When the child begins to chew solid food. How to lay the right foundation for chewing skills? Baby helping mother with cooking

How to teach a child to chew solid food? This question worries all parents. IN in this case hunger comes to the rescue. It is he, being a powerful stimulus, that helps the newborn adapt to the breast. Learning to chew for a child is much more difficult. And the process of switching to solid foods is sometimes complicated by the baby’s parents, using only pureed food in his diet.

How does the process of changing your diet work?

There is no need to force your child to chew. Gradually, during the process of complementary feeding, you should add thicker foods to the baby’s diet, which are not enough to simply swallow. Then the child will have to start working with his jaws, tongue, lips, forming a lump of food, then moving it to the neck, and there the triggered swallowing reflex will help him.

Many mothers worry that they cannot find the answer to the question of how to teach their child to chew solid food. This is a completely justified concern. Since it is harmful to keep your baby on purees and cereals for a long time. Digestion should work in accordance with the development of the child, and should not become “lazy” due to the fact that only liquid and delicate dishes are present in the daily diet. Enzymes and gastric juice are poorly produced because the food is practically not saturated with saliva. If you offer a grown-up baby soft food, the flow of blood to the organs of the digestive system gradually decreases, which leads to a weakening of the functioning of the stomach itself. Also, lack of facial training can negatively affect the formation of its shape and oval, but worst of all, the development of the bite.

How to teach a child to chew?

Each baby has its own character, individual preferences for certain foods. In addition, people's bodies work differently. Therefore, there are no specific instructions on how to teach a child to chew solid foods. This fact is due to the lack of their practical necessity, individual characteristics body and character.

Most often, the baby is lazy to chew only because the parents themselves deprive him of even the slightest opportunity to try. Cooking takes long time, and heating up ready-made store-bought purees is a matter of minutes, especially since the child eats and scoops them up with pleasure required weight. But in fact, there is nothing difficult about the question of how to teach a child to chew food on his own. This is a fairly simple process, it just takes time and creation. necessary conditions. Children usually cope with solid foods without any problems. But some people still find it difficult to cope with compacted meals even after nine months. This temporary phenomenon is most often due to the fact that babies are disturbed by chewing and injure their gums, creating pain.

When is the best time to introduce a child to a new diet?

From about eight months, you can periodically offer your baby slightly compacted clumps of porridge, small pieces of fruits or vegetables, bread, dried goods or cookies. It is important to move on time to more thick diet so that the child learns to work with his lips, tongue and jaws. In general, the earlier dense foods are added to the diet, the better. As soon as the baby’s first teeth appear, even the incisors, this is a signal that you can start adding solid food to his diet.

How to teach a child to chew solid food faster? Gradually, the baby can be seated at the adult table. This is one of effective ways. All kids love to try hearty foods, grabbing pieces of vegetables or meat from adults' plates. If the child does this with pleasure, then from eight months you can give him vermicelli, potato soups or steamed cutlets. The main thing is to carefully monitor that the baby does not accidentally choke.

Many young parents don’t even think that there may be a problem teaching their child to chew. We are so accustomed to the fact that the chewing reflex is inherent in nature that we don’t even think about it. However, doctors and speech therapists claim that there are a considerable number of children who are not able to chew food even after reaching 3-4 years of age!

Sometimes you have to observe such a picture. A young mother brings in kindergarten IR your favorite child aged 2-4 years, while supplying him with numerous jars filled with grated puree. But the child simply cannot eat normally, like other peers.

From this article you will learn:

To understand the seriousness of the problem, we suggest you familiarize yourself with what awaits your baby if you don’t teach him to chew solid food as soon as he starts teething.

• Weakening of teeth. They can wobble and even fall out much earlier than expected.
• Gastric juice and enzymes are not produced, since the food is not saturated with saliva. It is chewing movements that promote the production of saliva.
• The muscles of the tongue do not develop, which leads to problems with diction.

Interestingly, some doctors indirectly contribute to the development of this problem by convincing young mothers to maintain breast-feeding as long as possible. Accordingly, the child eats only breast milk and purees for too long, which is harmful not only for normal development, but also for his teeth, tongue muscles.

Experts say that a baby aged 7-12 months should already have sufficiently developed chewing skills, and at 3-4 months the gag reflex moves from the middle of the tongue to the back of it - just like in adults.

Therefore, you should not delay, and it is at this time that you need to teach your baby to chew. Remember that if a precious moment is missed, it will be much more difficult to teach your child to chew later.

First of all, specialists (speech pathologists-defectologists) advise having the child checked by a neurologist to exclude the possibility of pathology. If neurological problems are excluded, then you can contact specialists to solve this problem. They use several methods that are useful for young parents themselves to work with their baby at home.

Basic methods:

• Getting the child used to having solid food in his mouth. Some kids are really very afraid to feel hard pieces in their mouths, instinctively fearing to choke or suffocate. If your baby is afraid, you can simply wrap a piece of solid food in gauze and let your baby chew it. Even if one small part falls off, it will not penetrate the child’s esophagus and will not scare him. And while chewing the contents of the gauze, the child will gradually get used to having a hard object in his mouth. You can wrap small slices of bread, apples, pears, and vegetables. By the way, many manufacturers greatly simplify the work of parents and offer to purchase special nipples, which are a mesh connected to a ring. The rings remain outside and look like the end of a nipple, and the mesh itself with food will be in the baby’s mouth.
• Overcoming the gag reflex. Vomiting reflex may arise on the very early period teaching a child to chew. It is relatively easy to overcome, but you will have to pay attention to this process. It is advisable to massage the tongue with a special brush or through a napkin. You can play with your child - have him put the napkin in his mouth, hide it behind his cheek, then try to push it out with his tongue.
• Articulation gymnastics. This not only helps develop diction, but also strengthens muscles. oral cavity. The baby begins to feel the muscles of the oral cavity better and will no longer be afraid of food with a hard consistency in the mouth.
• Provide your child smooth transition to solid food. If your baby eats puree, then gradually add very small pieces to it. Even if the baby swallows them along with the gruel, it will not cause him harm. pain, but he will feel that he was able to cope and swallow the piece. This should be done gradually. Then ditch the chopper and blender and use a regular fork to soften your food.
• Set an example for your child. Children love to imitate adults. This is another “trick” that is inherent in nature. You need to eat with your baby. Enjoy your food, praise it, give yourself a refill and show that the process of eating food is absolutely safe and very enjoyable. Don’t force your baby to eat, but just at least get him used to watching you eat with pleasure.

If the taming of chewing solid food began already at a fairly early age, late age, that is, after 1.5-2 years, then you will have to put in much more effort using each of the above methods. Most likely, in such cases you will need the help of a specialist.

To make it easier, it is advisable to invite other kids the same age as your baby to visit. If they are already happy to eat solid food, then this will be the most best example and for your restless one.

How to teach your baby to chew. Let's sum it up

So, the advice of experts comes down to the fact that, starting from 7-8 months, it is necessary to gradually increase the density of food, adding slightly larger pieces. It is also worth paying attention to what food your baby likes most.

It is important to interest the baby - try everything yourself, invite friends with whom you can share a meal. Use additional aids, such as a special pacifier for chewing.

An excellent option if you prepare soft boiled meatballs or steam cutlets according to a special children's recipe. They are very soft, slightly crumbly, warm and at the same time will help the child transition to solid food.

If you yourself cannot teach your child to perform such actions, then you should contact a specialist. This is done not only by pediatricians, but also by speech pathologists and speech pathologists with relevant work experience.

Experiences of other mothers

Of course, there are many more ways that often make themselves known simply by accident.

Some parents are surprised to find that the baby begins to chew if he sees foods that are new to him. He can throw out the usual pasta, cutlets, apple slices or simply hold it in his cheek. And if you offer something new and the baby likes the taste, then the likelihood that he will begin to chew and swallow the food increases significantly.

Some parents have to resort to tricks. Many children love marshmallows or chewing marmalade, and modern manufacturers produce children's marmalade or marshmallows with minimal sugar content. It tastes very pleasant and sweet. Many children do not refuse such treats and willingly chew and swallow them.

If the child is older, for example, he is 2 years old, you can explain to him that the store has run out of puree, and your blender is broken, so if he wants to eat, then he needs to try and chew the food. Of course, you cannot blackmail a child with this - you need to carefully monitor his reaction.

Transferring a child from food ready-made mixtures and breast milk for adult food is a problem for many parents, since the baby cannot learn to chew food, is capricious, refuses new foods, and spits out what he cannot swallow without chewing. Naturally, his parents are worried that he is malnourished and doubt whether he will be able to develop normally. How long will this last, and are there any secrets to help teach your baby to chew?

1. Late start of complementary feeding. Some mothers take doctors' recommendations about what is healthier too literally breast milk There is nothing that says you shouldn't wean your baby off the breast for as long as possible. After 1 year, he begins to actively resist chewing pieces of food, as he knows more easy way get enough.
2. Parents fear that the baby may choke if they give him unchopped food. Excessive caution of parents leads to the fact that a 2-year-old child, if he does not refuse food completely, then accumulates it in his mouth and then spits it out.
3. Lack of skill in using teethers. These rubber devices, which are easy for the baby to grasp with his hand, not only massage the gums, facilitating the process of teething, but also teach him to make chewing movements with his gums.
4. Busy or weak-willed parents. They don’t have time to spend a long time with the feeding process; it’s easier to give the baby what he loves. He quickly gets used to the compliance of his dad or mom and demands his usual food.
5. Increased child activity. He cannot concentrate on the process of chewing and swallowing food, cannot sit in one place for a long time, grabs food on the go, choosing what does not need to be chewed.

Video: What to do if a child cannot chew

What should parents do to teach their baby to chew?

To teach your child to chew both soft foods and hard pieces, it is necessary to gradually add dishes with larger food particles to the diet. For example, you can gradually add soft bread to the soup so that the child feels pieces of food on his tongue. Of course, you need to carefully ensure that the baby does not choke. You need to give him food in small portions. The child should sit quietly at the table. You can’t distract your baby while eating or make him laugh.

Invention ready meals For kids, of course, it makes life much easier for parents. The jars contain the “right” food, which contains all the necessary vitamins, and the amount of various nutrients is strictly calculated. However, when buying such food, you must definitely pay attention to what age the porridge or puree is intended for. For older children, thicker food is prepared with the addition of larger pieces.

Note: Self-cooking food for the child, and even with his feasible participation, increases interest in food, helps improve appetite.

Video: How to introduce a child to solid food

Why does a baby need to learn to chew by age 2?

Transitioning to harder foods that require chewing to eat is natural physiological process associated with the development of various body systems. Digestive system gradually gets used to digesting solid food. The need for nutrients is growing. A variety of “adult” foods can satisfy her.

If the child does not learn to normal food, then the nutrition of all tissues of his body will be disrupted. This affects his physical and intellectual development. If you still have a problem with chewing, then don’t panic. Some special techniques will help teach your baby to chew pieces of food.

Advice: You can give your baby boiled carrots or a chicken leg. They are comfortable to hold and fun to put into your mouth.

Experienced parents share their methods for overcoming the problem on forums dedicated to raising and feeding children. Some people advise letting everything take its course: he will grow up and learn. Others, on the contrary, offer shock therapy: do not give him food, but leave adult food within his reach. If he wants to eat, he will get it and eat it.

Doctor Komarovsky gives simple tips For parents who are faced with a child’s reluctance to chew food, how to teach a child to chew.

In particular, he suggests that mom and dad don’t have to immediately agree with the baby’s stubborn demand to give him the usual pureed food. Parents should show artistry, feign regret that the blender is broken or the store has run out of jars of meat puree. IN as a last resort, you can give your baby a fork so that he can mash the potato pieces. He'll probably enjoy this, although lack of skill may result in half the puree ending up on the floor. But this is already a problem for parents. But the child in next time will demand just such “interesting” food, stuffing it into his mouth (the fork must be a special one - plastic, with blunt teeth).

In order for your baby to learn to chew food, you need to give him a tasty and beautiful cookie or a piece of sweet fruit that he likes. A bagel will do. Some parents give children already at the age of 5-6 months dried or baby cookies. At this age, as a rule, there are no teeth yet, but the child works on drying because he feels the pleasant taste. He soaks it in his mouth, bites off small pieces with his gums, learns to chew and swallow them. Drying should be given not so much for saturation, but for development chewing reflex. Then, when the first teeth appear, it will be more difficult for the baby to get used to such a healthy and tasty toy. It’s uncomfortable for him to bite with his gums, and he doesn’t have enough teeth.

Komarovsky recommends trying to feed the child at children's cafe. He will watch with what appetite other children eat, and he himself will want to try such food. In addition, the usual pureed porridge or vegetable puree they don't serve it there.

Parents of children up to one year old and beyond are faced with many difficult situations. One of the frequently asked questions to pediatricians is: “How to teach a child to chew solid food?” Our article contains the most useful tips on this topic. They will definitely help in solving a difficult problem.

From this article you will learn

Why does a child not want to chew?

The reluctance or inability to chew food or eat solid main courses has several reasons. Let's divide them into two groups: external and internal.

External ones, emanating from the characteristics of upbringing and the atmosphere in the house, include:

• Parents' fears. Fear of giving your child solid food: “He might choke!” This is how they talk too much caring mothers and continue to feed one year old baby purees, soups, pureed through a blender. And they deprive the baby of the desire to chew.
• Fussiness and laziness of parents. Dad or mom wants to feed the child faster. There is no time to chew. And a bottle of porridge is given, soft food is put into the mouth with a spoon at an accelerated pace. There is no need to chew, time is saved.
• Delaying the introduction of complementary foods until 1–1.5 years. The myth about breastfeeding better years up to three and at the same time the child no longer needs anything, lives in the minds of grandmothers, young people experienced parents still. Refusal of complementary feeding and late introduction of solid food leads to the formation of the habit of eating porridge from a bottle and sucking on mother’s breast. In this case, there is no need to chew at all.
• Lack of chewing training during teething. If the baby was not given crackers or teethers to scratch itchy gums at 6–10 months, the chewing apparatus is not accustomed to active movements.

TO internal reasons relate:

• Laziness of the baby. The baby is too lazy to chew, but mom doesn’t insist. He quickly replaces the second course with the first, forgets to give carrots for the afternoon snack in the whole version. The baby is happy, the parents are not tired of the whims. Everyone is fine, but the child has not learned to chew.
• Fear of eating. Little ones often suffer from this. Caring grandmothers and mothers get tired of waiting for the appetite to appear and force feed the baby. It’s easier to stuff liquid food into your mouth, so that’s where you start. The hard one remains on the side for a long time, and then is simply swallowed by the child without chewing. The only thing he wants during lunch is to swallow quickly and run away from the hated plate. As a result, he chokes, is afraid to swallow, and refuses to eat pieces.
• Restless character. The baby spins, runs, and does not concentrate on one thing. With this temperament, children chew, but do it so quickly that they constantly choke. In this case, the mother needs to show more patience and persistence.
• Developmental pathologies. IN in rare cases We are talking about neurological or mental illnesses. Autistic children, children with cerebral palsy, and those with hypotonia (weakness) of muscles cannot chew solid food thoroughly; they are afraid of introducing new foods.

In order to understand how to teach a child to chew and swallow, you will have to analyze the situation individually. If the problem is a parent's behavior, start the solution with yourself.

Why is it important to teach

It is imperative to transition children to solid food. Delaying training leads to problems. Parents of one-year-old children should understand that chewing is a vital necessity. Let's look at this process from the negative and positive sides.

Positive aspects of chewing

• Facilitation of the gastrointestinal tract. Thoroughly chewed food is much easier for the stomach to digest.

• Jaw and teeth training. The chewing apparatus without load fails faster. With constant consumption of liquid food, teeth weaken, fall out, and the maxillofacial muscles atrophy.

• Formation of the skill of swallowing hard foods. The final stage is important: swallowing. The child understands that the better he chews, the easier it is small piece will pass through the throat, swallowing will be easy. Analyzes how much you need to bite so that the food fits in your mouth. That is, chewing is physical and intellectual process simultaneously.

• Speech development. The same muscles that are responsible for articulation are involved in the process of chewing and swallowing. By practicing biting and chewing, the baby learns to pronounce sounds, words, and breathe correctly.

Possible problems due to inability to chew solid foods

• Difficulty adapting to kindergarten. In the diet of pupils preschool institutions solid foods included. If the child does not eat porridge, meat, or the main course, he will remain hungry.
• Gastrointestinal diseases. To process pieces of solid food that enter the stomach, much more enzymes and juices are required. They are released during chewing. If food is swallowed in large pieces, then the stomach takes them dry and cannot fully digest them. The consequence of this process is gastritis, heartburn, nausea, etc.
• Forming the habit of eating monotonous food. A child who is accustomed to eating the same pureed foods over and over again does not receive enough fiber, vitamins, and minerals.
• A toddler aged 2–3 years who has switched to solid food finds it painful to chew. Gums and teeth are not used to the load. Chewable foods should be introduced earlier.
• Difficulty pronouncing sounds. The relationship between clear articulation and the ability to eat hard foods is understandable from a physiological point of view. The muscles of the jaw are responsible for chewing; tongue, cheeks, throat - for the process of swallowing. They also act when speaking. Passivity of the masticatory organs leads to late speech development or poor diction.

When can a baby be given solid foods?

Solid foods should be introduced at 5–6 months of age. The starting point for instilling a skill is considered to be a noticeable secretion of saliva. From this point on, the gums prepare for teething. The baby puts everything that comes to hand into his mouth. Including your fists. Replace them with useful devices, the baby will exercise profitably. For chewing, offer:

• Drying, cracker. Change them constantly so that the child does not choke on a piece of the chewed treat.

• Teethers. The option with water inside is the most effective and convenient. The child will gnaw and thoroughly chew the chilled toy with great pleasure.

• Modern version gauze with a carrot or apple inside. This device is a pouch. A solid tasty treat is placed in it. The baby gnaws the nibbler, crushes the fruit, and sucks the juices out of it. Eats and scratches gums at the same time.

When organizing training for the masticatory apparatus, it is important to maintain regularity. Offer small child chew something every day. If he refuses, insist, but in moderation. In case of hysterics and complete rejection of teethers, nibblers, take a break for 2-3 days, then try again.

When the baby has mastered chewing hard objects, start feeding him pieces of soft cookies and fruit for an afternoon snack or lunch. Give a little at first, then offer to bite and chew on your own. But never leave a toothless baby alone with a large cookie; he may choke after biting off and swallowing a huge piece.

Thus, having started training for a positive perception of solid food at 6 months, mothers will have good chewing babies in about a year. If you start later, the process will be delayed.

Important! Wash all gum trainers (rodents, nibblers, gauze with apples) after each use, or better yet, boil them. A child's mouth is very susceptible to bacteria.

At what age does your child learn to chew?

Poll Options are limited because JavaScript is disabled in your browser.

How to teach chewing and swallowing

You can teach your baby to chew by using simple methods. Follow the advice without psychological pressure, regularly, and everything will work out:

1. Introduce solid foods into your diet gradually. Start complementary feeding at 6–8 months. First, try adding pieces of fruit to the porridge, then grind the soup with a fork, without a blender, to get a heterogeneous mass.
2. At one year of age, mix liquid food with solid food in one bowl. Perfect option– broth with vegetables, potato pieces. It will be easier for the child to swallow the chewed mass with liquid. As you learn, add less and less broth until the child chews and swallows only vegetables, meat, and pasta.
3. At 12–16 months, give whole solid vegetables for an afternoon snack: carrots, apples. If your child has a hard time chewing on the hard skin, peel it off.

Important! Check with your doctor when you can give this or that to your child. New Product from a hard segment. Errors when introducing complementary foods provoke problems with eating and difficulties in developing chewing skills.

Here's what Dr. Komarovsky advises:

A few more tricks

• Start teaching your toddler to chew on his favorite foods. Choose any one, as long as the process gets better. But be careful: bread, cookies, crackers, sweet desserts in large quantities every day are harmful to a child’s stomach.
• Model good table manners and chew thoroughly. Be sure to combine your lunch with a kibble meal. Chew demonstratively, swallow, let him understand how the process occurs visually. Forbid yourself from eating on the go without chewing. Children are very observant.
• Start eating tough foods with small portions. For the first or third time, just add 1 teaspoon of fruit to the porridge.
• Make faces with your baby near the mirror, make faces. Fun with mom will replace articulatory gymnastics, warm-up for the facial muscles.
• If the child talks at least a little, ask him why he doesn’t chew the food on his plate. Perhaps the baby will reveal the secret himself, and the problem will be solved faster.

Many more useful tips You will learn in this short video:

What to do if the right moment is missed

The child is already 2-3 years old, but he is afraid to eat solid food; when trying to offer second courses, he responds by vomiting and crying. Such situations often occur if parents delay in introducing complementary foods or follow the desire of the baby. In this case, the advice of a speech therapist or neurologist will help:

• Start the process from the beginning. That is, a one-and-a-half-year-old baby can be offered a nibbler, small pieces of fruit in porridge, or poorly softened puree. For the first training lunches, semi-solid food is suitable.
• Do articulation exercises. Pull your lips into a tube, smile widely, imitate chewing near the mirror. Do the exercises with your child. Spend at least twenty minutes a day on exercise. Split your sets into three to five minutes.
• Use tongue massage to prevent the gag reflex. Purpose of the exercise: to activate the muscles of the tongue. After the massage course, the tongue will get used to getting solid food into the throat and will not push it out. The baby will stop choking, being afraid to swallow pieces, and choking.

How to do it: use the services of a professional or learn on yourself first, then perform the procedure on your child. Take a spatula or stick to examine the throat, place it on the tongue and press, slowly moving towards the root of the tongue. If the child feels afraid and starts crying, stop. Continue the next day. Work your way deeper slowly, allowing it to take two to three weeks.

• Help chew with your hands. Touch your face, move your cheeks if your baby doesn't mind. At this moment, chew pretend yourself, comment on all the actions.
• Provoke the desire to chew. Give him a tasty treat, such as marmalade or a banana (small piece). And then offer a larger piece. The child should want to bite him.
• Look to other people's examples. Come visit for lunch or dinner, invite married couples with the children to your place. By studying the behavior of peers, the baby will learn to chew faster.

To master the skill of chewing, especially at an older age (1.5–2 years), it is important psychological situation and a few simple tricks:

• Make up a fairy tale about the benefits of chewing. Tell me fascinating story more often. Don’t forget to make the beginning a little scary, where the hero didn’t want to eat bread or meat, but overcame laziness and learned everything.
• Tell us about the benefits proper nutrition. Stories about work internal organs Children after 2 years like it. Persuade your baby to help his stomach cope with the load and provide the body with useful substances in solid form.
• Have a competition. Who can chew meat better, whose teeth are sharper and faster, etc.
• Don't waste your time and effort. Training after a year will take longer.
• Do not scare the child, even if he choked, do not be afraid yourself. As a last resort, you can help your baby cope with a cough. If the little one sees how tense his mother is, he will be excited and scared himself.
• Involve your baby in cooking. Let him grate vegetables, salt porridge, etc. And then he will eat the results of his labor. It is imperative to praise for any expression of interest or attempts to chew.
• Set the table with forks for main courses. Threading pieces and popping them into your mouth with a fork is much more fun.
• Screaming and swearing are prohibited. Let the child spit out the prepared dish, wince, and protest. Behind bad behavior You can only scold him slightly and look upset. Screaming and threatening are absolutely forbidden.
• Don't forget to praise for achievements. Praise for children is the best engine of progress.

Important! Forcing someone to eat is tantamount to bullying a toddler. According to Dr. Komarovsky, little ones should be left alone for a couple of days. They themselves will run to the kitchen asking for food. And parents’ insistence on feedings: their frequency, the volume of portions eaten - provokes whims and infantilism.

How to stimulate appetite

Children with disabilities often suffer from a lack of desire to eat solid foods and eat well in general. poor appetite. Induce hunger in the following ways:

1. Don't force feed.
2. Avoid snacking on sweets, rolls, and packaged juices.
3. Walk a lot.
4. Lead active image life.
5. Drink sour compotes. Prepare a decoction of prunes and add fennel seeds to it.
6. Keep your bowel movements regular.
7. Include boiled and raw vegetables in your menu.
8. Let's drink more water.
9. Replace teas with a decoction of rose hips and chamomile.
10. Take a course of vitamins as prescribed by your doctor.
11. Feed correctly. Give complementary foods first, and then formula or breast milk.

Teaching a child to chew if he doesn’t want to, chokes or choke is not easy. But who said raising children is easy? Show restraint, be patient, follow the advice of doctors, psychologists, experienced parents, and everything will work out.

IMPORTANT! *when copying article materials, be sure to indicate active link first

Write an article “How to teach a child to chew?” me, a speech therapist highest category with considerable experience, prompted observations recent years for 3-4 year old children who - as strange as it sounds - do not know how to chew. Just a few years ago you could laugh: “A child cannot chew at 3-4 years old? This can’t happen!” But I myself had to face this problem many times. Children came to kindergarten at three years old and could not eat anything there. Parents brought mashed potatoes in jars or the teacher “kneaded” the first dish. Moreover, consultations with a neurologist did not give anything - the answer was: “He’ll watch how other children eat and learn on his own.” They didn’t learn by imitation, they weren’t given food to an adult, they spat and choked. Below we will highlight the causes of this problem and practical recommendations to overcome it.

Negative results of not knowing how to eat solid foods:

Food is not sufficiently saturated with saliva and does not mix with it, which means that gastric juice and digestive enzymes are poorly produced;

The muscles of the tongue do not develop, which prevents the formation of correct pronunciation of speech sounds;

The teeth do not experience the necessary load (they may fall out prematurely, or an incorrect bite may form).

On the Internet, the forums of numerous sites for mothers are replete with the question: “How to teach a child to chew?” Some people come to their senses at 1.5 years old, while others constantly use a blender to prepare food for their three-year-old child. This problem is becoming more common. “Thank you” to our pediatricians. They are too persistent in implementing the Government Decree Russian Federation dated March 21, 2007 No. 172 and approved federal target program“Children of Russia”, which encourages mothers to breastfeed. Indeed, the trend in recent years in pediatrics is priority breastfeeding. At the same time, modern pediatricians advise young mothers not to rush into introducing complementary foods, explaining that this is fraught with allergies to foods new to the child. At the same time, even in the latest edition of the recommendations World Organization Health Care (WHO) notes that the appearance of the first chewing movements reflexively in children occurs at 4-5 months (at the same time the child experiences a movement of the gag reflex from the middle to the back third of the tongue). But parents, on the advice of the doctor, are in no hurry to introduce complementary foods. Thus, the reflex, not supported by practice, fades.

At 7-12 months, according to WHO recommendations, the child develops biting and chewing skills, develops lateral movements of the tongue and moves food to the teeth with the tongue. At this age, the child is already able to eat porridge and chopped fruits and raw vegetables. By the age of one or two years, the child already eats food with family table. So, if a few years ago a baby at 4-5 months (before the appearance of teeth) received from his mother or grandmother dry bread, crackers or even a fresh boiled chicken bone 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 already has 2-4 front teeth. These teeth are used for biting; it is impossible to chew with them, but what is important is that they prevent the baby from chewing with his gums. In this case, all that remains is to wait for the appearance of a full set of molars and teach them to chew with them. From about one year of age, the baby can gradually begin to eat solid foods and learn to chew small pieces.

But what to do if the moment is missed, if the child is already accustomed to pureed food and chokes on any piece that gets into the 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 children to master the chewing process.

1. Activation of the tongue muscles and overcoming the gag reflex. It is effective to use a gentle massage of the tongue through a gauze cloth, as well as using a wooden spatula (with gradual advancement to the root of the tongue); tongue pushing gauze napkin, placed deep behind the cheek. In parallel with the massage, it is useful to carry out articulation exercises.

2. Overcoming the fear of putting solid food in your mouth. Our grandmothers gave babies a piece of apple wrapped in gauze. The baby chewed on this piece, but the mother was not afraid that the child would choke after taking a bite. And the child felt the taste of an apple, developed chewing movements, and trained salivation. The Nubi company (USA) offers parents an improved form of “gauze with a piece”. The product is called “Nibbler” (feeding strainer). Using a special strainer with a handle, a child can safely eat fruits, vegetables and learn to chew. A piece of fruit or vegetable is inserted into a special mesh. Through the small cells, the baby will not be able to bite off a piece; only the smallest particles of the product, safe for swallowing, will enter his mouth.

3. Gradual transition from pureed food to “pieces”. Little by little we offer not food pureed in a blender, but food with small “pieces”. Then the food, crushed with a fork. You can use psychological technique: suddenly “the blender got lost somewhere” (broke). And then invite the baby (“you’re already big”) to chop the food on his plate with a fork. Since, in the end, it is easier for a child to put a piece of potato in his mouth than to crush it with a fork, chewing will win.

4. Inducing the desire to eat solid food by imitation. You need the whole family to show your baby that eating is interesting and exciting! You all sit down at the table together, DO NOT CALL the child to the table (you deliberately ignore it) and begin to eat 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 to the table, there is no need to rush to seat him at the table - on the contrary, you send him away: go play, we are eating, we have something very important to do. interesting thing, no one shoves food at the child. Invite guests and go visit yourself. Your behavior should be such that the child understands that he has missed something in life, something that turns out to be very interesting!

Please note that after two years to initiate food interest it’s quite difficult for a child, the concept has already formed - so you shouldn’t wait quick results. The baby will not immediately run to the table. You need to wait for him to show sustained interest - and only then let us try. If you see that interest is waning, that’s it, go play. As soon as you start insisting again - children's interest it will disappear immediately.

Do not leave your baby unattended with food. But there is no need to persistently “observe.” Otherwise, the child will begin to look for some kind of danger in the process of eating solid food and will again begin to choke.

Fadeeva Yulia Aleksandrovna, teacher-speech therapist, GBOU d/s No. 174, Moscow