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How to teach your child to chew food and eat solid foods
Before expanding your baby’s diet, you need to prepare and learn how to teach your baby to chew harder foods. Follow these simple instructions and very quickly your little one will begin to use chewing skills correctly.
How to teach a child to chew solid foods?
To prevent the child from spitting out solid food, it is important to start developing chewing skills on time. As soon as the baby has 3-4 teeth, you can gradually begin to introduce solid food into his diet.
Before teaching a child to chew, make sure that 3-4 milk teeth have already come out.
Already at 4-7 months, the child actively begins to pull into his mouth everything that he sees in front of him. Replace your favorite toy with a piece of hard cookies or an apple, and your baby will gradually learn to chew and swallow unusual food.
Up to 1 year old, it is important to consolidate the chewing reflex in a child. Use the following tips to build a useful skill.
- Let your baby play with a metal spoon more often. Gradually, he will get used to a new object and learn to take it in his mouth.
- When making vegetable puree, chop the food with a knife. The child will actively chew small slices of vegetables.
- Visit children’s cafes with your baby regularly. The baby will observe how his peers eat, and will want to try solid food himself.
Before you teach your child to chew food, be sure to make sure that his chewing muscles are sufficiently developed. If in doubt, it is best to consult a pediatrician.
How to teach a child to chew and eat if the moment is missed?
If your child is 2 years old and still cannot chew or swallow solid foods, you should definitely see a doctor. It is important to develop the chewing reflex from an early age, but sometimes parents do not pay due attention to this, believing that the baby will gradually learn to eat by himself.
A child may spit out solid food due to sore throat, gastrointestinal problems, or gum disease.
During the examination of a small patient, the doctor will identify a pathology that interferes with the development of the chewing reflex.
To teach a child to chew solid food at 2 years old, parents need to be patient. The transition from mashed potatoes to slices of vegetables and fruits should be very smooth. First, the porridge from liquid should become thicker, then slices of fruits and vegetables will appear in it. Explain to your baby that all children his age enjoy eating these foods.
You can invite friends with children to visit so that the child is convinced that his peers eat not only mashed potatoes.
In order for a child to fully grow and develop, it is necessary to pay due attention to the formation of useful skills. The kid should get used to solid food from an early age, since at 2 years of age it will take much more time and effort to develop the chewing reflex.