When your baby begins to eat solid foods, he will have the opportunity to learn and practice important new fine motor skills. From that moment on, mealtime will not just be for eating, but will become an important part of your son or daughter's development.
Starting early
Even though your baby is not able to feed himself from the first moment, you should give him a spoon. That is, when you go to feed the baby take two spoons: one for the boy or the girl and another so that you can feed him. In this way, you will make it easier for your baby to start trying to imitate what you are doing with the spoon, immersing it in the food and taking it to her mouth. It does not matter that it is very complicated for him or her and that he never gets it right, since he will lay the foundations to feed himself while learning new motor skills.
Eating with your fingers
At around 8 months, your baby will be ready to start eating alone in earnest. It is best to start with foods that you can grasp with your fingers and are fairly easy to pick up, such as small pieces of banana or cereal flakes. Using your thumb and index finger to pick up small items, also known as the 'digital clamp', is an important milestone, and finger eating will help develop the fine motor skills required for your child to do so.
Choose the right tools
When your baby is ready to use the cutlery, he will need his own fork and spoon. For this, you can use special baby cutlery, with the thick and non-slip wizard. Although plastic forks are good options for you to practice, they may frustrate the little gourmet, they don't always work well anymore. Instead, use a metal fork with rounded teeth to avoid possible injury, but with enough tip to allow you to get food. When choosing a spoon, try to use one that is not too flat; And remember, all the cutlery should be small, since if they are too long, the room for maneuver of the child's arms is difficult.
How to teach him how to use cutlery
Learning to use a fork and spoon is a great opportunity to work on manual dexterity and hand-eye coordination. Despite the fact that the spoon is the cutlery that the baby first finds, most children learn to use a fork faster, mainly because food stays on the fork more easily than on a spoon. Start by asking her to prick foods like small pieces of melon or pear. Place the fork in your child's hand and guide her in the movement of reaching for the food, and bringing it to her mouth.
The use of the spoon requires skill more than that of a fork. Learning to use it as a shovel, coordinating the lifting motion to get the food to stay on the spoon when it leaves the plate, and then the delicate balance needed to get the spoon full to the mouth are difficult tasks. Therefore, it is convenient to start with dense foods such as oatmeal or yogurt, which are more difficult to spill. On the other hand, remind the baby to lean forward, that is, towards the plate, so that the spoon does not have to make an excessively long trip to the mouth.
The process of teaching your baby to eat on his own can be a bit tricky, especially for children who don't sit still, but remember that this is an opportunity for developing their motor skills and dynamic coordination, something very necessary both for his first years of school as for the rest of his life.
