Feeding with utensils?

Question

What's the average age toddlers begin feeding themselves exclusively w/ utensils? My daughter is 15 months. We 'practice' with the spoon, and this week started with the fork. That just made her extremely frustrated and she ended up throwing lunch on the floor;o)

What was your expierence w/ this transition? Are there any 'easy' tricks?

Answer 1

My daughter is 16 months old, and she's not too good with a fork and spoon yet either.  She can eat some things with a spoon okay.  We try to give her foods of a thick consistency that are pretty easy to get on and keep on the spoon.  For example, I sometimes scoop her Yo-baby yogurts into a bowl or plate and give her a spoon to eat that.  She does okay with it.  With a fork, my daughter does well with things that are easy to stab and get to her mouth, like cut up peices of pancake.  With other foods that my daughter is eating, I usually feed her with a spoon and give her a spoon as well.  That way, she gets most of her food with my help, but she manages to get a few things to her mouth on her own.  We give her tons of praise and make a big deal out of it when she does get some food to her mouth so she feels like she has really accomplished something, and it builds her confidence in herself.  Don't worry.  Fifteen months is still young.  Don't pressure your daughter.  Just try to make it fun, and give her lots of opportunities to practice.  Good luck!!

Answer 2

mine is 17 months now and we have intoduces the fork and spoon. she tried hard, but the concept is frustrating for them.. just keep trying. if she throws it, dont give it back to her, and you feed her.

You can try holding her hand with the fork in it, and showing her how its done. the think with the plastic toddler forks is that the tips are rounded and makes it hard to stab the food, therefore making it that much more frustraing for them. By the age of 2 or so, they should have a good control over utensil feeding themself.