Hi there r/parenting, hoping you could help.I'm a British guy with a Ukrainian wife, and we have a little boy who will be 11 months next week. My family are currently visiting us, and have advised us that the fact he isn't interested in finger food (mainly because we haven't offered it to him) is bad, and that he needs to learn how to feed himself not just for the future, but also to develop speech muscles etc. The family friend travelling with my mother worked for 30+ years as a health visitor and has years of experience with child development, so knows what she's talking about.However, I work long hours and as such I'm not always around to supervise what our baby eats. That's not a problem; I trust my wife to give him everything he needs, but upon hearing this advice and doing a quick search online, it looks like my family are right and we should have started finger foods around five months ago.Despite this, my wife is very tough (it's in the water over there, I swear) and believes it's her way or no way. She claims she never asked for advice from my family, and doesn't want it, and that my son doesn't need finger foods because he's not interested in them and doesn't want to hold them. She gets very upset when this matter is discussed, as she believes only the parents should decide what to give the child, and seems to disregard the advice being given as 'British culture' and not something necessarily relevant for all babies worldwide, and more specifically, our baby.I really feel strongly that we ought to start giving him things to hold (bread, carrots, fruit sticks, anything soft and edible really) while he's eating before it's too late. Does anyone have any advice as to how to handle this situation? Every time I push this issue we have a massive fight. And can anyone reassure me, possibly if you also started finger foods late, that his development won't necessarily be hampered in a big way?Thanks very much,Concerned Dad via /r/Parenting http://ift.tt/2vxEsyz
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