How do I get my 15 month old daughter to self-feed?

Question

My daughter is 15 months and will be 16 months at the end of the month. She picks up my slippers and puts it in her mouth. She picks up her stuffed toys and puts them in her mouth. But she won't pick up food to eat. She is teething again with about 2 upper and 2 lower teeth coming out at the same time. I feed her every meal using a spoon or a fork. Sometimes, I would have to hand feed her myself because she won't even touch the food. She doesn't have a favorite food item that we can encourage to give her and let her self feed. I tried chocolate candy, bread, cereal, cookies and she won't put it in her mouth. Is there any way to make her gradually feed herself?

Answer 1

Mashed potatoes, speghetti really just try anything that will make a huge mess that she will think is fun to have her hands in.

Answer 2

First of all, don't bribe or give your baby sugary treats!!!
How about orange,apple , mango slices.
Secondly, put the food on the tray or bowl (she should be in a highchair), and leave it. Sit a few feet away at the table and eat your food. When she whines or cry, tell her that that's her food and this is Mommy's. Be consistent, don't give in. A child will not starve by missing any meals. We have a defense mechanism that says "fight or flight" and she will eat. Consistency is the key to raising & discipline kids. If they know that they can manipulate you, then they will and you'll have to start the process over & over again.

Answer 3

When you do feed her, do not make it play time. No cute sounds, no funny moves, just food time. It may be the attention she gets when you are feed her she craves!
I started my kids with finger foods at around 10 months- cheerios, bits of banana, pieces of scrambled egg. Lots of praise and happy faces when they did it themselves!
Just keep trying, put the food on her tray and sit to eat yourself. Say how good your food is, make mmmm sounds, tell her she should try it she will like it.

Answer 4

My mom said I was that way and it drove her nuts. The lightbulb finally came on for her one day when she gave me a bite of jelly donut then set it down in front of me to eat myself. I cried and pointed at it. She gave me another bite then left it there again.

She finally realized I didn't want to get my hands messy. (I'm still that way. I eat donuts and popcorn with utensils. I can't stand to have my hands sticky, dirty, messy.)

She said once she realized what was going on, she spent feeding times trying to teach me how to use utensils so I could feed myself. It took a while, but I obviously learned and didn't go hungry.

I'm trying to teach my youngest (15 months) to eat with utensils now and it's really messy and sometimes frustrating - more going on the floor and her shirt than in her mouth, but it has to be done at some point so go ahead and start now.

There's a bowl and utensil set by Baby Bjorn that is specially designed for teaching to self-feed. The spoons are easy to grip and have wide mouth parts so it makes it easy to get at least something on it. The bowl is shaped with these indentations to help with pushing food onto the spoon. Here is a link to amazon information for the bowl set:

http://www.amazon.com/BabyBjorn-Plate-and-Spoon-Green/dp/B000CSCHQK/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=baby-products&qid=1195242377&sr=8-1

My daughter picked up the concept of forks really easily. I give her lots of food that is easy to fork: Gerber Graduate raviolis, cooked carrot chunks, sliced banana pieces, etc.

Good luck!

Answer 5

Any form of gummy nutrients, even the supplementations is between the real clarification for infants choking in accordance to a countrywide survey of medical institution ER's. My nutritionist recommended me of that, so I supply my 21 month old liquid supplementations nonetheless. My daughter is hit or omit with making use of the spoon & fork. She has been making use of it extra in the time of the previous few days. ingesting along with her on the table and permitting her to observe me is the appropriate way for her to earnings, from what i've got examine. while she makes use of her fork/spoon I compliment her heavily & make a huge deal out of it. We clap, exclaim what a huge female she is, and circulate on and on. This makes her satisfied, she responds properly to the useful reinforcement. She nonetheless eats countless finger ingredients. like the previous guy or woman suggested, something may well be a finger nutrients practically. As significant because it is for them to earnings those skills, ideal nutrients is whats maximum mandatory to me with my daughter. she will have the flexibility to understand cutlery in time. So, if she is ingesting her veggie spaghetti along with her palms, a minimum of she is getting her nutrients.

Answer 6

I really wouldn't be concerned at this point. My daughter is 27 months old and is just starting to use silverware now. I think that at 15 months old it is very normal for them to not feed themselves.

Answer 7

My son was the same way! Keep putting table foods on her tray and wait to feed her when she is really hungry. She will eat when she is hungry.

Answer 8

Give her time real food is new to her ,try cheerios or crackers . Pretty soon she'll be doing it just relax .