The main purpose of the present study is to explore infants’ability to comprehend task manipulation, and whether they canfeed themselves with a spoon when food has to be retrievedthrough a slit in a lid placed over a plate. To access the food, theinfant has to align the bowl of the spoon with the slit. Theorientation of the slit is manipulated, and certain orientationsrequire more elaborate modifications of the feeding action thanothers. The infants are observed at monthly intervals, from 12 to17 months of age. The presence of the lid affects the behaviourof the infants at all ages. Some behaviours become more immature.The infants grasp the spoon with more primitive graspconfigurations, they grasp the spoon less consistently at the topof the handle, and they orient the spoon less consistently, withits bowl facing upwards. These differences decrease with age.The infants also make attempts to adjust to the constraints of thetask, mainly by inclining the spoon more vertically, and rotatingthe hand in such a way as to align the spoon with the orientationof the slit. These adjustments improve with age.