I mentioned about starting Darius on Self-feeding in the post ‘After 1 year old‘. So here’s what I found and did.

Surfed and found some ‘How-To’ information on self-feeding from these websites:

1) Teaching a child self-feeding

• Since he cannot feed herself well yet from a spoon, you can help him by teaching him how to grasp it in his hand and move his hand toward his dish
• A good way to begin is to let him hold a spoon while you feed him with another spoon. Every several bites, help him load his spoon and bring it to his mouth.
• Use foods that stick well to the spoon, such as cereal, mashed potatoes, or thick mashed banana. Lots of praise and acceptance of spills encourage him to learn.

• Use a small cup at mealtimes with a small amount of milk or water (to save you work if the contents spill). Or use a cup with a no-spill lid.
• He will probably need help at first just learning to hold on to the cup without spilling and, of course, he needs your approval.

2) How To Teach a Baby to Self-feed

• Prepare the area where you are teaching the baby to feed herself. Place the highchair on a plastic mat (newspapers are useful too!) and choose a bib (probably a coverall one).
• Prepare the food and place it on a dedicated plate to teach the child to identify feeding time.
• Begin the feeding by offering the child a spoonful of food and then offering the spoon to the child. If the baby takes the spoon from you as you try to feed, give him the spoon and use another one. Until she learns to completely feed himself, you need to feed the baby once he becomes frustrated with using the spoon.

The First Day: I started with breakfast because he will be eating oatmeal with banana and it’s pretty sticky. I followed the instructions to help him grasp the spoon with his hand and scooping the food up, moving it towards his mouth. He ate it with no fuss and even giggle at my ‘transporting’ sounds, “eee..eee…eee” as I move his hand holding the spoon jerkily to his mouth and then ‘dumped’ his food, “bong!” into his open mouth. However, he didn’t want to do it anymore after a few mouthfuls. I finished feeding him.

Tools: Only the Pigeon self-feeding spoon works as the munchkin spoon is a bit too long for him to get the food into his mouth before it spills all over. I thought it was too small at first but found that he could use this better than other spoons. I did not use a dedicated plate but I use the cartoon melanine dish only for his breakfast. Thinking of getting a dedicated plate good for self-feeding for him soon.

Subsequent days, I give him a spoonful of food first, then help him grasp the Pigeon spoon. He wants to scoop but the dish isn’t so good for self-scooping. I followed the tips to load the food onto his spoon and then move his hand in the direction of his mouth. He would finish the movement on his own, aiming quite accurately.

Now, it has progressed to me scooping up the food with him holding onto the spoon and I’ll push his hand a little for him to move the spoon towards his mouth himself and he’ll eat from the spoon as if he’s eating ice-cream…hee.

He can only do this for about half the meal before he’ll put down the spoon or use it to swing here and there, getting oatmeal in his hair and all over. If some lands on his table, he’ll just do some finger painting. >.< . Most often, I would quickly clean up the table when he has done his finger painting with a damp cloth I prepared before hand, then continue with feeding him. I don’t like mess. ^_^

I still hadn’t use the coverall bib for him since it’s only the practising stage and we have not started on porridge (which is watery).

Self-Drinking: I have been letting him drink directly from the plastic cup since that post I wrote abt a month ago.

At first he didn’t quite get it and I would hold the cup for him to drink which he could drink without spilling all over. So feeling encouraged, I let him hold the cup with his two hands, bringing it to his mouth. He learnt fast and the next time, he already reached out for the cup when he sees it to try to bring it to his mouth. Sometimes, he can bring it to his mouth accurately, but sometimes, he misses and water spills all over the front because he has tilted the cup too much. From then on, it’s always the cup for drinking during mealtimes.

Tips from these websites:

• Give the child less food than you think he can eat to help him feel a sense of accomplishment.
• He can always have more put on his plate or in her cup if he finishes. Putting small amounts of food and beverage within reach of your baby helps reduce some of the messiness of this stage.
• He also has a diminished appetite at this stage, corresponding with his slower rate of growth so don’t force-feed.
• Since his appetite is not large, take advantage of snack times as well as mealtimes to provide him with nutritious foods.

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