Miles just wants that spoon!

[newmothermary]

Miles is 10 mos old and is eating solids. First, I offer the mush stuff then I got on the BLW wagon. But he's not really eating a whole lot on his own so I tried to give him some mush on the side. Only now, he wouldn't let me spoon feed him because everytime I try, he want to take the spoon from me. I tried putting some on the spoon and let him feed himself but its a BIG mess, iykwim.

Not sure where to go from here. Should I not be concerned that he isn't eating a lot on his own at this point? Bm is still his main food source which will really bode well when mil comes in feb. Ha!

[treegardner]

Have you tried giving hi his own spoon to hold while you feed him? We had some success with this.

[Abraisme]

It doesn't really matter that your LO isn't eating much yet. Some kids really aren't that ready for solids until 12mo+. I think forcing food if your baby isn't ready can cause more harm than good. Just keep offering him foods, one day soon it will click on and he'll start shoveling food in.

[Ruthla]

I would let him take the spoon to feed himself when you have the time and energy to deal with the mess (say, at whatever meal is right before bathtime.) At other times, I'd skip the purees and let him eat as little as he wants to with self-feeding.

Assuming he's normal and healthy, and you're not having any milk supply problems, you can trust him to self-feed as much food as he actually NEEDS. If he's hungry, he'll get the food into his mouth and swallow it.

[blumooned]

When we do something that needs a spoon (yogurt, applesauce, etc.), I give DS one spoon to hold and I use another one to feed him - this helps a lot! Sometimes I put food on the one I give him, but usually not.
Also, sometimes I use a finger food chunk and dip it in the mushy food, then he can still feed himself. This is messy, though.

[lifeguard]

It was about that point that I gave up trying to spoonfeed ds. I give him a spoon & let him make a mess. Now at 14 months he is absolutely proficient with a spoon & a fork.

I did find that after he was finished experimenting & trying with the spoon he would let me finish up the meal by spoonfeeding him some.

I found ds around 11-12 months went very suddenly from really just experimenting with foods to it being his main food source & it happened very naturally.