Eating and Throwing Food On The Ground

I have a 14 month old son and i still feed him as he doesn't seem to have any interest in using a spoon or fork. If i give him finger foods when he is sitting in his high chair, he just throws it on the ground. So i have found that if i want him to eat, i have to put the food in his mouth or else it will just end up on the floor repeatedly.
Can anyone offer any advice? What age did your toddler start at least attempting to use a spoon or fork to eat?

I gave my DS a spoon from the very first time he started eating even if it wasn't used by him just to give him the feel of it there were times he wasn't bothered with it and just played with it but he got used to it and he does make a mess but gets better in time

My son does play with his spoon sometimes but I think i will give him a spoon every time he eats. Thankyou for your advice smile

i have the same problem, my boy is a great eater and i have always spoon fed him i give him a spoon as well now but that just ends up on the floor as well! i get concerned he needs more chunky food but he just doesnt eat it, at least when i feed him i know he is eating. let me know if you come upwith anything

ds eats well with a spoon now at 16months. I think we gave him a spoon from 9months or so but we would also have one to make sure some food got in the mouth.
with finger food going on the floor don't worry about it, about 25% of DS meals end up on the floor - its all part of their learning, but I always make sure there is some that I can feed him that doesn't end up on the floor.

we used a messy mat, but this stage passed in a month or so.

Thankyou for everyone's your advice. It's nice to know that hopefully it is just a stage he is going through. I just get worried when all his food ends up on the floor and he has hardly eaten anything!

I'm not too worried just yet - my 14 month old is exactly the same.

I do still try to give him finger food though - even though it ends up on the floor.

Like for example, lunch time today, I sliced up some banana into sticks and gave him 4 of them, and with the rest (so it didn't just end up on the floor) I cut it up smaller and fed him this with a spoon while he played with the sticks of banana. I also, sometimes snack on a stick of something when he is - just so he sees that it's meant to go in his mouth! haha

I've been working on the spoon thing - he holds one with me now, and I tell him "dip it in" - it usually ends up somewhere near/in the bowl without food on it, but he's getting the hang of it. I think it just takes patience and they'll get it when they're ready. I'm just gonna let him go for it from now on with the spoon - gonna be a few hundred messy meals ahead I feel! haha

would love to hear how your little one goes with it too! If you have any other ideas, share them with me!! haha