Newborn babies do not have teeth and have poor chewing abilities, so many parents feed them mashed food. However, this can result in a lack of exercise for their chewing abilities. Many mothers complain that their babies, who are over one year old, can only eat mushy food and spit out anything slightly harder. Some babies do not chew their food properly and just swallow it after stirring it around in their mouth. What frustrates mothers the most is that many babies hold food in their mouth and refuse to swallow for a long time. How can mothers train their babies' chewing abilities? Let's take a look at some methods to train a baby's chewing abilities together.
1. Add complementary foods on time
The ideal time to add complementary foods for babies is around 6 months old, and the golden period to train their chewing abilities is between 6-12 months. Therefore, mothers must seize this time to train their babies' chewing abilities.
When starting to add complementary foods, besides choosing smooth mashed food, it is also important to choose a suitable spoon. This can reduce the baby's rejection of the food, make it easier for mothers to feed, and help the baby adapt to the complementary food.
2. Adjust the texture of the food according to adaptation
Some mothers worry that their babies may choke on frothy or chunky food, so they only feed them mushy food. However, this has a great impact on the development of chewing abilities. The addition of food should start from fine to coarse. By 8-9 months old, babies can already grind food with their gums, so they can eat some small-grained pureed food.
Mothers can prepare a grinding bowl to make baby food, as manually ground food is more suitable for babies at this stage.
By 10-12 months old, babies' chewing and coordination abilities develop rapidly, so they can gradually transition to larger-grained crushed food and also start adding finger foods.
3. Cultivate the baby's interest in self-feeding
Constantly feeding the baby can have serious consequences. On one hand, it hinders the formation of good eating habits, and on the other hand, it affects the baby's chewing, swallowing, and digestion. Therefore, besides gradually diversifying the baby's food types, mothers can also prepare a set of special tableware to let the baby eat by themselves.
4. Training
To train the flexibility of the tongue, parents can prepare some seaweed or crunchy cereals according to their child's preferences. Cut the food into small pieces and place them in different positions in the mouth, such as the upper lip, lower lip, and upper palate, and let the child use their tongue to pick up the food.
Mothers can provide a more diverse range of complementary foods and make them harder or thicker than those given at 4-6 months old. Offer some foods that require chewing to cultivate the baby's chewing abilities and promote the eruption of teeth. In addition to feeding the baby, if the baby already has teeth, mothers can also provide them with some finger foods like fruit strips or small toast.
Precautions
Infants' motor and cognitive development have critical periods, and it becomes relatively difficult to learn after these periods have passed. The critical period for the development of chewing and swallowing actions is between 4-12 months after the baby is born. Parents should not miss this time to train their baby's chewing actions.
