Getting home from work, all you want to do is have a good rest but you can’t do that with a baby waiting to be fed. You wished your baby could eat by themselves without needing your assistance but it’s not impossible. Your baby can learn to do so if only you give them the opportunity to do so. Here are the steps to teaching your kid to self-feed.
1. Teaching your baby to self-feed with their fingers
At approximately around 8 months old, your child will start having the desire to feed themselves. They start by grabbing their food with their entire hand in a raking motion and attempt to shove all of it into their mouth. The method will be rather ineffective but just let be, they will eventually manage.
With time, they’ll start using more a few fingers to grasp food which will slowly evolve into a pincer grasp when they’re approximately around 9 months old. This particular grasp is very important for a child as it helps in developing the child’s motor skills such as writing.
You can teach them by giving them the opportunity to learn. Let them continue trying and struggling until they can get it right as this is the way for them to learn. Most kids are curious and that motivates them to attempt grabbing food and figure out putting it into their own mouth.
It’s either that or you can teach them to grasp onto food by holding up a piece of food in front of them, encouraging to grab it. Don’t let go until you see them holding it with their thumb and index finger. Spend time practising this with your child at the beginning of every meal. You will begin to see the results after some time.
2. Teaching your baby to self-feed with a spoon
With spoon feeding, you have to start by letting your child try doing it by themselves. What most parents do during their early feeding days is providing them with a spoon of their own while you feed them. This gives them a little room to develop their motor skills as well.
Hopefully, your child will try dipping their spoons into their food. It’s good to encourage them when they do so. You can also hold onto their hand to guide them. With a few more times throughout the meal, they will slowly get the hang of it after a while.
Once they’ve mastered that, you can move onto the next step by letting them have their own bowl. Most mothers don’t do this as they fear their child tossing or throwing the bowl away. You can do this by putting only a little bit of food inside, just to encourage them in trying to eat without your help.
If they do well and successfully put some food into their mouth, put more and more food into their bowl. With some time and practice, they’ll be able to eat fully by themselves before you know it. However, if your baby is not showing any interest or are having a hard time handling the spoon, help them out by holding onto their hand to guide them.
3. Teaching your kid to self-feed with a fork
The perfect time to introduce your child to a fork would be after they’ve mastered the use of spoon and the pincer grasp for self-feeding. Toddlers are usually capable of using a fork once they’re approximately around 15 to 18 months old.
Begin the lesson by handing them a safe or special fork for kids. Place it on their plate or bowl, along with food that is easy to pierce such as chicken nugget or cubes of cheese. It would be best to provide them with food that gives them higher chances of success to avoid too much frustration.
When they’re successful, they would be more motivated to keep trying. If you notice them having trouble with using the fork, as always, you should hold onto their hand and guide them for the first few times. However, give them as little help as you can to encourage some independence.
For more parenting tricks and tips, please visit Mamahood.com.sg.