How to get LO to feed themselves?

My little boy refuses to feed himself. When we originally weaned we did a combination of purees and baby led weaning. He can feed himself snacks like baby crisps or biscuits, but when it comes to meals he just refuses to try with his hands or the fork or spoon. I'm reaching the end of my tether as it can take up to an hour to feed him a simple meal - he also will only eat if I continuously sing and coax him into eating. I'm absolutely losing the plot. Any tips on how we can move away from this pattern and encourage self feeding? I'm also worried as he'll be going to nursery for the first time in the new year and no nursery will surely sit there and feed him like this.

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I'm in the same exact situation with my daughter! Absolutely same to the dot! I'm following for tips as I'm also stressing about it now 🫶

@Radka how frustrating is it! I've just had a second baby as well so it's even harder to spend so long feeding him

My lb is a march23 baby too, he fully feeds himself with his fork & spoon. Start off with his meals cut up and displayed like finger food, with a spoon to the side of his plate. Also helps if you all eat as a family so give him his meal at the same time your family will be eating. Offer help every few minutes but he will get there! And as for nursery, that’ll help him massively as the staff will help him with his meals but they’ll also bring him on loads on self feeding too. Remember they all do things in their own time and he will get there 🩵

Thank you!! I'll give that a go, I feel like we've gotten into a bad habit of not eating together, so that probably isn't helping. I'm really hoping nursery will help, especially if he sees other kids eating

Nursery does play a massive factor in helping them with their independence in self feeding, but I can’t recommend family meal times enough as they do pick it up quickly that way too. But try not to worry to much, they’re all so different at this age and develop at their own paces, I’m sure your lo is a bit more ahead at other milestones but they do all get there in their own time☺️ if you don’t already have, I’d recommend a bamboo suction plate to make it easier for him to grab the food without the plate constantly sliding!

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