When to train children to eat using a spoon and fork?

Entering the age of 6 months, babies can eat other foods besides breast milk. He can enjoy fruit juice, team porridge, or crushed baby biscuits. When entering this phase, your little one needs parents or adult help to feed him food. However, as you get older, your little one must also be taught to use his own spoon and fork. So, when is the right time to teach children to eat using a spoon?

The right time to introduce children to eating using a spoon and fork

Even though it's messy, teaching children to eat by themselves is important. In addition to training the child's independence, you will also hone the basic skills that your little one must master, namely holding and putting food into the mouth. Although it looks easy, children need a long time to learn this.

"Around the age of 6 months, babies are able to hold food in the palms of their hands, followed by the ability to pinch food with their fingers," explains Eileen Behan, RD, LD, an author of a book called The Baby Food Bible, as reported by The Bump.

At that age the baby is already able to grasp spoons and other light eating utensils. However, he could not properly scoop out the food. Most likely he will just move the lightweight plastic spoon up and down with a few drops.

When babies reach the age of 13 or 18 months, generally children can be taught to eat on their own using a spoon. Three months after that, the child can become very proficient at using spoons and other eating utensils.

Unlike the spoon, training your little one to use a fork requires extra attention. Why? The forks have sharp edges and can be harmful to the baby. So, you should practice using a fork once the child is able to use the spoon well.

Tips for training children to eat using a spoon and fork

Source: Parenting

Training children to use a spoon requires patience. Maybe the child repeatedly drops the spoon, soils the table, or makes laundry pile up because his clothes are soiled with food. Some things that you need to pay attention to when teaching children to use a spoon include:

1. Recognize the signs

The development of children's motor skills varies. Some are fast, some are slow. Even if the child is more than one year old, do not force the child if he is not ready. You have to pay attention to how the child responds with the spoon, whether he looks interested and curious or not.

2. Choose the appropriate spoon for his age

Adults must be accustomed to using metal spoons or forks. However, both of these cutlery are not suitable if your little one uses them for training. Choose a spoon that is lightweight, usually made of plastic and is smaller. You can choose a spoon whose tip is coated with rubber so that it doesn't easily slip out of your little one's hands.

3. Know when the child should use a spoon or fork

Spoons and forks have different functions. Spoons are used to take foods that are quite small or runny, such as soup, rice, porridge, yogurt, or pudding. While forks are used to take foods that are quite slippery or larger, such as pieces of fruit, pasta, or noodles.