Using a spoon

Introduce a spoon between 9 and 12 months. Initially your child will play with it but eventually they will make an association between the utensil and eating.

Self-feeding involves both finger feeding and feeding self with a spoon/fork. As young children practice holding the bottle to drink and then learn to sit and finger feed, they are preparing for the next step, spoon feeding.

Present the spoon in play to your child. While you are feeding them, encourage them to have their own spoon to hold. They will hold it, bang it, and mouth it and if food happens to be on the spoon and survives the shaking, banging or tapping, the child may get a taste while mouthing the spoon.

Putting sticky foods such as honey, jam, peanut butter, mashed potato and colourful purees onto the spoon will increase the chance of the food still being on the spoon when it arrives at the child’s mouth. This ‘reward’ of the taste of the food, will encourage the child to try to lift the spoon to their mouth again.

A bowl or plate with a raised edge can give child something to scoop against, helping to get food on to the spoon and keeping the food contained in the bowl.

Short and wide spoon handles can help increase control.

A wider bowl may be easier for a child to use with limited wrist control.

The spoon can be flat or deep. The flat spoon makes it easier for the child to use the upper lip to remove the food. With a deeper spoon, the food does not fall off the spoon so easily and may be better for a self-feeder.

Spoon handles that are bent can be easier for children to use to guide the spoon to the mouth.

When your child is happy to hold the spoon and place it in their mouth, help to guide them in holding the loaded spoon. Assist them by supporting either at the elbow, if they can hold the spoon, or by using your hand over theirs to feel the movements they need to make. Gradually aim to give less and less help. They may need you to place the spoon in their hand to make the correct grip at this stage.

Allow your child to finish off what’s left in the bowl to practise self-feeding if you do not want all the food spilled.