control the amount of food going in, that is why I fed him for so long. Slower in, less out. At 3 we moved to the midwest, Reece was 9 months... so when Reece turned 1 (Russell was 3 1/2) I decided to do both of them at the same time in regards to self feed. Made my life easier. Russell is still rusty on the fork and poking.. he is a champion SCOOOPER though!

Russell's pincer grasp is still on the week side. And things like writing, zippers, ect.. he doesn't have alot of interest in so that probably comes into play with this. He is a bit on the lazy side and due to the Autism and stimming.. does what he knows. But we work on it.

I think you are headed in the rigth direction. Even with Russell, I did like you did.. you put them in the chair and give them some food and utensils and go at it! It may take more guidance or a bit longer then a typical child.. who knows... but I think you are doing good! Keep at it!

A.

[kwisteena1021]

Kelly, my daughter Kallie did the pincer grasp or the scooping of food with her whole hand at or around a year of age. For feeding herself with a spoon and fork she did when she was 2. LOL I ran and grabbed the camera and have pictures of it...but I don't have a scanner to share! Good luck with it and just keep encouraging it..He will get it!

[marisa]

Laura was about a year old when she started self feeding herself with her hands. She still does not use untensils and we are nowhere near that stage yet. She will just bang the spoon on the table and I am way to scared to give her a fork.

Also, I can not give her a plate of food and expect her to eat at an appropriate rate. She will shove as much as she can in her mouth and throw the rest on the floor. So I give her one or 2 bits of whatever, let her pick it up, eat and finish before I give her more. I believe she gets overwhelmed when there are too many options for her. She will do the same with blocks.... throw them all over if I give her too many. If I just give her a few she will stack and play with them. Hope that makes so sense.

We are consentrating on using a straw now.

Marisa

[meghans_mom]

Kelly
I can't remember on MM, but I think about a year old as well.
Ask your OT & Speech therapist to do a joint session together. They can work on positioning and feeding issues at the same time. They can help you modify spoons, forks, seating, using rice bags or rolled up towels.
We had a few joint sessions and "built up" the high chair so MM could sit comfortably. I made a few rice bags (put rice in plastic bags then inside tube socks) and we molded them around MM and we also built up the footrest thing w/ a block of wood covered w/ electrical tape.
The joint sessions were VERY helpful!!
ask & see if they'll do the same for you.
best of luck - laurie

[Jackie]

Just remembered something funny about feeding. I do think at a year Emily was dipping her spoon in sticky stuff and eating off of it...but I discovered with my OTHER kids that giving them a baby fork allowed them to eat in a less messy manner as soon as they figured out the relationship of spearing things.

I did the same with Emily ...but...it backfired ...cuz when we moved to Amarillo and she had to undergo "testing" to be certfied as eligible for early childhood intervention...apparently EATING WITH A FORK at age 2...raised her scores so high that she didn't qualify for services... ;D

It took some "creative" documentation and a lot of "get reals" on my part to get her eligible.

But as I said earlier...at 25...she has no trouble getting food into her mouth.................

Jackie mom to Emily 25

[Chester]

JT will be four in March. Can he feed himself? Yes, but is it pretty......no. He has gotten much better with using a fork and sppon, but when that doesn't go fast enough he's not above digging in with his hands.

When he was around a year old, we were really pushing cheerios. We thought he just wasn't capable of picking them up. Wrong, he was just holding out for sweeter foods. He still to this day won't eat a cheerio.

[Valerie]

I had to get my baby book out! I have written that he was feeding himself things like crackers/cheerios at 9 mos, used a spoon to eat at 14 mos old. He started drinking out of a regular cup last summer, so just over 2 yrs old.

He was pretty messy, too, but I wanted that boy to be able to feed himself! So we dealt with the mess!

He can eat very well with a fork and spoon now, but part way through he'll put it down and start eating with his hands. We'll put the utensil back in his food and he'll start in with it again.

[ValerieC]

That's funny Valerie and Chester!

Alethea is the same...very capable of the spoon and fork, but has to be REMINDED to use them and not her pretty little fingers. Hands are so much easier aren't they!?