When I had wee ones i just made sure they had a low dish and somewhere where there is no bedding because all they would do was fill the bowl with bedding and the food (if it was not soild) would be wasted.
How old are the babies? At around 3 weeks they begin feeding themselves and by 5 weeks they are completely independent of mom. (If that is what you ment)
From my experience, they find the food very fast on their own. And they love baby cereal, porridge and peas! These are photos of my first foster babies, kiddies of Corrie & Byron:
There around 3 weeks but I was wondering if i should feed them from my hands so they would get used to being comfortable with me, like me+food=friend....