Between 12 and 18 months, your baby will start to show an interest in looking after themselves and wanting to feed themselves with a spoon or fork.  You will already have been feeding them with a spoon since weaning, and they will have observed adults feeding themselves with cutlery, so it is a logical step for them to try feeding themselves with a spoon.  Another clue that the time is right is if your baby is feeding themselves with their hands.

At first, this is going to be messy!  You can buy large easy clean mats to place on the floor under high chairs and this might be a sensible idea if they are eating in a carpeted area.

Feeding yourself with a spoon introduces all sorts of challenges; picking food off the plate with the utensil, keeping the plate still while scooping, rather than chasing it around their tray, learning where their mouth is and how long the spoon is!  All of this requires learning.  It will come relatively quickly, but offer encouragement and more than a little help.  This is an important milestone for your baby and is an early step towards a life of independence.

The experts also noted that not only was an overdose a possibility, it also meant that some children were not getting enough medicine.  They recommend we never use teaspoons or tablespoons to administer medicine to children as the variation is too great.