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sharlan 01:54 PM 08-28-2014
At what age do you expect a toddler to self-feed finger foods - pieces of fruit, cooked veggies, eggs, noodles, etc?

I've always expected them to start at about 9 mos to a year.
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craftymissbeth 01:56 PM 08-28-2014
8-10 months... I'm honestly afraid I'll get a child that can't self feed at 12 months mostly because at that age they're eating what the older kids eat and there's no way I'm going to hand feed a 1 year old unless there's a medical reason.
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daycare 02:58 PM 08-28-2014
depends on their culture and age. My husband is Asian. His parents feed my niece who lives with them still like a little baby. She is almost 8.

I have kids that are almost 3 that come from the same culture and they can't self feed.


My DCKs all have to self feed by hand or spoon, or I will not enroll...

But I only take youngest at 16months if I really really need to.
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Heidi 03:00 PM 08-28-2014
8-10 months here, too.

My last one to join the group was 9 months old and completely adult fed baby food when she started. By the end of the second week, she was completely self-feeding. She still needed help with a sippy-cup, but she figured out how to get food from her plate to her face dang quick.
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Heidi 03:01 PM 08-28-2014
Originally Posted by daycare:
depends on their culture and age. My husband is Asian. His parents feed my niece who lives with them still like a little baby. She is almost 8.

I have kids that are almost 3 that come from the same culture and they can't self feed.



My DCKs all have to self feed by hand or spoon, or I will not enroll...

But I only take youngest at 16months if I really really need to.
I've noticed this, too.
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LysesKids 03:49 PM 08-28-2014
Originally Posted by daycare:
depends on their culture and age. My husband is Asian. His parents feed my niece who lives with them still like a little baby. She is almost 8.

I have kids that are almost 3 that come from the same culture and they can't self feed.

My DCKs all have to self feed by hand or spoon, or I will not enroll...

But I only take youngest at 16months if I really really need to.
Not all Asians do this; my Japanese parents always wanted their kids independent and most of mine could hand feed themselves between 10 months & a year old... the Chinese moms, yeah they pamper excessively; I had one kid carried everywhere and was still fed by mom & dad at 18 months old because she got too messy otherwise ( their words). I proved to them she could do it by snapping a pic one day at lunch.

They were still planning on feeding her at home... she aged out 3 months later lol
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AmyKidsCo 08:37 PM 08-28-2014
It definitely can be cultural, but it could also be a family preference. As much as most Americans value independence, not all do, and people with different backgrounds don't always either.

That said, unless a child has been taught to rely on others to feed him, I expect them to start self-feeding somewhere between 10-12 months.
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renodeb 11:06 AM 08-29-2014
I would say 8-12 mos. but I have had a few that have been slow starters. By 12 mos they are mostly eating what the others eat.
Deb
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Rachel 10:17 PM 08-30-2014
Also 8-12 months, depends on the kid. It also depends how much formula / breastmilk they are drinking. I've had some kids as old as 15 months still pretty exclusively on milk, and others at 6 months feed themselves everything with maybe 1 bottle a day.
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BrooklynM 08:42 AM 08-31-2014
For me, it's not necessarily their age, but if they have met certain criteria- they can sit up on their own, they are introduced to foods, and they have teeth, although, if they are late to get teeth, they can certainly gum some things. I think certainly by about 9 or 10 months they should be able to feed themselves some things and by a year, they should pretty much be able to eat everything the other kids are, just cut up smaller. However, no 2 babies are alike so you have to make sure that you go along with their capabilities. Some babies will be a lot sooner, some a little later if they have some coordination issues.
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