When Should My Baby Use a Spoon or Fork?
Mar 03, 2025
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The transition from breast milk or formula to baby food is A. BIG. ONE.
Most parents feel a mixture of excitement and apprehension when they see this milestone approaching. On one hand, your days of prepping and heating bottles or breastfeeding around the clock are waning- probably both a good feeling and a sad one! But the prospect of prepping baby food that is safe and nutritious for someone who’s never eaten a thing in their life?! Well, that can be a little daunting.
I remember when my babies started solids, I was more than a little overwhelmed. There is so much information out there, and I wasn’t quite sure when to start what. So I’m here to help make this transition a little easier on you.
When your baby is 6+ months old, has started to show interest in food, and has good trunk and head control, they may be ready for starting solids. And whether you’re using a baby led weaning approach, a purees approach, or a mixture of both, learning how to use utensils is a critical part of the development process!
Using utensils early can help them develop these important skills faster and lead to a more seamless (and maybe, just maybe a little bit cleaner) of a dining experience. So today I’m going to talk all about when should babies start using utensils.
When Should Babies Use Utensils
When you are getting ready to start your baby on solids, there are a couple key signs of readiness I like to look for.
First of all, I want to see babies sitting relatively well (with support). They don’t need to be sitting entirely unsupported, but they do need to have some decent head, neck, and trunk support so they aren’t slumping over unsafely in the high chair.
Second of all, I want them to show interest. If your baby is constantly eyeing your food, acting interested, and bringing toys to their mouth regularly, that’s one of the signs they’re getting ready to eat food.
And as soon as you start your baby on solids, you can (and should!) introduce utensils. I even recommend handing them a baby spoon to play with and get used to before you’re loading them up with food. That way they learn how to hold them, which side to put in their mouth, etc. They can treat them like a toy and get familiar with them so that once you hand them a preloaded spoon, they’re already on the way to spoon feeding themselves!
Now, when you start introducing solids and utensils, don’t expect baby to be a pro right away. It takes time to develop the fine motor skills to effectively get the food from tray to mouth.
Plus, many (if not most!) babies will prefer to explore with their hands as well. We actually want them to pick up finger foods and get used to texture and self-feeding.
Using Utensils is a Bonus When They’re Just Starting Solids
Remember, the main goal with food is to get babies some solid nutrition with foods offered in a safe manner. Using utensils is a nice bonus as it helps them develop that hand eye coordination and fine motor skills, but it’s not the number one goal. If they resist utensils or take a while to get the hang of it, that’s normal!
How To Teach Baby To Use Utensils
As far as what you need to do to teach a baby how to use utensils, here are the things I found most helpful.
Step 1
Give them a utensil with a short stubby handle, like this one. The long stemmed baby spoons are meant for parents to feed baby with. The short ones are SO MUCH EASIER for babies to manipulate.
Step 2
Start with double sided utensils, like these. There is no right side up, and foods like oatmeal, avocado, yogurt, etc. will adhere to it without them having to actually scoop or spear proficiently.
Step 3
Practice with utensils when they are in a good mood, and not starving. Since it will likely be frustrating and slow at first, we don’t want them to get too angry!
Step 4
Offer them ample chances to practice. At first, you can load a spoon or fork up (I like these, or these) for them and allow them to do the final step of bringing the food to their mouth. (Pro tip: have 2 or 3 spoons ready- one in their hand, one ready to give them, and another that is extra or they might just want to hold it!)
Step 5
Advance to the hand-over-hand method. As they get more proficient, you can help them scoop or spear foods with their spoons and forks, if they need assistance. Gently place your hand over theirs to help them get the movements down.
I like these types of bowls that suction to the high chair tray so that they can dig in with the spoon or fork and the bowl won’t go flying!
If you could use some help with figuring out safe baby food, you know Mama Knows Nutrition has got you covered.
One more thing I find helpful is eating with them so that you can be a role model for how to use utensils. Babies are actually kinda genius at learning through mirroring, so when they’re learning how to use utensils, you can be a great guide just in how you model utensil usage.
I have no problem with parents spoon feeding bites to babies during meals, but that doesn’t necessarily help them learn to self feed, like we ultimately want them to do. So if you start off by feeding them, you’ll want to then advance toward self-feeding as soon as you feel ready.
Favorite Baby Utensils for Every Age
I, of course, have some favorite gear when it comes to spoons and forks.
For little ones, you want to choose short and thicker-handled spoons that fit in their palmar grasp. Those long skinny spoons you might be used to seeing are usually more for adults feeding babies rather than babies learning to feed themselves.
I like these Gootensils (that name always makes me laugh) for beginners. They’re a great shape for babies to hold onto and they have a good grippy texture on the end for keeping foods loaded up!
When they get a little closer to one, I start to move towards more traditional-looking spoons and forks. I still want them to have the easy-to-hold handle like these, but now your *almost toddler* will have the chance to practice stabbing foods with a fork and scooping foods with a spoon.
Eventually, you’ll move to bigger-kid-friendly utensils like these Elk and Friends ones or these Munchkin Splash ones! Bigger hands and more dexterity mean they’ll get more proficient at using more adult-like utensils until, before you know it, they’ll be using the same forks and spoons as us!
As always, you can find all my favorite feeding gear, separated by age, on my Amazon Storefront!
Important mom-to-mom note: Kids all develop at different speeds. One of mine was VERY resistant to using utensils, and I honestly was embarrassed by it at times. There is no race to be able to use a fork proficiently, so please don’t worry! Trust your mom intuition if you think something is really wrong and mention to the pediatrician. But don’t worry if they are just a bit slower at learning than a sibling or their peers.
The Start of Self-Feeding
This whole learning to eat thing is a process! The early days can feel really slow-going. Sometimes you’ll want to pull your hair out as you wipe down the kitchen floor for the 7th time that day. (Pro tip: grab a few splat mats to make cleanup easier!). Sometimes you’ll worry if they’re getting enough. And sometimes you’ll wonder if you’re doing things right!
Let me reassure you that you’re doing a great job. This is hard work and new things take time. The mundane tasks of grocery shopping, preparing foods, wiping down high chairs and grimy hands- well, they’re some of the most important work you can do for your family.
I’m here to help with all your questions along the way!
