Spoon: How to Teach?

For successful learning, two key things are required: the readiness of the mother and the readiness of the baby.

Mom:

• You must accept the fact that if you give a spoon to a baby, then a mess and porridge on all surfaces of the kitchen are inevitable.
• There are two scenarios for interacting with a spoon:
  • You give complete freedom of action, and the baby eventually begins to eat with a spoon on their own.
  • You feed the baby yourself, choosing cleanliness in the kitchen.

Baby:

• The desire to use a spoon independently appears around one year old.
• Of course, if parents are overly scrupulous or neat and never give a spoon in their hands, the desire appears much later. Conversely, if they give complete freedom from the beginning of complementary feeding, the baby begins to use a spoon earlier.

In any case, you need to be prepared for the fact that porridge and puree will not only get into your mouth. It is important to be patient and calm about temporary untidiness. Four more important points to know:

1. Four Hands: The baby will slap the spoon on the puree, smear it on the plate, drop it, trying to bring most of the food to their mouth, but the rest will remain on the table, floor, and hair. Therefore, it makes sense to give the baby one spoon and feed them with the second. Prepare another spoon just in case, because the one you have in your hands may also be eyed.
2. Closed Mouth: Don't be surprised if the baby closes their mouth at first. It is not easy for babies to coordinate two dissimilar movements. You can help them by gently saying, over and over again, the order of actions: "Scoop up the porridge, and now open your mouth."
3. Eating with Hands is Not Always Good: When a baby wants to be independent, they quickly lose patience, and they have a desire to throw the spoon and continue eating with their hands. If the food is cut into pieces, this option is sometimes acceptable. But puree or porridge should not be allowed to be eaten with hands. It is important to instill the skills of cultural behavior at the table from infancy, based, of course, on the age characteristics of the child.
4. Don't Rush Things: After practicing with a spoon for a couple of days, the baby may abandon it for a long time. This should not be taken as a retreat from the goal. If they want their mother to feed them, go towards them. The baby needs to catch their breath before the next leap. Child development always involves small periods of regression. It is important to be able to evaluate the baby's efforts, even if they did not lead to immediate success.

If the baby does not show a desire to eat independently for too long, it is worth asking why this is happening. Often this behavior is associated with the mother's unwillingness to notice the baby's impulses for independence, unpreparedness. Such an attempt to keep the child "at the breast," as a rule, is unconscious, but the baby catches the message and tries to adjust, that is, to remain in a dependent position longer.