What age did you start letting your child feed their ownself with utensils?

around 6 months i think.

Just get a little baby utensils cover the floor with a mat to make it less messy and let her go at it.

Try to come up with a coping mechanism that will help you get through her messy stage.

Good luck

My son is 15 months also. I've been giving him a fork for a while now. He's getting pretty good with it. If you don't want the mess start with something sold and easy to poke with the fork. My son learned best with his waffles (but I put peanut butter or yogurt on them so it's pretty messy!). He doesn't use the fork every time, sometimes he uses his hands, but I always give it to him so that he can practice as he goes.

I gave him apple sauce with a spoon once... then he went directly to the bathtub! LOL! It's messy, but it makes for cute pictures!

Need to try and let go of the OCD when it comes to letting your child feed herself. Give her a spoon and let her try and feed herself, she needs to learn this and this is the only way. You can get mats to put under her high chair and get her a big wipe off bib that catches food, roll up her sleaves and get a wet cloth ready to wipe. I had a hard time when mine were little and I just learned to let go and realized soap and water clean up everything. We also had just moved into a brand new house with white flooring.

My son was around 9 or 10 months but stopped after a couple months. He just doesn't really use them and uses his hands most of the time. I don't think it's a big deal.

My grandmother (who fed my mom until she was close to 5 to avoid a mess) was APPALLED when she saw me give my 10 month old daughter spaghetti with meat sauce to eat by herself. . . . . . . Both of my kids were done being fed by me (except for the occasional yogurt or applesauce) by 10 months, and had been practicing eating on their own from the first day of solid food (at 6 months). They both loved to play with a spoon while I fed them, and I just kept giving them utensils at every meal, even when I knew they wouldn't use them. I don't remember when my my daughter finally mastered the fork, but it was sometime between 12 and 18 months. My son is 11 months old and so far has only used a spoon, not very successfully, but he gets the concept. My son is fairly neat, and usually just needs a good wipe down after meals. My daughter used to eat dinner in her diaper and go straight to the bathtub.

I let my son play with his fork/spoon when he was around 5 months (with supervison of course) He would also sit with us at dinner even if he wasnt eating yet. To socialize and to watch us eat. By 9 months he wasnt letting me feed him anymore. Its was messy and not all got in the mouth but he loved it. Hes now 2 and still messy but not nearly as bad. BUT when he really really really likes a food he will just dig in with his hands still. Then you say his name and he smiles and picks up his fork.

They fed themselves finger and table foods at 6 months, we gave them a fork at 11 months and spoon around 18 months. They got messy and I cleaned them up after they were done.

I started letting my dd feed herself when she was about 14 months because she would refuse to eat if she didnt do it herself. She did and still does make a mess, I just save messy dinners for bath night.

I think we started with a spoon around 10 months old and a fork at around a year. My son is 16 months now and is getting pretty good with both. He still makes a mess but it's easy enough to clean up. Just push up her sleeves and put on a nice big plastic bib with a pocket... the rest of the mess can be cleaned up with a wash cloth.
By 15 months she should for sure be self feeding either with her fingers or her own fork and spoon you shoudn't be doing it anymore.

I gave my kids the little toddler utensils around 8 months or so. I was always anal about them staying clean too, but that just makes for other problems later - like not feeding themselves. They rarely used the utensils that young, but they had them and knew what they were for, and got familiar with them. All of my kids were eating very well with a fork & spoon by a little after a year, and now my 2 1/2 yo son eats better (uses utensils better, that is) than hubby's almost 8 yo nephew who has zero neurological problems yet can't seem to figure out how to work a fork & spoon (he eats cold cereal with his hands, among everything else, yuck!).