Recently, a mom of a nearly 2-year-old child was lamenting that she just couldn’t get her child to sit still and let her feed him–baby food! I remembered seeing a family with a child about that age in a restaurant many years ago trying to do the same thing and as I looked at my own self-sufficient toddler eaters, I rummaged my mind for reasons why a parent might still be trying to feed a toddler–control, not knowing better, wanting to avoid the mess, intolerance at the child’s imperfection, efficiency. I have a very different philosophy about young children’s eating habits…
When my first child was a baby, I had what I can see now was a rather progressive team of pediatricians–they both told me to breastfeed as long as I could and that she wouldn’t need any solid food (cereal) until she was at least 5-6 months old. They also told me that when a baby starts to show interest in food, and has the finger dexterity and hand-eye coordination to reach out and grab things to put in her mouth, she is able to self feed. Additionally, they were not big fans of baby food. I remember making my own purees of regular food we were eating for a couple short months with each of my babies before they were all on modified “normal” diets–and they were all feeding themselves by the time they were one. My pediatricians told me once they started getting teeth and learning how to gum, chew and swallow–the purees could go.
I admit it was messy–I put a big sheet of plastic (you can buy these especially for this purpose) under the high chair and hosed it off after meals and used really big bibs, but the autonomy and lack of “food issues” my kids developed because meal time was never a battle of wills were well worth it. They eventually learn how to use a spoon and not to dump their food on the floor or get it stuck in their hair. I believe they learn sooner with practice and have a tendency to be more adventuresome eaters if they feel they are in control with choices. Self-feeding is an important step and I don’t think it should be postponed until the child is old enough to be perfect at it.
See Also: the BABY Blog