After the baby turns one year old, training him to use a small spoon to eat on his own can not only satisfy his desire for exploration in small hands, but also exercise his coordination of hand, eye, arm, and other aspects. However, this is not an easy task, so what specific aspects can we start from?
1. Give the baby a set of bowls and spoons to let him freely express himself
After your baby has eaten a full meal, you can put some easily crushed large pieces of food in their bowl, such as tofu, egg yolks, etc., and let them poke and play with a spoon in the bowl. Although using a spoon is still a laborious task for them, babies find some fun in squeezing food. Through a period of training, they can realize that spoons are a dining tool, laying the foundation for using spoons to eat in the future.
2. Let the baby scoop food with a spoon
You can teach your baby to play the game of using a spoon to move food from one bowl to another, such as cutting carrots, cucumbers, etc. into pieces and putting them in his small bowl, and encourage him to use a spoon to scoop food. At the beginning, the little one may get annoyed and impatient because they can't scoop up food. You can help them put the food into their little spoon and say encouraging words such as "Baby is great, you've scooped up the food" to give them a sense of achievement and stimulate their desire to use the spoon. You can also hold the baby's hand and guide them to practice.
3. Let the baby practice feeding food into their mouth
When your baby is able to scoop up food, you should encourage him to try putting food into his mouth, which can help him experience the sense of achievement of eating with a spoon. It is best to choose a hemispherical spoon for use at this stage, so that the food is not easily spilled. You can first let the baby try to drink the soup by himself with the spoon, and when his movements become more proficient, he can try to scoop solid food with the spoon to eat.
Kind reminder:
When a baby is using a spoon, they may end up with food everywhere due to poor control. Don't blame the baby! Your chattering will make the baby lose interest in using a spoon. In addition, teaching your baby how to use a spoon is a slow process, so you must be patient. After your baby learns to eat with a spoon, they may even feed you! How sensible!
