The frustrations of spoon-feeding a 10mo old

[Bethusila]

I have been offering my 10 mo old finger foods for a couple months now, all sorts of fruits, veggies, pasta, etc.  Early on, sometimes we just put spoonfuls of chunky purees on her tray and let her go, and whatever ended up in her mouth worked for us.  Then we'd wipe everything down.  However, there are some things that are still necessary to spoon-feed, such as yogurt, applesauce, etc.  A couple of months ago it was a quick and easy operation, but now she wants to feed herself and she is pretty quick at intercepting spoons.  Every mealtime is becoming a huge, messy ordeal.

I don't have a lot of mommy friends I can ask about this sort of thing.  This is my first child, and I'm not even really sure where we're supposed to be food-wise, as far as self-feeding and behavior.  Maybe it's just a fact of life that every mealtime with a 10 month old ends with a washrag and a complete clothing change.  It is important to me that she gets a variety of healthy foods, and a lot of experience self-feeding, but sometimes a quick and clean meal would be ideal. 

If anyone has any insight on feeding a child this age and what I should be able to expect, please share!  I always feel so in the dark about stuff like this.

[nilatti]

With my son, here's how we do those spoon-required foods.

1) Put a pile of cheerios on the high chair tray.

2) Wait while he plays with them and eats some-- 3-5 mins.

3) Offer the spoonful of food WHEN BOTH HIS HANDS HAVE CHEERIOS IN THEM.

Works every time (and also with other fingerfoods--cheerios are just easy)

[JulieInChicago]

interesting that you say this.  i'm in the same boat- first kid, no mommie friends.  we spoonfed baby food until 2-3 weeks ago and my son is nearly 12 mos.  He hasn't really tried to spoonfeed himself, though he does grab the spoon once we're done.

At what age should he be spoonfeeding himself?

[BabySmurf]

I just started trying to spoon feed my 10 month old, and it's SO MESSY! Well, actually everything is messy. DS will fight me for the spoon regardless of whether or not he is holding something else, lol.  I even try giving him his own spoon, but that doesn't always work either.  He has been able to feed himself, after I have put food on the spoon, but it is most definitely by accident.  and more because he wants to chew on the spoon, rather than eat the food on the spoon.  I don't think neatly eating off of utensils is any where near our immediate future!

[gitanamama]

I'd say you're right on track--I think whenever a baby starts to express interest in self feeding, it's a good time to let them try. That said, I know how terribly messy and frustrating it can be! I almost dread feeding my son (16 months) "spoon foods" because I know how much cleanup will be involved afterwards. I've been trying to stick with less messy foods, such as thick oatmeal, mashed potatoes, and even dry cereal. I've found if I mix some powdered oat cereal into applesauce it makes a thicker consistency that tends to stay on the spoon better. And we've switched to kefir in a sippy cup instead of yogurt.  When my son was younger, I found that it was really important for him to have something in his hands--either a toy or finger food---to prevent him from tying to intercept the spoon. I often still slip a few bites in his mouth while he's busy trying to get food on his own spoon. 

I've also seen rain jacket style bibs that cover baby's whole arms and chest---they help prevent the need to change clothes after meals--but we haven't tried one. It's definitely a messy period but it sounds like your little one is an early developer (my son didn't even express interest in self feeding until he was 12 months) so hopefully she'll master spoon feeding relatively quickly. 

[lifeguard]

I pretty much never spoonfed ds. I put food on his tray & let him have at it. I found the concept of "food before one is just for fun" made me much more relaxed about it. I never worried about how much actually made it into him knowing he was getting enough nutrition just from breastmilk.

For things like yoghurt (which we didn't do a lot of admittedly) I would give him a spoon & have one for myself. Every so often I'd try to feed him some. If he wasn't cooperative I just moved on.

For meals where you don't want to do a complete clean-up for whatever reason you just need to choose less messy foods to offer him.

Fwiw - ds mastered a spoon really early & I think a big part of that was that he started practicing with a spoon so early.

[katelove]

We never really spoon fed either, although if we are eating something with a spoon and she wants some we will offer it to her on our spoon. At 16 months she is not eating from a spoon without mess but she can get some food in her mouth 

For messy stuff we usually take off her clothes first. Afterwards we just wipe her with a warm washer and pop her clothes back on.

[IzzyTheTerrible]

I also use the Cheerio method when I'm in a bit of a hurry, it works like a charm.  Especially since he's already opening his mouth for the Cheerio and since he lacks coordination, it's pretty easy to sneak a spoon on by. 

My favorite method is the 2 spoon method.  I grab one for him and one for me. At first I was trying to help him guide it in with the food on it, but somehow a 7 month old is stronger than me or something, and usually the food just ended up in my face, or on the dog.    So now I just knock whatever food is on the spoon off and let him have it.  Then, I grab up the backup (or rather, the spoon I intended to use all along). 

Works like a charm, my husband even started doing it. 

[kinkajoujou]

I agree with PPs, if the child is expressing interest in trying, maybe you should let him/ her have a go at it. Try giving the child one spoon to play with and use one yourself for feeding. Or, if he/she will let you do it, you can hold their hand and guide it to the mouth (I call that damage control ). And I think it's a good thing to let them experiment with their fingers a little as well, they love to feel the different thickness and consistency of the foods.