Once they begin feeding themselves, most babies won't easily go back to being fed by a parent or other caregiver. Instead, they like to use their fingers, at least until they learn to use a spoon, a milestone most children reach between 13 and 21 months.
Keep in mind that even though your toddler begins to use a spoon, fork, or cup, that doesn't mean that he will be very good at it right away. So you can still expect a mess at meals for a little while longer.
Sources:
Functional developmental evaluation. Prerequisite to habilitation. Capute AJ - Pediatr Clin North Am - 01-FEB-1973; 20(1): 3-26
Linguistic and auditory milestones during the first two years of life: a language inventory for the practitioner. Capute AJ - Clin Pediatr (Phila) - 01-NOV-1978; 17(11): 847-53
Clinical linguistic and auditory milestone scale: prediction of cognition in infancy. Capute AJ - Dev Med Child Neurol - 01-DEC-1986; 28(6): 762-71
The Denver Developmental Assessment (Denver II)
