Day 1: 13 Month Old DCG Wont Feed Self... WWYD

[SunshineMama]

Today is day 1 of 13 month old dcg's arrival. I made her lunch, and she is sitting in her high chair whining. I sat next to her and ate lunch, hoping she would get the cue from myself and the other kids that it was time to eat. After about 5 minutes of whining, I put a piece of food on a spoon for her and offered it to her and she ate it.

I am now wondering if she is still spoon fed? Is that normal for a 13 month old? I want her to eat, but I also do not want to start a precedent for her expecting to be spoon fed.

She is also still on bottles. The parents want to transition her to a sippy but are having a bit of trouble.

Thoughts and advice?? Thanks!

[Heidi]

Maybe you could start with a cracker? She'll catch up really quickly, I'm sure. Of course, if she's still drinking bottles, she may not be very hungry. I would not give her bottles at your house at all, if it were me.

Are they still giving her formula? If they are putting cow's milk in bottles, I would definitely advise against it. It does not have the nutritional equivalents of formula, and if she's drinking huge quantities, she is not getting her nutritional needs met. She needs either formula and some food, or more food and some milk, kwim?

Edited to add: My kiddos generally start self-feeding at about 8 months. I offer them "finger foods" until they can start to manage a spoon. By 18 months or so, it's still a mix of spoon/fingers for most of them. By 2, I frown on fingers, but don't get too freaked out either.

[MarinaVanessa]

Today is day 1 of 13 month old dcg's arrival. I made her lunch, and she is sitting in her high chair whining. I sat next to her and ate lunch, hoping she would get the cue from myself and the other kids that it was time to eat. After about 5 minutes of whining, I put a piece of food on a spoon for her and offered it to her and she ate it.

I am now wondering if she is still spoon fed? Is that normal for a 13 month old? I want her to eat, but I also do not want to start a precedent for her expecting to be spoon fed.

She is also still on bottles. The parents want to transition her to a sippy but are having a bit of trouble.

Thoughts and advice?? Thanks!

Sounds to me like she does not know how to feed herself yet. Did you not discuss this with the parents before you took her on? If not, I would definitely do so today at pick-up.

I have an 11mo DCB that will turn 1yo on the 1st of next month and although id is good at self-feeding with finger foods, he has not yet mastered feeding himself with utensils. I give him his own spoon and he attempts to self feed but he still needs a lot of practice. DCB has been with me since he was 6mo old.

Either your new DCG needs more practice or she is still hand-fed at home. Either way I don't think that at 13 months it's realistic to expect her to self feed ... attempt to yes, but not be good at it. Sounds to me like maybe she isn't offered the opportunity to try to feed herself with utensils at home if she doesn't even try to pick up the spoon ... but it also seems odd that she wouldn't even try to take food with her hands to try to feed herself. Maybe at home they don't allow that either?

[blandino]

I have had many DCP who I discuss food with prior to starting, and double check to make sure they are eating table food at that age. All of these parents have said "yes", come to find out the child does eat table food but is spoon fed.

I would agree with PP, who said start with a cracker. Something big like that should help her get started.

I have a 13 month old DCB right now, who barely feeds himself. I started speaking to his mom about it around 11 months, and they weren't havin him self feed at all. They were hand feeding him puffs !!! (puffs broken in half at that). We have worked with him, and is still behind at it - and I assume at home DCM doesn't let him struggle to work on those skills - so it is only a portion of the time. But I did start him off with foods like crackers - big things he could grasp.

[SunshineMama]

Update: Ok, she finally started to eat by herself. She took one bite of food on her own and I praised her and she continued to eat the rest of her lunch.

Her bottle is formula. They give her 6 ozs before she comes in the am, and then she is to have one a lunch time and one at afternoon snack.

It's always fun getting kids adjusted the first day

[MarinaVanessa]

Update: Ok, she finally started to eat by herself. She took one bite of food on her own and I praised her and she continued to eat the rest of her lunch.

Her bottle is formula. They give her 6 ozs before she comes in the am, and then she is to have one a lunch time and one at afternoon snack.

It's always fun getting kids adjusted the first day

happyfacehappyface
Yay! Hopefully it's smooth sailing from here on out.

[daycarediva]

I recently enrolled an almost 2 year old who couldn't self feed. Potty trained, can dress himself, speaks in full sentences, but picking up a sandwich, oh heck no.

He is doing great now. ::

[Lefse&Kids]

I am glad I'm not the only one who is dealing with this. A dcb is 12 months and won't take a sippy, won't hold his bottle, and will not pick up food to eat.

I watched him from 3 months to 5 months. between 5 and 10 months he was watched by his grandmother (a vegan).

His parents are worried and after I talked more with the dad he said about the time the child would start picking up food to eat the grandmother was introducing a lot of new foods (from what I'm told, not good tasting either) to the dcb. I don't know if the two are connected but he can pick up his paci and toys just fine. He just won't pick up food of any kind.

What's even more odd is that he was mostly holding his bottle when he left my care and now he won't, in fact he screams a fit if you try and help him hold it....

Also, the grandmother said that if the dcd (when he was a baby) would touch something too "new" to him he would stop touching things altogether.

wish I could post help on the topic but I'm in the same boat.