Created by experts, Kids Eat in Color is the leading resource for families seeking evidence-based information and strategies on child nutrition and feeding.
Inside: If your 2-year-old can’t use a spoon or fork, you might be worried if that’s normal. In this article, learn when toddlers should use utensils, and what to do if they don’t use them.
When a toddler learns to use utensils for the first time, they’re so proud of themselves! They feel accomplished and they are so cute when they do.
How To Move From Fingers To Forks
But, if your toddler is having trouble using utensils, or if they are flat-out refusing to use them, you’re probably wondering what’s normal and what’s not? When
Even before they have a pincer grasp, babies can grasp a spoon or fork in their hand. They may not have very good aim though, so a spoon is the best utensil for a baby!
As your baby becomes a toddler, they can continue to use spoons and even forks. Many toddlers want to use utensils like the ones they see adults using.
Grabease Baby And Toddler Self Feeding Utensils
Make sure to let your toddler use utensils, even if it is messy. Using a utensil is an important developmental skill that your toddler needs. Plus, getting messy is good for your toddler and can prevent picky eating from getting worse.
Some toddlers follow a different developmental path. Working with your child’s healthcare providers can help you know what to expect for your toddler.
The age that a child will use utensils varies. Developmentally, here are some milestones as quoted by the Centers for Disease Control (2):
Of The Best Toddler Utensils For Self Feeding
If your toddler prefers to use their hands, that is okay! Children often continue to use their hands to eat for many years. Adults use their hands to eat foods as well.
When your toddler uses their hands to eat, it helps their body learn more about foods. This can help them learn to eat more foods and can prevent picky eating from getting worse.
If you have a picky eater, we have a free picky eater guide that can help you get your child on the road to eating more foods.
Silicone Spoon For Baby Utensils Set Auxiliary Food Toddler Learn To Eat T.1,✨
There are many utensils that are good for toddlers. If you start giving your baby a spoon, there is a good chance that as your baby becomes a toddler, they will continue to use that spoon and others.
As your child gets older, they will be able to use different types of spoons and forks. They will probably feel very grown up and proud of themselves as they begin to use different utensils.
Check out our blog for a complete list of the best utensils for toddlers and kids. You’ll find some fun recommendations from our RD and OT that will help get your toddler engaged in their food.
Help! My Child Won't Self Feed! Teaching Your Child To Feed Herself
Utensils can actually help toddlers try new foods. When they get a utensil, they will want to use it! You can provide new foods and foods they are learning to like. They will be more likely to try it.
For more practical strategies to get your child to try new foods, check out our picky eating course BetterBites®. Learn how to reduce your mealtime struggles and reverse picky eating in your kids.
Utensils can be a great tool for kids who might be sensitive to different textures, and a great option to help them build confidence and experience with new foods and textures.
Melissa & Doug Stir And Serve Cooking Utensils
For example, in the instance when a child doesn’t like touching certain “squishy” foods, using a utensil can help them feel comfortable when engaging with squishy foods without being nervous the food will touch their hands.
Jennifer Anderson is a registered dietitian and has a masters of science in public health from Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. In 2019, she founded Kids Eat in Color®, a public health resource that improves child and family nutrition and mental health. Prior to starting Kids Eat in Color® she coordinated youth nutrition programs at a food bank, performed research in inner-city food deserts, and consulted for the USDA national office SNAP-Ed program. Her academic background is in public health nutrition, cultural anthropology, and economics.This blog contains affiliate links, meaning that if you choose to purchase a product through a link, I will receive a small commission - this in no way impacts the amount you pay. Affiliate links are marked with an asterisk (*).
It can take plenty of time and lots of practice for babies to master the fine motor skill of using a spoon and fork.
Ways To Get Your Toddler To Eat With Utensils
The process may also require some persistence and patience from you at mealtimes, as the mess can be pretty epic when babies start using spoons and forks, and food often ends up on the floor, in baby’s hair and anywhere else you can think of.
Here’s what you need to know about teaching utensil use in infants and when you can expect for most babies to start using a spoon and/or fork:
There isn’t one, correct answer on when babies can start using and self-feeding with a spoon. Babies will start using utensils when they have been exposed to them and take an interest.
Tips To Encourage Your Toddler To Self Feed
It’s a good idea to begin exposing your baby to utensils around 6 months or even a bit earlier, when your baby first starts eating solid foods. During the first couple months, your baby may play with utensils more than using them to eat, and that’s okay!
If you think your baby may be distracted by utensils at meal time to the detriment of eating, you can put them aside and try again in 1-2 weeks, although offering mashes and purees on a pre-loaded spoon is a great way to get babies used to using a spoon early on.
Touching, feeling, and watching family members use utensils are also important parts of the learning process. Your baby may not show much interest in utensils until about 9-12 months of age which is perfectly fine as well.
When Should A Toddler Feed Themselves With Utensils?
Babies need experience touching and exploring various foods and food textures with their hands, so it's okay to put aside utensils on occasion even if your baby has already started using them, so that you can create plenty of opportunities for your baby to smash, squish, and smear food during meals with hands.
Many parents/caretakers find utensils with gag guards helpful. These guards prevent babies from putting the spoon too far into the mouth and triggering a gag reflex.
As an alternative, some baby utensils have sensory bumps, so that babies can use these bumps to feel when a spoon may be going too far into the mouth. The benefit of this feature is that babies receive increased sensory input from the spoon, which helps them become more familiar with the insides of their mouths and how far the spoon can enter before it causes a gag.
Doddl™ Kids' Ergonomic Cutlery
Whether to start with a spoon or fork is up to you and your baby. Both a fork and spoon have been recommended as first utensils for different reasons.
Sometimes a pre-loaded fork may work better at first, because the caregiver can help the baby “spear” a small bite of food which then stays on the fork as the baby brings it up to the mouth.
Regular spoons require a steadier hand in order to keep the food in the bowl of the spoon as it makes its way up to the mouth, however pre-spoons that have grooves and ridges can be incredibly helpful for some early eaters because they grab onto mashes and purees. It may take some trial and error to find the right pre-spoons and spoons that work best.
When Should I Introduce A Spoon To My Toddler?
In any case, while learning to scoop with a spoon that has a smooth, deeper bowl is a milestone that usually develops somewhere between 12-24 months, keep in mind that babies are each on their own unique developmental timeline.
When your little one is first learning how to use utensils, you can offer a pre-loaded pre-spoon with a thickened puree or mash (mashed avocado, Greek yogurt, oatmeal, chia seed pudding, etc.) that stays put when you hand it to baby, even if baby starts waving it around.
If you do this at the beginning of a meal when your baby is hungry, he/she will be more motivated to figure out which end the food is coming from! The NumNum spoons in this collection* are perfect for younger babies eating purees and mashes since they have ridges that “grab” food and help it stay on.
Amazon.com: Brinware Toddler Utensils Kids Silverware
When your baby is first learning how to use utensils, you can guide his/her hand during the scooping up of food with a fork or spoon. Be careful not to interfere too much with the learning process, though! Allowing babies to try on their own and make mistakes is important.
Repeatedly offering utensils, role modeling utensil use for your baby, and practicing non-food fine motor skills are all helpful as babies learn to eat.
Working on fine motor skills with non-food toys helps develop hand-eye coordination and move babies along on the progression from using a palmar grasp to a pincer grasp to pick up food. This development of fine-motor skills also helps babies control utensils with more precision.
Using Cutlery Information Sheet
Eating meals as a family
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