Self Feeding

Unfortunately I don't have any advice for you...We still have to feed our son, now 4 1/2 sometimes, especially the dinner meal. If it's something he loves, he'll do it on his own. If not, we have to do it. It's painful!! My daughter was great, she was doing so good feeding herself (almost 2) then one day she just stopped. So it's the same with her, if it's something she absolutely loves, she'll feed herself. If not, I have to take over and sometimes distract her with a book to get her to eat. Of course they're both old enough to understand "Feed yourself" but we have to say that repeatedly at each meal.

I agree with the other moms. Some kids just take longer to do things. My doctor had some great advice for me when my daughter was born. "you will have a lot of issues with your child as she grows up, don't make food one of them" Trust your own judgement and just keep feeding him. He'll let you know when he's ready.

You hear all kinds of ages of when children are "supposed" to feed themselves. I actually didn't pay attention to any of the "norms" and fed my son until he was 2. I guess it was mostly because maybe I was lazy in the clean up department. I have two kids 15 months apart and if I could cut corners on clean ups, I embraced those chances. Anyway, he is almost 4 now and feeds himself just as well as my daughter, who started feeding herself early. I wouldn't worry about it and if he's more comfortable having you put things in his mouth for him, then I'd just continue doing it until he shows more interest. My friend has a boy that turned 2 in July and I noticed the other day I was there that she breaks off pieces of food and feeds it to him. I don't think it's a big deal. I know it could free up a lot of time for you to do other things while he's eating, but there will be plenty of time for that down the road. Enjoy these times when he's totally dependent on you because very very soon he'll become more and more dependent.

I have heard that if they are just playing with the food then they are not ready to feed themselves just let him go at his own pace and he will eventually have a desire to feed himself.

My little one (19 months) is on the opposite end of the spectrum, she doesn't want me to feed her anything. She wants to do it all by herself. Little miss independent! She usually makes more of a mess than anything, so be happy that at least you don't have huge messes to clean up after him : )

Just a very little bit at a time, like just a couple bites on the tray at a time. He's just exploring the food with tactile sense and experiementing, but a little at a time makes less mess and he'll be more likely to eat it instead of playing the whole time.