Teaching a toddler to self feed.

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

My two year old son is very interested in feeding himself. He often refuses to eat if my husband and I try to feed him, or he puts up a big fight about it. He's very content feeding himself, but his technique for holding a spoon is wrong. He scoops up food with his spoon, but he turns the spoon upside down before it gets to his mouth. It takes him forever to eat his food this way because he only gets to eat the few pieces of food that happened to stick to the spoon. I've tried to help him by holding on the the spoon with him and showing him how to hold it, but he gets very upset whenever I touch his spoon. He seems to want to maintain complete control over his spoon. Does anyone have any tips on how I might be able to teach him to hold his spoon properly?

[trotsky]

1. Take a look at this!

http://www.baby-wise.com/product_info.php?products_id=124

The "Less Mess Toddler Spoon"!

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

3. Thanks for the recommendation.

I went out and bought a pair of these spoons at Target. It worked really well with yogurt, but not as well with spaghetti-o's, as far as the food sticking to the spoon feature goes. The angle of the handle seems to be helping him to hold to the spoon better, meaning he is sometimes able to keep the spoon upright long enough to get the food to his mouth, especially when he uses it in his left hand.

[wildeyed]

2. Let him do it himself.

He will get better by practicing. My two year old not only wants to feed himself, he want to get in and out of the car seat on his own (takes forever, but he can do it), brush his teeth (poorly) and dress and undress himself (disaster). On the plus side, I am hoping he will actually learn to do these tasks for himself so I have less work. My daughter, who is four now, is a more passive child and prefers that I do many things for her that she is capable of doing herself.

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

4. My son wants to brush his teeth too.

However, he doesn't really understand the point of brushing teeth. He seems to think the idea is to eat the toothpaste off of the toothbrush (he uses the infant/toddler toothpaste). I let him do it himself a few times, and he destroyed the bristles on the brush because he was chewing on it. I have his Dad hold on to him while I brush his teeth for him.

[wildeyed]

7. We are in the same phase.

I let him 'brush' for a while, then mommy takes over to finish the job.

[cally]

5. He'll learn by trying and failing

My advice is to just give him the spoon, the food, and be prepared to clean up the mess. ;-) Teach about manners in several months or a year. All humans are smart enough to get the food to our mouths.

[fortyfeetunder]

6. Trial and error, it's so much fun

Holding the spoon properly is a fine motor skill, so take your time with it. I'd say trial and error is the best method. Your son will learn soon enough!

In the meantime, make finger foods in toddler sized bites available so he can develop those fine motor skills. Cheerios is perfect.

[Killarney]

8. I'd say just let him keep at it and he'll get better.

Also, you could focus on foods that stick to the spoon better rather than sliding off.

For instance, my son (also 2) loves yogurt and will not let me feed it to him. I buy a kind from Dannon that's thicker (almost like custard) and it doesn't slip off the spoon.

Also, he likes elbows & spaghetti sauce but they slip off the spoon very easily, so I sprinkle parmesian cheese on it and it makes it stick to the spoon easier for him.