Learning to Self-Feed
I need to change the boys’ eating habits. They need to learn to use utensils. They need to start using sippy cups. They need to start eating solids, or at least solids that aren’t poured out of a blender.
I’ve settled into a groove of feeding them the same type of things in the same order for every meal. They eat something pureed, and then drink from a bottle while I prepare Abbie’s meal. It takes effort for me to devise new ways of feeding while keeping Abbie distracted, so I’m happy to continue feeding them pureed banana until I can pass them off to their kindergarten teachers.
I, and when I say “I” I mean “Ellie,” realized the boys’ eating proficiency is a little behind when they hit 11-months old a few days ago. They’re almost a year old, and Abbie was much more advanced by that age. She could eat from a utensil as long as an adult loaded it for her. She ate non-pureed foods at every meal. She could drink from a sippy cup. I realized that if I’m to achieve my long-term goal of sitting down as a family and eating a meal without having to rise to feed someone. After all, Abbie didn’t gain that spoon proficiency overnight; it took months of practice before she could chuck that utensil halfway down the hallway.
I’m working on the utensil and solid training with fruit. I gave Abbie canned fruit speared on a fork at this age, and that should work with the boys. Canned fruit works well because it’s soft, meaning it mashes easily when I cut it with a fork and when the child puts it in his mouth. It’s also sweet, meaning the child should readily put it in his mouth, although considering how much they love chewing on Abbie’s crayons this may not be an issue.
I gave Abbie anything I could find in a can and plan to do the same with the boys. For now, though, we only have canned peaches because I still give her canned fruit as a snack, and peaches are the only fruit she’ll still put in her mouth instead of the dog’s mouth. So a couple days ago I dished out some peaches, sliced them into tiny pieces, and held them on forks for the boys to grab for the first time.
The boys don’t fully grasp “fork theory” yet. When I hold the fork vertically in front of them, they focus more on the peach than the utensil holding it. Sometimes they grab the peach, although sometimes they get the idea of a fork and grab the tongs just below the peach. After directing their fingers into proper utensil position, the peach doesn’t always go into the mouth. It goes near the mouth, but not in it. They like sucking on the peach, maybe masticating it with their lips, instead of putting it all the way into their mouths and gumming it into mush. I usually have to pick a few drained peach carcasses off their bibs before releasing them from their high chairs.
After the peaches, I let the boys graze on finger foods while trying to figure out their sippy cups. The sippy cup adventures deserve their own post, so I’ll save those. The finger foods are basic stuff, like Tasteeos, with a handful on each boy’s tray. That may not sound like a big deal, but it is a change from my earlier method of dumping them on a tray, and letting them battle each other, their sister, and the dog for the cereal goodness. I also sneak a few of their sister’s peas onto their trays. The boys respond to these finger foods by grabbing giant handfuls and shoving it in their mouths. Naturally most of it misses and lands on their bibs and on the floor. This should provide practice for their pincher grasp, though until then they’ve at least reached Abbie’s eating proficiency in dumping food on the floor for the dog to eat.
I’ve settled into a groove of feeding them the same type of things in the same order for every meal. They eat something pureed, and then drink from a bottle while I prepare Abbie’s meal. It takes effort for me to devise new ways of feeding while keeping Abbie distracted, so I’m happy to continue feeding them pureed banana until I can pass them off to their kindergarten teachers.
I, and when I say “I” I mean “Ellie,” realized the boys’ eating proficiency is a little behind when they hit 11-months old a few days ago. They’re almost a year old, and Abbie was much more advanced by that age. She could eat from a utensil as long as an adult loaded it for her. She ate non-pureed foods at every meal. She could drink from a sippy cup. I realized that if I’m to achieve my long-term goal of sitting down as a family and eating a meal without having to rise to feed someone. After all, Abbie didn’t gain that spoon proficiency overnight; it took months of practice before she could chuck that utensil halfway down the hallway.
I’m working on the utensil and solid training with fruit. I gave Abbie canned fruit speared on a fork at this age, and that should work with the boys. Canned fruit works well because it’s soft, meaning it mashes easily when I cut it with a fork and when the child puts it in his mouth. It’s also sweet, meaning the child should readily put it in his mouth, although considering how much they love chewing on Abbie’s crayons this may not be an issue.
I gave Abbie anything I could find in a can and plan to do the same with the boys. For now, though, we only have canned peaches because I still give her canned fruit as a snack, and peaches are the only fruit she’ll still put in her mouth instead of the dog’s mouth. So a couple days ago I dished out some peaches, sliced them into tiny pieces, and held them on forks for the boys to grab for the first time.
The boys don’t fully grasp “fork theory” yet. When I hold the fork vertically in front of them, they focus more on the peach than the utensil holding it. Sometimes they grab the peach, although sometimes they get the idea of a fork and grab the tongs just below the peach. After directing their fingers into proper utensil position, the peach doesn’t always go into the mouth. It goes near the mouth, but not in it. They like sucking on the peach, maybe masticating it with their lips, instead of putting it all the way into their mouths and gumming it into mush. I usually have to pick a few drained peach carcasses off their bibs before releasing them from their high chairs.
After the peaches, I let the boys graze on finger foods while trying to figure out their sippy cups. The sippy cup adventures deserve their own post, so I’ll save those. The finger foods are basic stuff, like Tasteeos, with a handful on each boy’s tray. That may not sound like a big deal, but it is a change from my earlier method of dumping them on a tray, and letting them battle each other, their sister, and the dog for the cereal goodness. I also sneak a few of their sister’s peas onto their trays. The boys respond to these finger foods by grabbing giant handfuls and shoving it in their mouths. Naturally most of it misses and lands on their bibs and on the floor. This should provide practice for their pincher grasp, though until then they’ve at least reached Abbie’s eating proficiency in dumping food on the floor for the dog to eat.
posted by Matt at
11:08 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home