How to Teach a Baby to Use a Spoon

Teaching a baby to use a spoon takes time, a sense of humor and the willingness to have yourself and your floor covered with a sticky mess until your baby gets the hang of things. With a little patience, you can help your little one master the art of self feeding in just a few weeks.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Things You’ll Need:

• Baby sized spoon

1. Develop your baby's fine motor skills that will enable her to hold a spoon by first providing her with finger foods, such as tiny chunks of steamed apple and small cubes of cheese, which she can feed herself.
2. Buy a baby sized spoon. These spoons are smaller than adult spoons and therefore easier for babies to handle. They're also often coated with a rubbery material that is gentle on your little one's teeth.
3. Give your baby an extra spoon to hold when you are spoon feeding her. This will get her accustomed to the way it feels in her hand and what it's used for.
4. Give your baby foods that will stick to her spoon, such as macaroni and cheese. Teach her how to move food onto the spoon so that she can learn to feed herself.
5. Allow your baby to practice and experiment. Expect your baby to toss food on the floor, across the room and probably all over you as well. However, this is part of the learning process, so allow your baby to explore the use of his spoon freely.
6. Teach your baby to use a spoon by eating your own meal with a spoon in front of her. She will learn through imitating you, so you can even eat from her bowl to show her how it's done.
7. Demonstrate patience. It will take at least a few weeks for your baby to learn how to feed himself, and if he senses that you're upset, he may become upset also.

Tips & Warnings

• To minimize the floor cleanup at the end of each meal, purchase an inexpensive plastic shower curtain liner and place it under your baby's highchair. That way, instead of mopping the floor three times a day, you can simply shake the liner outside after your baby is finished eating.
• Make note of the mealtimes where your baby is very hungry, and try introducing the spoon at those meals. When she's hungry, she will be more interested in using the spoon as a feeding utensil than as a drumstick.
• Resist the temptation to grab the spoon from your baby and feed her with it yourself. Although this method is certainly quicker, it won't help your baby's learning process.