4 Must know about self feeding

Self feeding is an important development for children. Teaching children to self feeding may not be an easy thing. But feeding your child continuously until he grows up is not good either. This will only hinder its development.

Self feeding in children comes in phases, making it a long drawn out, but extremely rewarding, journey for you and your child. Although your child needs to reach toddlerhood to have the physical ability to self feed, it helps to start early. Here are the 4 must know things before you start letting your baby self feeding.

Content:

| Self feeding advantages

| How to encourage self feeding

| Best self feeding age

| My favorite self feeding spoon

Self feeding advantages

Some parents choose to continue feeding their children because they don't want their children to be messy or dirty while eating alone. In fact, this is a learning process that children must go through. Baby led weaning (BLW) is a method that allows babies to self feeding. Mama only needs to prepare food that has been processed according to the baby's ability to eat, then the baby can use his hands to take and feed the food. Letting children eat alone also teaches him many things. Self feeding have many advantages.

Read more: Why letting your baby self-feeding is worth the mess

To prevent obesity

One of them is keeping children connected to their basic instincts (hunger) and listening to their own body cues (satiety). When a child is fed by another person, the child has the potential to eat more than they need, causing them to lose touch with their basic bodily instincts. In addition, it can also trigger stomach upset and can lead to eating problems later in life, such as obesity.

Helping children recognize the taste and texture of food

In applying the BLW method, food is served in a solid and larger form. This will allow your little one to recognize the texture because it is easy to grip. In addition, this method also introduces your little one to the various tastes, colors and aromas of the food he consumes.

Read more: Start feeding your kids solid food with this

Support children's motor development

Implementing the BLW method can support your little one's motor development, you know, Bun. This method can be a means for your little one to train eye and hand coordination, as well as chewing and grasping skills.

Read more: How to help my baby develop their pincer grasp?

Make children enjoy the food they eat

Teaching your little one this method allows him to enjoy the food he is eating without the need to be forced to open his mouth. In addition, your little one can also be introduced to many types of food.

How to encourage self feeding

Don't help put food in their mouth

You could say BLW is a method for making your little one independent when eating. You should really try to step back and believe that your baby can put food well in his mouth. Don't help put food in his mouth and you don't have to worry if you think he doesn't eat much. At this stage, food is a way for your little one to experiment and learn. As extra nutrition, your child will get what he needs from his milk, whether formula milk or breast milk.

Try offering a variety of foods

After your baby learns to use a spoon (holding objects between fingers and thumbs a.k.a. pincer grasp), you can introduce berries and raisins, or peas. Don't overwhelm your baby with too much food, having in front of him two or three items at a time is sufficient.

Read more: Baby's first solid food

Be patient

It is better if you don't rush when you want to let your children self feeding, because your child will choke on food if his age is not suitable, another reason is because he is not good at chewing food that is too solid. Wait until your baby is six months old and make sure he can sit up straight before starting self feeding. Be patient is the key.

Nothing comes easy with the baby. Every habit and every successful milestone is a result of someone’s effort. It could be you, your nanny, your spouse, the siblings or even strangers.

Read more: 3 Rules you must follow when giving first food to your children

Best self feeding age

Learning to self feeding can generally begin at the age of 9 months, when children are able to grasp their own food. At this age, parents is allowed to give them finger foods or foods that are easy to grasp. Children will become interested in holding their own spoon, fork, or water bottle in both hands when they are 13–15 months old.

In my daughter case, I let her start hold when she was 7 months. The food does not always fill the spoon and she not always succeeds in putting it in her mouth. Not a little food will also fall on the floor or table.

Around 18-24 months of age, they will begin to be adept at putting their own food into his mouth less messy. However, your little one must always be supervised when learning to eat on their own. Because they are still learning, sometimes children may choke, cough, or vomit. Later when your little one enters the age of 24–36 months, they will be more adept at eating and enjoying their own food without the need for help from adults.

My favorite self feeding spoon

You might be wondering if you can just get away with using a regular old steel spoon to feed your baby. After all, if it’s good enough for you to eat with, shouldn’t it be fine for a baby?

Some old-school parents will shrug and say that you can feed a toddler just fine without buying yet another special tool. But most feeding authorities recommend using a shallow, plastic children’s spoon for feeding, since it’s easier for them to eat from and won’t hurt their delicate mouths.

Read more: Baby essentials that is important for your children's development

Combined spoon and teether

Some spoons are made a little larger with a more chewy texture, for those teething kids who to bite down on as they eat. The teething element may encourage some kids to use the spoon.

Grabease stage 1 silicone spoon

The soft spoon is perfect for tiny mouths during the early stages of self-feeding, and the textured handle soothes little one's gums during teething. Kickstart BLW with Grabease stage 1 self-feeding silicone spoon.

Shaped ergonomic spoons

Little hands can be clumsy and a spoon is hard to hold. This style of spoon is usually chunkier and shaped to help toddlers get to grips with their fine motor skills.

Grabease stage 2 spoon and fork

Grabease patented fork and spoon sets were the first utensils designed with babies’ independence in mind, and they come highly recommended by Occupational Therapists. The ergonomic handle fits comfortably in babies' natural hand grasp, making the hand-to-mouth motion easier. This set will also help strengthen their fingers while encouraging proper pencil grasp development (this will come in handy later!).

BONUS! Yummy and healthy ice cream for your baby with Grabease

History of Grabease - What make Grabease so special?

It's exhausting for every brands to battle the knock offs, however, this is our obligation to our customers, to inform you because it involves the safety of your babies. Knock offs usually are made from factories that only want to make a quick buck. They have no respect for creativity, integrity and safety. 

BabyLux carried brands spent lots of money in safety testings and insurance, and these are all for your child's safety. Yes, you can probably get them cheaper elsewhere, but would you risk your child's life for it? As a parent, the most fulfilling thing is watching your child master a new skill on his or her own. There is no greater joy than watching each milestone take place. Teaching our children new skills is our pleasure but constantly having to practice them can get frustrating.

The history of Grabease

And please respect every brand’s effort and creativity.

From lawyer to product developer, Maya Shalev - founder of Grabease - loved problem-solving but didn't love the aggressiveness of litigation. She did mediation training at the Los Angeles Attorney's office before getting pregnant with her daughter, Alma.

As a stay at home mom for a few years, Maya was able to apply her problem-solving skills when she developed, with her dad, products that were missing in the market.  

In 2014, Maya found herself at a crossroads when her father passed away while she was three months pregnant. Finding herself in this new situation, Maya decided to take a break to cope with the loss of her father and focus her energy on the new life she was bringing into the world.

In 2015, Maya found herself with a new challenge when her six-month-old son, Amit, was learning how to self-feed. This obstacle reignited her passion for developing a product that would not only solve the need for her son but other moms going through similar scenarios.

Off the bat, she noticed that baby utensils aren't designed with babies in mind. The handles were too long and her son couldn't hold the utensil naturally. She decided to meltdown cheap forks to create a shorter, thicker handle. The first mold was created out of Playdough, a common medium in a house with kids.

The next phase was to create a set of utensils, the most expensive pair of fork and spoon she's ever invested in, a whopping $400 for a 3D printed set! Using her son as a guinea pig to test out the new utensils Maya noticed that the handle was on the thin side so she went back to the drawing board and designed a teardrop-shaped handle.

She took this prototype to a Pediatric Occupational Therapist for some feedback to make sure she was developing the right product. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive. The Occupational Therapist told Maya that the Grabease utensils "makes a great developmental product for children ages 4 months and up. Grabease supports fine motor skill development and independent feeding skills."

The inspiration to go back in business to not only create but give back was through the social initiative she saw the Toms brand spearhead. When Grabease was being packed and shipped Maya partnered with The Harvest Home, a non-profit organization that helps homeless pregnant women get back on their feet.

The Grabease design was immediately patented in 2016 and sent to production. A soft launch was introduced via Amazon to see if there was a need for the product. Maya designed the product with the intention that nine-month-old children and older would be using the product but to her surprise moms were excited to share photos and videos of their six-month-old babies self-feeding with the Grabease.

Grabease was tagged by tons of moms on social media, gushing with excitement that their kids were independently eating with the utensils.

The pivotal change for the brand was at the JPMA trade show. The last day of the show is open to consumers, the excitement and the crowd around the Grabease booth was proof that the brand was going to be high in demand. Shortly after, all products were sold out on Amazon as well. Before long, the Grabease website launched!

Read more: Grabease, best baby self feeding spoon and fork set

Not only was Grabease helping babies learn how to independently feed themselves, it was helpful for differently-abled children as well. Parents were sharing how Grabease utensils were helping their children with cerebral palsy or down syndrome. This was heartwarming and impactful for Maya.

Different organizations that helped children with different abilities were now reaching out to the brand for support. Without hesitation, Grabease donated products to help and promote the development of independent eaters. With the word spreading, Maya found herself getting emails and calls from Occupational Therapists that were interested in trying out the product in their clinics and then endorsing the product. Another win for Grabease!

In quarter 1 of 2017 Maya graduated from the kitchen to the garage. Soon after, Nordstroms and other independent retailed picked up the brand and Grabease moved into an office space in 2018.  

Grabease is now available in 300 stores and internationally, accessible in over 15 countries and expanding rapidly!

Maya didn't stop there. The Grabease toothbrush was the next product created. Thought of and designed by Maya's then 8-year-old daughter, Alma. The idea came to her when she saw the struggles her parents were having when trying to brush her little brothers' teeth, Amit. 

Alma sketched the design and 2 years later the design came to life. The toothbrush was a hit. So much so that most kids don’t want to put it down!

Read more: 2019 Grabease new product double sided toothbrush

Maya and the team of moms take pride in developing products that provide solutions for families around the world while helping children in need. Grabease is excited to continue launching innovative and helpful products for other parents because being a parent is a lot of work and we want to alleviate unnecessary stress so you can enjoy the best moments with your growing tot!

Article quoted from Grabease blog post.

Self-feeding utensils, Grabease or Bumkins silicone chewtensils?

Entering the age of 6 months, is the right time for your little one to be introduced to some solid foods. That's when baby spoon and fork are began to be used. Unlike the usual utensils that we use, the baby's spoon and fork must be adjusted to the little one's mouth, safe and comfortable when used.

Baby spoon and fork has its own uniqueness according to the development of your child and is made of various materials that will provide a different eating experience. In this article, we will compare Grabease baby first self-feeding utensils and Bumkins silicone chewtensils.

Both Grabease and Bumkins are perfect to help guide little ones to self-feeding. But, yes, they have some differences that might let parents feel confuse. Let us tell you pros and cons between each product.

Content:

| Bumkins silicone chewtensils pros and cons

| Grabease pros and cons

| Summary

Bumkins silicone chewtensils pros and cons

Bumkins silicone chewtensils pros:

• Bumkins Chewtensils help you to introduce babies to self-feeding by giving them utensils that can be chewed on before transitioning to silverware.

• Bumkins chewtensils made from BPA-free, BPS-free, PVC-free, phthalate-free, cadmium-free and lead-free silicone.

• Back of the spoon head has sensory bumps to stimulate gums

• It can be sterilized by putting it into a boil water.

• Price lower than Grabease

Read more: The best baby spoon fork in 2019

Bumkins silicone chewtensils cons:

• The silicon fork doesn’t work. Not even on the softest foods. Made from silicone bring both pros and cons to it. Since baby can chew it, feel free to imagine how soft is Bumkins silicone chewtensils are.

• The sizes are a little bit too small, smaller than usual baby spoon and fork, it makes baby harder to use.

• Friend of mine have an issue with Bumkins fork, since it is called chewtensils, means baby can chew it, but my friend’s daughter bit it off and almost swallow the bitten part.

Read more: 3 Rules you must follow when giving first food to your children

Bumkis Silicone Chewtensils packaging

Grabease first self-feeding utensils packaging

Grabease pros and cons

Grabease pros:

• Grabease is made from plastic, free from harmful materials like BPA, lead, and phthalates.

• Protect your tot with the baby and toddler fork and spoon set that poses no choking hazards! The cloud acts as a choke protection barrier, preventing the utensils from gagging or harming your little one.

• Grabease short utensil handle makes they are super easy to hold and maneuver, let baby can easily guiding this utensils into their mouth without dropping the food. Grabease short round handles are perfect for baby’s little hand.

• Grabease is not too long, not too deep, not too pointy. Just perfect.

• Dishwasher machine safe.

• A lot of color selection.

• Grabease are the first ergonomic safe self feeding utensils recommended by Occupational Therapists.

Grabease cons:

• Do NOT sterilized it using boiling water!

• Quite pricey comparing with other baby utensils.

Read more: Grabease all-over bib review

Grabease First self-feeding utensils: Green

Bumkins Silicone Chewtensils: Jade

Summary

I like Grabease more than I like Bumkins, why? Because i can see how frustrate my kid when she is using Bumkins fork, she was trying so hard to pitch the toast. Also, the Bumkins more like a teether than a spoon, it is good for transition. When they use Bumkins spoon, my daughter will suck it (the spoon together with the food) while eating. I think Bumkins should sell the spoon separately, I barely use Bumkins’ fork.

After all, it is still depends on your kid’s preference. If your kids just like mine, she or he may prefer Grabease.

“Mealtime should be fun not frustrating.”

The best baby spoon fork in 2021 (Updated)

Babies need extra attention and equipment to support their growth, especially when they start to have a solid meal in their lives. Bowls, plates, spoon, and forks are a few necessary accessories to make meals easier. You get a lot of use out of these tools because your baby has to eat three meals a day plus a few snacks. Many baby spoon forks are available on the market to help your child eat alone. Confused which one to choose?

What baby feeding tools do babies need?

• Bowl and plates

• Spoon and Fork

• Water bottle

• Highchair

• Bibs

How to pick baby spoon fork and fork?

Who will feed the baby?

When babies begin to learn to eat by their own, generally they cannot hold the spoon and fork in the right place, that’s why baby’s dish messy and their mouth becomes dirty. Feeding spoon that serves to help you feed your little one is different from the baby spoon which designed for self-feeding. When your child starts learning to eat independently, you can choose baby spoon instead of feeding spoon.

Self-feeding spoon and fork usually have ergonomic design. Ergonomic spoons are chunkier and are shaped easier for babies to learn how to handle. It helps develop their fine motor skills.

Material used to make it

The most important feature to consider is what the spoon or fork is made of. Babies aren’t coordinated enough to use metal forks and spoons. They could hurt themselves by biting down on the metal with their gums. Softer materials are a good idea. Plastic, rubber, and even wood is good for babies. Spoon made from silicone is also a good choice for baby, especially who just begin to eat solid food.

Size

Baby utensils should be smaller than yours. It might look small to you, but it’s probably the right size for your little one. It should be able to fit into your baby’s mouth.

The best baby spoon fork in 2021

ChooMee FlexiDip Starter Spoon

The set comes with two spoons, and each spoon is made out of BPA-free silicone. Silicone is hygienic, dishwasher and microwave safe, BPA, PVC, lead, and phthalate free. These spoons meet and exceed all US and European testing standards.

If your baby is practicing his self-feeding skills, the ChooMee is a good transition rather than a frustrating, painful one. It lets your baby experiment and learn without frustration.

BUT, it is pricey and doesn’t work for runny foods, only suitable for purees.

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Miniware Teething Spoon Cutlery Set

Each set includes two silicone spoons in different colors along with a clean carrying pouch. Ergonomically designed using super-soft silicone, Miniware spoons are comfortable for babies to bite and chew as they learn how to self-feed. Each spoon is the ideal weight, so balancing and controlling the spoon is easier. Miniware utensils are always dishwasher safe.

BUT, we think that the spoon is too deep and too big for my child’s mouth.

Grabease first self-feeding utensils

Each set includes a spoon and a fork along with a clean carrying pouch. Grabease are the first ergonomic safe self feeding utensils recommended by Occupational Therapists. The patented choke protection barrier prevents your little one from sticking the utensils too far into their mouths and gagging. The ergonomic handle is designed specifically for a babies natural hand grasp. Continued use improves fine motor skills and strengthens the pincer grasp. Mealtime should be fun not frustrating grab Grabease!

It’s a great starter spoon for your baby. Grabease also have the silicone spoon teether, a very good transition for your baby who just say bye-bye to teether and try their first solid food. They can bite the spoon without harming baby’s newly teeth.

Read more: Get to know more about Grabease spoon and fork

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Nuby iMonster Spoon and Fork Set

It has unique colors and funny shapes that look like toys, so this product is suitable for eating while playing. Make eating activities easier by playing with this product. Come along with storage pouch. BPA free and designed to be easily held and used by both left and right hands. This baby spoon fork is suitable for children aged 12 months and above, who have not been able to determine the dominant hand so that your baby can start learning to determine their dominant hand.

BUT, the chunky handle a bit hard for baby little hand to hold, and the fork is too round make it hard to stab on food.

Read more: Baby's first solid food

Olababy Silicone Spoon Teether

Olababy uses food-grade silicone, so you can toss them in the dishwasher once your baby is done eating dinner. While the design might look strange. The soft material makes a great teether, and the flexible tip won’t hurt child’s mouth. You can stand up the spoon on its base – isn’t that so cool? The purpose is for added hygiene. You don’t have to lay the spoon down on a restaurant table.Best of all, this spoon is toxin free, BPA, latex, and phthalate free!

BUT, it is expensive and I don’t know why but it has a strange odor at first.

Baby utensils are usable for years to come, and the right ones can be passed down through multiple children. It’s a good idea to invest in nice ones for home and some cheaper ones for the diaper bag. It’s easy to lose them at restaurant or at a relative’s house. Having a few sets is wise.

If you have interested in carry our brands and be our distributors, drop us a message! Welcoming you to join BabyLux big family, especially if you located in India, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, China, all countries around Asia.

The importance to let your baby self-feeding, it's worth the mess

As a new parents, you might being really protective of you kids. You are afraid of choking issue, so you may always feed your children. Of course I know every parents might have different perception about self-feeding for children, let we discuss the importance of allowing children to be in charge of their own feeding and learn how to listen to their bodies, it is also called BLW (baby-led weaning).

This article will let you know why you should stop feeding them and let your little one self-feeding, and yes, letting them self-feeding definitely worth the mess.

Why baby self-feeding is worth the mess?

Learning to eat alone (self-feeding) must be trained early so that the child is active in various things later. When a child is able to grasp something it's good to let them eat by themselves so that his fingers are stimulated.

Children who learn to grab food and put it in their mouths are expected to be more skilled in using their hands for other positive activities such as coloring or drawing.

The more they learns to hold, after a long time their fine motor muscles or small muscles become stronger. When they gets bigger, we stimulate him to self-feeding using a utensils according to his size, and then he gets more skilled, which means he gets stronger again.

What is a good age to start self-feeding and why?

Once you introduce solid food, your child might show signs of wanting to feed himself. Just wait until your child is able to pick up food and get it into their mouths successfully, whether using their hands or utensils, then it is the right time to begin the transition to self-feeding. It is an important stage of children to self-feeding. Self-feeding involves lots of feeling, squeezing and dropping food. It might seem messy, but it’s one of the ways your child develops fine motor skills like learning to hold a spoon.

Read also: 3 Rules you must follow when giving first food to your children

Start baby self-feeding with..

Finger foods

In BLW method there is mentioned about letting your children observe food by their own. Soft, bite-sized pieces of food that are easy for baby to pick up and mash between his gums or teeth. Like a small piece of soft fruit or soft and cooked vegetables like potato or pumpkin. You can add more if they’re finish their meal or if they’re drop it.

Start introduce solid food to them while they are 6 months old, the important thing is finger foods are not their main nutrition resource, by that time we encourage you to keep breastfeeding your baby, but, let them observe foods. You will find out that when they have interested in foods, then it would be easier to let them self-feeding.

Read more: Baby's first solid food

Using utensils

Technically there is no right or wrong about giving children use utensils to self-feeding, as long as utensils was made for children, like Grabease. The self-feeding journey with hands is very important as it helps a baby to experience texture and it is all important for the gag reflex. Utensils then bring to the table the next developmental step in learning about mealtime etiquette and motor development.

Why Grabease is the best fork and spoon to start with?

Let’s talk about traditional children’s cutlery. They look very much like adult cutlery, just scaled down to a small size. However, if you put a traditional child’s spoon next to a baby’s arm, you will see that a “child size” spoon is actually the same length as a 12-month old’s forearm! If adults used the same proportions in utensils when we ate we’d be eating with a serving spoon.  So, traditional children’s utensils are too big.

Read more: Self-feeding utensils, Grabease or Bumkins silicone chewtensils?

Then there is improper hand-hold in “child size” spoon. Due to the long handle, a child can’t use a proper vertical hand grasp to use them, so they hold these handles with a fist. This doesn’t encourage fine motor development.

There really is only one solution and that’s Grabease. They encourage vertical and horizontal hold because of the short ergonomic handle and have been endorsed by Occupational Therapists due to this revolutionary feature.

-The Real Nutritionist-

If you're interested in learning more about the transition to utensils for self-feeding baby, check out this.

Last but not least, messy eating and playing with food are normal parts of your baby’s development when they’re learning to eat independently. It’s normal for your baby to drop or throw food on the floor. If you react when they do this, he might think it’s the start of an exciting new game. One way to handle this is ignore it. Pick up the food calmly, without a fuss. Or you can leave the food on the floor until they finish their meal so you just have the one clean-up.

“Needless to say, teaching children self-feeding is often a long and messy journey. Just let the food fly!!”

— The Real Nutritionist