If the child does not know how to chew. Chewing reflex of a child - what is it. Why chewing food is so important
Each child goes through his own special path of development, therefore, it is impossible to say with an accuracy of one month when he will be ready to fully chew food. According to the opinion of reputable pediatricians, at about the age of 12 months, the baby is already able to eat solid foods. Some children develop this skill several months earlier, while others - several months later. But if by the age of two the child has already developed fine motor skills of his hands, and he is not accustomed to full-fledged food, it is necessary to urgently take action.
The child takes the first steps in mastering the chewing instinct already in the fifth month of life, even before that moment, even before the eruption of the first teeth. According to pediatricians, "trying on a tooth" teether, drying or other small object, the baby not only tries to massage swollen and itchy gums, but also trains the jaw muscles. After the first teeth have erupted, the child will be able to chew the crushed pieces of solid food.
The child does not want to chew - what is the reason
There are a number of reasons why the baby refuses to chew and consumes only liquid food. A parent should not immediately get angry and nervous, there is a possibility that this is not a whim, but physiological problems. To find out the causes of problems with chewing, it is worth observing the child's behavior, analyzing the situation. Sometimes it takes a while to get used to a new meal.
There are such reasons for the lack of chewing skill:
Improper feeding
This is the main reason that the baby does not want to part with his favorite puree and switch to an "adult" diet. Overly caring parents offer their baby such a wide selection of liquid dishes that the baby simply does not want something else. Sometimes the mother feeds her child with cereals and mashed potatoes because of fears that he will choke: you should not be afraid, he will spit out a piece that has not been chewed.
Unformed skills
It has been noticed that babies who were artificially fed immediately after birth are reluctant to refuse liquid food. The reason for this is undeveloped jaw muscles: in order to get enough, you need to work hard, and to get a nutrient mixture from the nipple a lot of work is not needed. Sometimes it happens that the baby is forbidden to "try on the tooth" steering wheels, various safe items, do not offer a teether: this also does not contribute to development.
Physiological problems
Occasionally physiological problems can cause unwillingness to chew food. The little gourmand tries to swallow food, but suddenly begins to cough, and he has to spit out the unchewed pieces. Difficulty swallowing is caused by common diseases of the larynx and oral cavity - stomatitis, pharyngitis, tonsillitis. Any attempt to chew food causes pain in the baby, he is forced to eat ground food. To identify such diseases, you need to visit a dentist, surgeon and neurologist.
There are several ways to teach your baby to eat "adult" food. If you apply several methods at once, success is assured. At first, it is recommended to feed mixed - liquid food interspersed with solid foods, so that he gets used to the new diet. The main principle of the transition to a new diet is not to be led by the crumbs. If something doesn't work out, you can't show it, it's better to try it next time.
Lead by example
There is nothing better for teaching a little gourmet something new, like learning from the example of parents and other adults Calmly tell that from now on you will be eating together, and he has already grown up in order to eat ordinary food, and not just puree. In order to develop the crumb's desire to eat solid food, show him a treat, a piece of colored marmalade is ideal. Take your time to bite off the delicacy, interest the child, let him ask for a piece.
Stop chopping food
If the kid saw the process of cooking, he should have noticed a crush, blender or other object for turning any dish into puree. One day, tell the baby that the blender is broken or missing, and you will have to eat food without grinding, whole. If the little gourmet doesn't like it, explain that this is only one time, next time everything will be the same, but now you need to eat everything.
Have a snack outside
If the parents are not the authority for the child, then you should try to use the authority of other children. Try to be on the street more often, on the move, in catering establishments, at picnics. When the baby sees how other children carelessly eat any food, he will also want to try "for the company", there everyone will be indifferent to his culinary requests and whims.
When the baby begins to try, in addition to mother's milk or a mixture of complementary foods, all food for the little one is ground and made homogeneous. Puree and liquid porridge are used to move the baby to thicker, and then to solid food.
Many mothers doubt at what age it is no longer possible to give food crushed to a homogeneous state, but to teach the crumbs to chew. Knowing the age at which the introduction of solid food into the diet is recommended is also important to prevent possible problems, for example, when a healthy baby at 3-4 years old refuses to eat in pieces or chokes when feeding.
When to introduce into complementary foods?
Neither the chewing apparatus nor the digestive system of infants in the first 4-6 months of life are ready for food other than breast milk or an adapted formula. In addition, in such young children, not only the sucking, but also the protective reflex is very pronounced, in which any solid objects are automatically pushed out by the tongue.
When the baby grows up, these innate reflexes begin to fade away. At the same time, the maturation of the baby's gastrointestinal tract continues, and the need for nutrients increases. At about the age of 4-6 months, babies are ready to taste foods with increased density.
Up to about 5 months, the child's body can only absorb liquid food - formula or mother's milk
Getting your baby to eat thicker foods in a timely manner helps teach the baby to bite, chew, and swallow dense foods. The nervous system of a six-month-old baby is already developed so much that the baby can coordinate the movements of its tongue and swallowing movements. Even without teeth, the baby learns to grind and mix food in his mouth using his gums and tongue. To do this, dishes with different degrees of grinding of pieces should appear on his menu.
The optimal age for complementary foods with a denser consistency is called 6-10 months. If, in this interval, parents are afraid to give the crumbs inhomogeneous food, its later introduction into the diet may cause the child to reject food in pieces. As a result, the child is unable to swallow solid food and chokes if the meal is not completely chopped up.
Calculate Your Complementary Feeding Chart
How to transfer a child to solid food?
The transition from liquid and completely homogeneous food to solid food must necessarily be gradual. First, a liquid dish for crumbs is made semi-liquid, and then viscous and thick. In addition, mashed food is made finely chopped over time, and then they move on to medium chopping and large pieces.
The first complementary food of the crumbs should have a puree-like consistency.
The stages of the transition will be as follows:
- At the age of 4-6 months, depending on the type of feeding, babies begin to offer puree food from a spoon. All products at this age are given semi-liquid and without lumps, so that the baby can easily swallow them. Vegetable purees are wiped twice through a sieve or grinded with a blender at high speed, and the porridge is boiled from cereals ground into flour, first offering a 5% dish, and a little later - 10%.
- From 7-9 months of age, the consistency of the dishes for the child is made thicker. Vegetables are still offered to the crumbs in the form of mashed potatoes, but they are rubbed through a sieve 1 time or set a lower speed in the blender. For the preparation of cereals, you can already use cereals with medium grinding. Meat in the diet of infants of this age must first be homogenized (minced twice in a meat grinder, and then whipped in a blender with vegetable broth). At 9 months, boiled meat can only be passed through a meat grinder 2 times so that small pieces up to 2-3 mm remain in the puree.
- Also, at 8-9 months, the child begins to offer solid food in the form of cookies, crackers and wheat bread. Such dense products are given to the crumbs in the hand, allowing them to grind with cutting teeth. At the same time, the baby should be carefully observed, not allowing a situation when the baby chokes on a breakaway piece. For added safety, solid food can be placed in the nibbler.
- At the age of 10-12 months, it is time to accustom the child to less chopped meals. At this age, food for the baby is already crushed so that pieces of 3-5 mm in size remain in it. Fruits and vegetables for toddler can be kneaded with a fork or grated, and the meat can be cooked in the form of meatballs. Whole cereals are already used for porridge, but they boil it well. In addition, at this age, the child usually wants to take with his fingers and hold various objects, which allows you to offer the baby pieces of boiled vegetables, boiled pasta, small slices of white bread, slices of banana and other food that the baby can put in his mouth and chew on his own.
- A one-year-old child is improving his chewing skills and can already cope with cereal and vegetable casseroles, steamed cutlets and meatballs, grated fresh vegetables and fruits on a coarse grater, as well as with other dishes. By the age of 1.5-2, the child is already fully chewing solid food.
A one and a half year old baby can easily cope with a bowl of "adult" soup and a slice of bread
If the child refuses
Some children are protesting against a denser meal and demand their favorite puree foods. This is often due to the transition to unmilled food too quickly. In addition, many babies are conservative and do not like to change their way of life, so they should be given time to get used to innovations.
Try changing the consistency of your baby's favorite food by aggressively offering a small amount every day. At the same time, it is impossible to force the baby to eat, so that the child does not have a negative attitude towards thicker food and nutrition in general. The size of the pieces should be increased gradually and very slowly so that it is invisible for the baby.
Many children do not welcome the change of diet from mother's milk to solid foods.
If a child over one year old does not chew food in pieces, Dr. Komarovsky recommends:
- Offer the child to knead food on their own in their own plate, saying that there was no favorite puree in the store, and the blender does not work.
- Find something tasty among solid foods that your child will surely enjoy, such as fresh drying or slices of sweet fruits.
- Organize meals in a public place where the child can observe other children and be limited in food choices.
For how to teach your baby to chew, see the next video.
The time is not far off when it’s time to send your child to kindergarten. Has your baby never learned to chew solid foods? Are you at a loss, not knowing what else to try to wean your child from grated food? Let's talk about your "worries" and try to accustom your child to an ordinary diet.
Mom, here's a spoon, teach me how to chew!
Hello girls! Quite a little time passed, and I again hurry to you to discuss another burning topic: “ How to teach a child to chew food?».
Looking through the information on the neta, you can see how many mothers are concerned about this problem. And the "gazebo", in fact, has a place to be. Recently I talked with a kindergarten teacher (my average is 3.5 years old). It was about nutrition for children. She said that now in the middle group all the children, more or less, eat well. However, a year ago, when the group was just formed, it was not easy, because for some of the babies, the nanny had to grind the portions of lunch herself so that they did not go hungry! After all, the parents were not able to "instill" in them the chewing skill. And this situation is no exception, in every new group, unfortunately, there are such children.
Let's talk about perfectly healthy babies who have no problems with the swallowing reflex, but who cannot chew while choking on solid food.
Influence of feeding on the process of habituation to ordinary food
As you know, from the last "gazebo", I have three sons. With my boys, I went through a phased path of artificial, mixed and breastfeeding. Therefore, I am sure when they say that mommy has no milk, that in reality it is not a problem, but a lack of information and experience, but more on that in another "gazebo".
In my opinion, the question of instilling in the child the chewing skills directly depends on the type of feeding. Let's try to put everything on the shelves.
Artificial feeding
My eldest son was completely bottle-fed. When he was 1 month old, the milk began to decrease, and I began to feed him with mixtures, and at 1.5 months it disappeared altogether.
I don't remember any difficulties with him in terms of nutrition, and the question of what to do if the child does not chew was not on my agenda. I followed all the pediatrician's instructions clearly. However, I have a small caveat. I am not an adherent of "canned food", which is completely puree-like consistency. Mom, there are no judges here, so let's be honest with ourselves! It just makes your life easier and saves time, but there is no need to talk about the health benefits of this food. It is hard to believe that such food (after all, whatever one may say, it is conservation!) Is much healthier than one prepared with your own hands, because it has a balanced vitamin composition.
I am not saying that "jars" should be completely eliminated. Sometimes, when on the road, or you go to visit - it's just a "lifesaver". In any case, it's up to you.
And as a result, bottle-fed children (with proper development) begin to eat early from the common table. They have a well-developed chewing and swallowing skills, they do not choke on food, and there are no problems with nutrition in the kindergarten.
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Mixed feeding
My middle son is 3.5 years old. We began to attend kindergarten from 1 year 10 months. fully prepared. Let's discuss all the small points in more detail.
Perhaps it should be said that my "hero" was born with a weight of 4 kg. 200, so the need for food was palpable. This is an endlessly hungry child :))))))). And since to eat very "hotzza" (where can I get so much?), I had to feed "lyalusik".
In order to instill the skill of accurately hitting food in the mouth, here's what we did:
Well, and then - all the fun. The "child" begins to sit. He can be seated next to the table. He begins to understand that there is something interesting in your plate, and you absorb it so deliciously, smacking your lips that he is literally salivating. Well, I really want to try.
When preparing the first vegetable puree, I used all the vegetables that were in the house)))))))))))). I added carrots, onions, garlic, cabbage, potatoes, zucchini and a pinch of salt to boiling water. That's how much there is! When the vegetables were boiled, I rubbed them with a fork. Did NOT whip! There were small pieces of food in the puree. Don't worry, he wasn't upset. Everything is amazingly assimilated. And although the little ones still do not know how to chew, he coped with his first lesson perfectly well. This is how, in fact, we developed the skill of chewing.
Below is a video "The process of making the first vegetable puree."
Being with his family at the dinner table, the baby also wants to eat from a spoon on his own. Of course, this is very funny: when a kid, eating soup, or rather trying to eat it, brings a spoon to his mouth, and at that moment all the soup runs away, falling right into the collar of the plastic bib and on his face, while, at the same time, it is simply touching with surprise, as if saying: “How does this happen? And nothing got into my mouth! " Naturally, my "kinyrenysh" became nervous. And I, as a modern mom, allowed him to misbehave. At the reception of the second course, I took a spoon, and put a plate of vegetables next to me. See what came of it (in the presented photos the baby is 9 months old).
Believe me, a lot has settled in your mouth. It was sooooooooooooo delicious!
We practiced chewing skills day after day., getting used not only to eat from the common table, but also trying to do it yourself , and by 1 year 3 months have achieved certain results. You can get acquainted with our achievements in the video below.
In this example, oatmeal is presented, but the child's menu is varied. At this age, we ate everything. It happened that I did not want to chew meat in soups, then I, cutting the meat into soup, cut off a large piece and gave it to the baby separately. He ate it with pleasure.
At the age of 1 year 10 months. we went to the garden. In a group of this age, children are recruited who can eat on their own using cutlery and go to the potty.
The latest photos and videos of preparing for kindergarten at the age of one year and 9 months are presented below.
We just have to deal with diapers, which we did in a month, completely excluding them from our life - and my citizen is ready for kindergarten!
Breast-feeding
So the turn came up to my "masik", the youngest. Today we are a year and 4 months old. And yes, I still can't stop feeding him. At this age, it causes certain inconveniences, takes a lot of time, and it’s time, time, time, but in no way.
Regarding nutrition: we eat everything from the common table, without wiping anything. He himself does not eat yet, he is only trying. The photo below shows the period of smearing food on the face, ears and neck, and it's just wonderful that it has already passed. True, we spent this time in the hospital, and they are very much hospitalized, but I do not think that this is essential. In the photo my boy is 11 months old.
It is clearly seen that the child is eating ordinary soup, not whipped with a blender.
The kid did a wonderful job with smearing the cutlets, for his beloved. See how pleased you are?
Of course, in the case of breastfeeding, things are a little more complicated. The "kid" often chokes and there are often cases when he simply spits out food, because there are larger pieces than he would like.
But I have an assistant - this is a lifesaver, but in simple terms - a bib with a visor. It may not be aesthetically pleasing, but it is effective. The baby will first spit it out, then taste the food. He understands that he did it in vain, but his natural stubbornness says not to back down, so he continues in the same spirit. Spits out, but now only in a bib. In general, he makes a “zagashnik”. There he stores his pieces, and then puts them in his mouth with a pen.
Something like this happened before. Now everything is much simpler, and not far off is the period when we ourselves will eat, "wielding a spoon." So far we have a spoon in one hand (even something gets into it), and the other hand is “mastering” the plate. This is how we eat. I try not to feed myself (if I am at home), I just am there, talking and praising. After all the main thing is that the process of eating the child gives pleasure and joy, then everything will definitely work out!
Conclusion
Of course, there are children with individual characteristics who have difficulties in trying to teach their child to chew solid food. In this case, it is better to take into account the recommendations of doctors, for example, Dr. Komarovsky, or go to consult a pediatrician.
However, in my opinion, you should be patient and teach the child to solid food consistently, starting from an early age. You just need to remember the need to always be there at such moments. Encourage him, praise him, eat with him with the whole family. And your baby will surely have an interest, and he will want to CHEW with you.
Pediatricians assure that in recent years there have been more cases when grown-up babies refuse to eat solid food, preferring carefully chopped purees and mixtures. That is, an increasing number of families are faced with the question of how to teach a child to chew?
The reason for this refusal of the baby is quite understandable. Today, mothers use ready-made mixtures and factory-made purees for feeding. These foods are crushed very carefully, so the child does not have to make an effort to chew. Of course, it is easier for the child to follow the path of least resistance, and he does not want to chew solid food, because after all, mom will still give the usual mashed food.
Is it necessary to teach the child to chew and swallow, or let everything go on as usual? After all, over time, the child will still be forced to master this skill?
In fact, avoiding solid foods and chewing at an early age will have negative consequences. The ability to chew is necessary:
- To strengthen teeth. If the baby is fed exclusively with pureed food for a long time, then this can cause the formation of an incorrect bite and other dental problems.
- To ensure normal digestion. As the child grows, his gastrointestinal tract develops. If the child does not receive solid food, then the stomach begins to "lazy". After all, if food is not chewed, then it is not saturated with saliva, and accordingly, when it enters the stomach, it does not contribute to the production of digestive enzymes. As a result, serious problems with digestion await the child in the future.
- For the development of speech. When chewing, muscles are trained, which take part in the pronunciation of sounds. If the child does not develop the skill of chewing on time, then it is not surprising that he will have problems with the development of speech.
In addition, if you do not develop the chewing skill on time, then the child can get used to it and not want to make an effort to cope with solid food. At 2-3 years old, a child can already quite manipulate his parents, realizing that if he tightly squeezes his lips, refusing to eat or starts shedding streams of tears, then they will leave him behind and feed him with the usual mashed food.
When should you start learning?
It turns out that you need to start developing chewing skills very early, even before the child has teeth. At the age of 6-7 months, babies are actively pulling everything into their mouths to scratch their gums. Gnawing on a special device (teether), the child gradually trains the chewing muscles, preparing for the transition to solid food.
In ancient times, to train the chewing muscles, grandmothers wrapped a piece of food (for example, an apple) in cheesecloth and gave this bag to the baby so that he would grind it and gradually chew the food. A more comfortable device called a nibbler is available to modern mothers. Outwardly, it does not look like a pacifier, but it has a lid on the back, into which baby biscuits or other product is placed. Musola nibbler, the child grinds the product and moistens it with saliva, which contributes to the emergence of a sense of taste. Mothers will only need to make sure that the mesh of the chewing part of the nibbler remains intact (the baby's sharp teeth can damage it) and, of course, wash the device after each use. You can give a child a nibbler as early as 7-9 months.
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As a last resort, if it was not possible to purchase a nibbler, you can give the baby a dryer. To prevent him from losing it, the dryer can be hung on a string like a pendant. Of course, drying does not represent much nutritional value, but they are an excellent trainer for chewing muscles.
Giving a nibbler or drying to a child during the appearance of the first teeth, if this moment is missed, then it will be much more difficult to teach the child to chew. In addition to dryers and cookies, a child of 9-10 months can be offered pieces of fruits and vegetables. Even if the child initially refuses to bite the offered food, you need to periodically offer him over and over again until he agrees.
Many mothers believe that it is harmful to give a child solid food before the child is 1 year old. In fact, this is not the case. Of course, munching an apple or a cookie, the child will not eat much, but his muscles will receive the proper load, and this will over time facilitate not only the process of learning to chew, but also mastering speech.
The only thing that needs to be monitored is that the child does not breathe through his mouth when licking the product, that is, his nose should be free. If your baby has a runny nose, you will need to temporarily stop giving him solid food until he recovers.
How to teach?
The transition to solid foods should be gradual. If the child is fed with ready-made products of factory production, then you need to select mashed potatoes and cereals in accordance with age. Most of the well-known manufacturers divide their products into age groups. That is, a child of 10-11 months should not be fed with porridge intended for six-month-old babies.
Products for older age categories differ in consistency, they are thicker, they contain grains and lumps. This will prepare the baby well for the transition to the common table.
If the mother prefers to prepare food for the child herself, then the degree of grinding should be gradually reduced, working less with a blender. After a year, the blender will need to be used less often. For example, do not grind boiled vegetables in mashed potatoes, but grind with a fork, and grate the apple.
But you should not rush with meat, this product can be given in pieces only after three years. Meat requires more thorough chewing, so a small child will not cope with the task. For children of this age, you should cook minced meat dishes - meatballs, meatballs, etc.
What if the moment is missed?
First of all, you need to make sure that there are no physiological reasons that prevent you from eating solid foods. Violations can be associated with malfunctions of the gastrointestinal tract or diseases of the throat or oral cavity. Therefore, mothers should not neglect dispensary examinations, which, as a rule, reveal the reasons that interfere with the development of the skill of chewing.
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If the child is healthy, then the reason for the refusal is most likely the unwillingness to overcome difficulties. In this case, parents will have to show maximum patience and endurance in order to teach a child to chew solid food. You should not put pressure on the child, since the strictness of the parents in this matter will lead to the fact that the child will develop fear and rejection of the feeding process.
In no case, you can not abruptly switch to lumpy food. If yesterday the child was fed with carefully chopped mashed potatoes, and today they offered borscht or vegetable stew in pieces, then it is quite natural that he will refuse to eat. He simply does not understand why, instead of "normal" food, his mother is trying to cram something into him, in his opinion, inedible.
Some supporters of strict measures prefer to adhere to the principle: "If you don't eat, then you are not hungry." But this principle is by no means the best, since the child is still too young and regular nutrition is very important for him.
Moreover, there is no need to shove spoon after spoon into the baby's mouth if he chokes and spits food. Such feeding will bring nothing, except for the damaged nerves.
Parents need to tune in to a long learning process in which any transitions will occur gradually.
It is necessary to feed the child with the usual mashed potatoes and cereals, gradually changing the consistency of the food, making it thicker, but not yet containing lumps. If the food is made too thick and the child does not eat, then you need to slightly dilute the portion of food with liquid (water, milk, broth), and try to feed the baby. If you act gradually, then the child will soon learn to eat thick, albeit pureed food.
Next, along with the usual mashed potatoes, put several pieces of vegetables or fruits on a plate. It should be emphasized that this is the kind of food (in pieces) that all big children and adults eat. The child often seeks to imitate his parents, so it will be easy to motivate him to acquire a new skill - to chew food in pieces.
At this time, it is worth seating the baby at a common table with the whole family (of course, in a high chair for feeding), the way he sees that everyone else is eating food in pieces, and not rubbed.
The next step is to add chunks to the food. For example, small pieces of soft fruits (peaches, pears) or vegetables (boiled carrots, beets) can be added to porridge. Gradually, you need to increase the size and number of pieces, over time, completely switching to not pureed, but soft food. Then you can enter into food, pieces of solid food - apple, cucumber, etc.
To stimulate the interest of a child over 2 years old, you can "involve" him in the preparation of food. For example, when cooking porridge, let him touch rice or buckwheat. If soup is being cooked, then show what vegetables are.
Write an article "How to teach a child to chew?" I, a speech therapist of the highest category with considerable experience, were prompted by the observations of recent years on 3-4-year-old children who, as strange as it may sound, do not know how to chew. A few years ago, one could laugh: “Does a child not know how to chew at 3-4 years old? Yes, this cannot be! ". But I myself have repeatedly had to face this problem. Children came to kindergarten at the age of three and could not eat anything there. Parents brought mashed potatoes in jars or the teacher "kneaded" the first course. Moreover, the consultations of a neurologist did not give anything - the answer was: "He will see how other children eat, and he will learn himself." By imitation, they did not learn, they were not given to feed an adult, they spat and choked. The reasons for this problem and practical recommendations for overcoming it will be highlighted below.
The negative results of not being able to eat solid food:
Food is not sufficiently saturated with saliva and does not mix with it, which means that gastric juice and digestive enzymes are produced poorly;
The muscles of the tongue do not develop, which prevents the formation of the correct pronunciation of speech sounds;
The teeth do not experience the necessary load (they may fall out prematurely, an irregular bite may form).
On the Internet, the forums of numerous sites for mothers are full of the question: "How to teach a child to chew?" Someone realizes at 1.5 years old, and someone constantly uses a blender to prepare food for their three-year-old baby. This problem is becoming more common. "Thank you" to our pediatricians. They are too persistently implementing the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of March 21, 2007 No. 172 and the approved federal target program "Children of Russia", which focuses mothers on breastfeeding. Indeed, the trend in recent years in pediatrics is priority breastfeeding. At the same time, modern pediatricians advise young mothers not to rush into the introduction of complementary foods, explaining that this is fraught with the emergence of allergies to new products for the child. At the same time, even in the latest edition of the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO), it is noted that the appearance of the first chewing movements reflexively in children occurs at 4-5 months (at the same time, the child has a movement of the gag reflex from the middle to the posterior third of the tongue). But parents, on the advice of the doctor, are in no hurry with complementary foods. Thus, the reflex not reinforced by practice dies out.
At 7-12 months, according to the WHO recommendations, the child develops biting and chewing skills, lateral movements of the tongue and the movement of food to the teeth by the tongue. At this age, the child is already able to eat cereals and chopped fruits and raw vegetables. By the age of one or two, the child is already eating food from the family table. So, if a few years ago a baby at 4-5 months (before the appearance of teeth) received a drying piece, a crouton or even a bone of fresh boiled chicken from his mother or grandmother and “learned to chew” with his gums. Today, mothers, acting "according to science", introduce complementary foods after 6 months (or even later), when the child has already had 2-4 front teeth. These teeth are used for biting, it is impossible to chew with them, but, what is important, they prevent the baby from chewing with his gums. In this case, it remains to wait for the appearance of a complete set of molars, and learn to chew with them already. From about one year old, your baby can gradually start eating solid foods and learn to chew small pieces.
But what to do if the moment is missed, if the child is already accustomed to mashed food and chokes on any piece that gets into his mouth after two years? There is no method for teaching chewing. But in this process, two aspects can be distinguished: physiological and psychological. Next, I will give practical recommendations (from work experience) for the mastering of the chewing process by children.
1. Activation of the muscles of the tongue and overcoming the gag reflex. Effectively use a gentle massage of the tongue through a gauze napkin, as well as with a wooden spatula (with a gradual advance to the root of the tongue); pushing out a gauze napkin placed deep behind the cheek with the tongue. In parallel with massage, it is useful to carry out articulatory gymnastics.
2. Overcoming the fear of getting solid food in the mouth. Our grandmothers gave babies a piece of apple wrapped in cheesecloth. The kid was munching on this piece, and the mother was not afraid that the child, after taking a bite, would choke. And the child felt the taste of an apple, developed chewing movements, trained salivation. The firm "Nubi" (USA) offers parents an improved form of "gauze with a piece". The product is called "Nibbler" (feeding strainer). With the help of a special strainer with a handle, the child can safely eat fruits, vegetables and learn to chew. A piece of fruit or vegetable is inserted into a special mesh. Through small cells, the baby will not be able to bite off a piece, only the smallest particles of the product will enter his mouth, which are safe for swallowing.
3. Gradual transition from pureed food to "pieces". We offer little by little food not mashed with a blender, but food with small "pieces". Then the food is crushed with a fork. You can use a psychological trick: suddenly "the blender is lost somewhere" (broke). And then offer the kid ("you are already big") to chop the food himself in his plate with a fork. Since, in the end, it is easier for a child to take a piece of potato in his mouth than to crush it with a fork, chewing will win.
4. Desire induction is solid food of imitation. You need to show your child with the whole family what to eat is interesting and exciting! You all sit down at the table together, DO NOT CALL the child to the table (ignore it on purpose) and start eating with a huge appetite, praising and admiring how incredibly delicious everything is! Thus, the baby is interested in the process of eating. If the baby comes up to the table, there is no need to rush to put him at the table - on the contrary, send him away: go play, we eat, we have a very important and interesting business, no one is fiddling with food for the child. Invite guests and visit yourself. Your behavior should be such that the child understands that he has missed something in life, there is something that turns out to be very interesting!
Please note that after two years it is quite difficult to arouse the child's food interest, the concept has already formed - so you should not expect quick results. The kid will not immediately run to the table. You need to wait for him to show a steady interest - and only then will we give it a try. If you see that interest is waning - that's it, go play. As soon as you start to insist again, the child's interest will immediately disappear.
Do not leave your baby unattended with food. But do not persistently "observe". Otherwise, the child will begin to look for some kind of danger in the process of eating solid food and will begin to choke again.
Fadeeva Yulia Aleksandrovna, speech therapist, GBOU d / s No. 174, Moscow