From what age can you give solid food and how to teach your child to chew it?

When the baby begins to try in addition to mother's milk or a mixture of complementary foods, all the food for the toddler is ground and made homogeneous. Puree and liquid puddings are used to transfer the baby to a thicker, and then to solid food.

Many mothers doubt that at what age you can no longer give chopped to a uniform state of food, and teach your baby to chew. Knowing the age at which solid food is recommended to be introduced into the diet is also important to prevent possible problems, for example, when a healthy baby refuses to eat slices or is crushed when feeding for 3-4 years.

Neither the chewing apparatus nor the digestive system of infants of the first 4-6 months of life are ready for other foods besides breast milk or adapted mixture. Moreover, such small children have a very pronounced not only sucking, but also a protective reflex, in which any solid objects are automatically pushed out by the tongue.

The early start of teaching a child to more dense food helps to teach the baby to bite, chew and swallow dense meal. The nervous system of a half year old crumb is already so developed that the little one can coordinate the movements of her tongue and swallowing movements. Even in the absence of teeth, the baby learns to grind and mix food in the mouth using gums and tongue. To do this, its menu should appear dishes with varying degrees of grinding pieces.

The optimal age for complementary foods with a thicker consistency is called 6-10 months. If parents are afraid to give non-homogeneous food to their crumbs during this period, its later introduction into the diet may cause the child to reject the food in pieces. As a result, the child cannot swallow solid food and chokes, if the proposed dish is not completely crushed.

We recommend to watch the release of the program of Dr. Komarovsky, in which the topic of introducing complementary foods to the diet of kids is covered in detail:

The transition from liquid and completely uniform nutrition to solid food must be gradual. First, the liquid dish for crumbs make semi-liquid, and then - viscous and thick. In addition, pureed food over time make finely divided, and then go to the average grinding and large pieces.

The transition stages will be as follows:

1. At the age of 4-6 months, depending on the type of feeding, babies are starting to offer mashed potatoes with a spoon. All products at this age give semi-liquid and without lumps, so that the baby can swallow them without difficulty. Vegetable puree is twice wiped through a sieve or crushed with a blender at high speed, and the porridge is brewed from ground into flour, cereals, offering first 5% of the dish, and later - 10%.
2. From 7-9 months of age, the consistency of dishes for a child is made thicker. Crumbs vegetables are still offered mashed, but rubbed through a sieve once or set a lower speed in a blender. For the preparation of cereals, it is already possible to use cereals with medium chopping. Meat in the diet of infants of this age must first be homogenized (twice minced in a meat grinder, and then whipped in a blender with vegetable decoction). At 9 months, boiled meat can only be skipped 2 times through a meat grinder, so that small pieces up to 2-3 mm remain in the puree.
3. Also at the age of 8-9 months, the child begins to offer solid food in the form of cookies, crackers and wheat bread. Such dense products give the crumbs in the hand, allowing them to pushes them with cutting teeth. In this case, the baby should be carefully observed, not allowing the situation when the crumb is choked with a breakaway piece. For greater security, solid food can be placed in a nibbler.
4. At the age of 10-12 months, it is time to accustom the child to less chopped dishes. At this age, food for the baby is already crushed so that there remain pieces of 3-5 mm in size. Fruits and vegetables for the toddler can be kneaded with a fork or grated, and the meat cooked in the form of meatballs. The cereal for porridge is already used whole, but it is well boiled soft. In addition, at this age, the child usually wants to take with his fingers and hold various objects, which makes it possible to offer the kid pieces of boiled vegetables, boiled macaroni, small slices of white bread, banana slices and other food that the kid can put in his mouth and chew on.
5. A one-year-old child improves chewing skills and can already cope with cereal and vegetable casseroles, steam cutlets and meatballs, grated on a large grater with fresh vegetables and fruits, as well as with other dishes. By the age of 1.5-2 years old, the child already fully chews solid food.

Some children protest against denser meals and demand their favorite mashed potatoes. This is often due to the too rapid transition to unground food. In addition, many babies are conservatives and do not like to change their habitual ways, so they should be given time to get used to innovations.

If a child older than one year does not chew food in pieces, Dr. Komarovsky recommends:

• Offer the child to knead the food on his own, saying that there was no favorite puree in the store, and the blender does not work.
• To find something tasty among solid food that a child will surely like, for example, fresh drying or slices of sweet fruit.
• To organize meals in a public place where the child will be able to observe other children and will be limited in the choice of products.

How to teach your baby to chew, see the following video.