Each skill has its own time. This rule also applies to the use of cutlery. And although parents want to quickly instill in the child the skills of self-service, you must first find out when and how to teach the child to eat with a spoon on their own. When this skill arises, it will depend on mom and dad. The more custody on the part of adults, the later this skill will appear in the child's arsenal. And on the contrary, a crumb, whose independence is welcomed in every possible way, will quickly begin to wield cutlery.
Teaching a child to use a spoon is not always possible without various misfires. Mom needs to be patient, as meals will become longer, and the process of instilling the skill will take more than one week.
You should be mentally prepared for the fact that the baby will start to dirty everything around, including himself. Mom will have to clean up a lot, wash the baby's face. However, such problems are overcome, but each spoon brings the child closer to independence.
Optimal age
It is important to understand that the exact dates when the child will start eating from a spoon on their own is rather difficult to name, since there are simply no specific age limits and parameters.
Of course, there is averaged data that at 1 year old a child should hold a spoon firmly, and at 18 months of age he can confidently wield this tableware. But since the baby develops at its own pace, the timing of the appearance of this skill is individual.
Some children, already at 8 - 10 months old, are quite adept at using cutlery, sending cereals, mashed potatoes and other first-feeding dishes into their mouths, while others wait at 2 years for their parents to spoon-feed them.
And yet there is a certain pattern - by the end of infancy (12 months), the child himself tries to serve himself at the table. The increased interest in eating and copying adult behavior leads to the fact that the baby takes the spoon from the mother.
In such a situation, you cannot refuse a child. Of course, his initial attempts to try a spoonful of mashed potatoes will end in failure or a smeared face. Therefore, the task of adults is to consistently and without haste to show and explain how to properly take the cutlery and use it.
The popular teledoctor Komarovsky is convinced that there is no need to force children to use a spoon if they are not yet ready for this or they are not interested in this tableware. Excessive persistence often leads to a child's refusal to feed.
Choice of dishes
To teach a child to eat independently, you must first take care of choosing the first cutlery. The correct spoon will speed up the skill acquisition process and reduce the number of misfires.
When purchasing this cutlery you should pay attention to several important nuances:
- the most important condition is that the spoon must be safe. It is necessary to purchase cutlery in specialized children's stores, which have all the necessary certificates confirming the safety of materials;
- Do not confuse the first feeding device with a self-feeding spoon. The item of kitchen utensils required in our case should have a wide scoop so that the child cannot drop the captured food;
- Since babies at 1 year old initially grip and squeeze the spoon with their fist, it is important to take care of choosing the right holder. The handle of the utensil should be short and wide. In this case, the child will hold her tighter;
- spoons with curved handles are commercially available. It is believed that such devices are easier for young children to cope with. Another option is products with swivel holders. No matter how the child turns the handle, a special rod inside turns after it, so the collected food does not fall out. Additionally, there is a lock for locking the rod when the child grows up.
For babies from 10 months to two years old, it is better to purchase plastic spoons. They are light, bright, fit well in a child's hand, differ in a variety of shapes and sizes.
Plates and cups are also best bought from heat-resistant food grade plastic. Such dishes are lightweight, resistant to impact and falling from a height, as well as environmentally friendly. To develop nutritional skills, you should purchase a plate with a suction cup. It won't roll over.
Also, do not forget about bibs made of fabric or of an especially soft and flexible plastic material. Cloth aprons will have to be washed after each meal, plastic aprons do not need to be washed, just rinse off the drops and dry them.
Proper preparation
It is necessary to teach a child to eat with cutlery only after he has developed an interest in the process of eating. And generating interest through games, threats or cartoons is largely useless - it will not make you want to learn something.
The best way to spark interest in eating is to sit down with the whole family. The traditional dining ritual is especially important for babies who are breastfed.
In addition, the opportunity to eat food with adults is not just an interesting sight for a child and a chance to spend time with all household members, but also a kind of master class that allows you to study etiquette and the peculiarities of using cutlery.
It is important to remember that you cannot force kids to eat a prepared dish. Such coercion can disrupt the baby's digestive system and lead to mental problems. For example, to disorders such as anorexia or obesity.
It is important for parents not to miss the moment when the child begins to be interested in a spoon - mother's or father's. Seeing that the baby wants to hold this object himself, it is necessary to give out a specially purchased plastic spoon and thereby start training.
If you catch the moment correctly, then we can say with some certainty that already at 18 - 20 months a child will be able to eat sparse cottage cheese, porridge and even soup himself.
If the baby is trying to take a spoon from the hands of an adult already at the beginning of feeding, there is no need to prevent this. Also, do not interfere if the baby pulls the hands, trying to take a piece of the dish from the plate of mom or dad. This is another manifestation of interest in food.
The learning process will take some time, because it is necessary not only to teach the child to hold a spoon correctly, but also to bring the food to the mouth, and chew it thoroughly. Mistakes during this period are inevitable, as the baby will only become an "experienced" eater.
How to teach a child to eat with a spoon?
A kid cannot exist in isolation and at the same time learn various useful skills. The task of parents is to demonstrate actions with objects, preferably sequentially and in stages.
In the case of teaching a child to a spoon, there is also a certain sequence of actions that includes several important steps:
- Place an oilcloth on the floor near the children's chair. It is also better to cover the tabletop with something.
- The next point: put a plate with a suction cup on the table, put porridge or mashed potatoes in the dish.
- The child should put on a cap so that later do not wash his hair additionally, and tie a bib.
- Sit in front of your child, spoon some food from his cup. Swallow the porridge and do not forget to compliment yourself and the delicious dish.
- Then give the tableware to the baby. If he can't keep it in his fist, you need to squeeze a spoon in a child's palm with your hand and scoop the porridge from the cup in this way.
- If the child eats himself, but does not always bring the spoon to the mouth, you do not need to hold the child's hand. Let him learn to cope with difficulties on his own.
- When the baby gets tired of eating tableware and puts it aside, feed him, be sure to praise him for his independence.
Despite the protective apron, the child can get dirty practically from head to toe. This is why experienced moms recommend choosing summer as the best training period whenever possible. In this season, the baby can be stripped down to swimming trunks, and then washed.
Helpful hints
Teaching a child to eat and hold a spoon on their own is not such a difficult process as it might seem at first glance.
And in order to speed up and simplify the training, it is worth listening to the following recommendations of specialists and experienced parents who have already gone this way:
- It is necessary to voice the decision that the baby now eats on her own, to all household members. Otherwise, it will turn out that the mother teaches the child to hold a spoon, and when he starts visiting his grandmother, she will feed him herself. In such a situation, the learning process will be delayed.
- To become skillful, a child needs to learn to use a spoon every day. But if he is not feeling well due to illness or teething, there is no need to force him to eat on his own. On such a day, it is better to deviate from the rule and feed the crumbs from a spoon.
- The mother needs to be close to the baby while eating. Situations are different - the child gets tired, naughty, can choke on even a small piece. Therefore, it is better to sit down nearby and watch the baby.
- Teaching a child to hold a spoon is not only possible during feeding. The sandbox is perfect for training, where the kid wields a spatula. You should also play with dolls more often, explaining that they also "want to eat."
- How to quickly teach a child to spoon? It is important to choose the optimal consistency of the dish - puree, but not liquid. Cereal, vegetable puree, cottage cheese or thick cream soup are ideal. Portions should be small to maintain the desired temperature.
- If the child is not reaching for a spoon, but for a fork, let him choose this “toothy” object to start learning. It is only important to purchase a special fork with rounded edges and blunt teeth. But then the food should not be liquid, but in pieces (boiled vegetables).
For more information on when to introduce vegetable puree into a children's diet and how to properly prepare these dishes, read the children's doctor's article.
The child will be interested in the nutrition process if you decorate the dishes beautifully (make flowers, animals, emoticons) and serve them in plates with drawings on the bottoms. It is necessary to explain to the kid that at the end of lunch he will have a small surprise.
Baby etiquette
Table etiquette for preschoolers, schoolchildren and adolescents is described in more detail in another article. Be sure to read it too to get a general idea of the child's good manners.
As already noted, it is foolish to expect from a little fool that he will start eating neatly the first time. At first, the product eaten, or rather, brought to the mouth, will be everywhere - on clothes, a table and even on the floor.
However, this pattern does not mean at all that a small child does not need to be shown how to behave correctly at the table. Healthy food habits are formed already in early childhood:
- Before each meal, the baby must wash handles... This is the foundation of hygiene and should not be neglected. Mom shows the baby how to do it correctly and why it is so important (the simplest explanation is that the tummy does not hurt).
- You should not surround the eating child with numerous toys., turn on cartoons for him, trying to catch the moment when he opens his mouth. The kitchen is the perfect place to eat, but play in the nursery.
- Playing with a spoon is permissible only at the stage of getting to know the subject... Then play with cutlery should be avoided. If the crumb is spoiled, the dinner is stopped.
You can not scold the kid for careless actions. Just offer him a napkin. A trained kid from two years old will be able to wipe hands and face, naturally, as much as possible.
The solution to the question of how to teach a child to eat on his own with a spoon does not tolerate fuss. If the baby soon needs to go to the nursery, do not rush too much and literally force him to take the cutlery in the handle. Usually in a team, kids adapt faster, if, of course, they consolidate their successes at home.
And finally. There are universal principles that will be useful for a mother who wants to accustom her baby to self-service. First, do not impose unbearable demands on your child. Secondly, do not do for him those actions with which he himself copes.
