They say that the kitchen is the heart of every home, but when you are a new parent, the kitchen may feel like just the opposite. While It may be hard now to imagine the day when your little ones will be able to plan and prepare their own meals and sit at the table conversing about their lives, that day is coming and sooner than you think!
Feeding is like any other developmental skill and there are various feeding or “oral motor” milestones that emerge in the first few years of life. From suckling to chewing, a great many changes are taking place. Oral motor feeding skills develop, evolve and grow over time. Each phase of oral motor development, as you can imagine, is supported by the previous one and is relational to other areas of growth and development like gross motor, fine motor and cognition. Oral motor feeding skills involve highly refined movements of the lips, tongue, cheeks and jaw.
The truth is, the “simple act of eating” is not very simple after all.
It involves so many parts and systems of our body, which range from sensory motor to social - emotional memory, caregiver interaction, and even core stability. Whether your child is neuro-typical or neuro-atypical, establishing a healthy feeding relationship offers so many beautiful moments and challenges at the same time.
Infants will require breast milk and or formula as their main source of nutrition for the first six months, as per the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) guidelines. The amount consumed in a 24-hour period can vary greatly among babies based on their intake needs. Typically, feeding and hunger cues along with good weight gain, adequate growth and head circumference measurements taken at well checkups with your pediatrician will support you in the feeding routines you are creating for your baby at home.
Following this initial period, after about six months, your baby may be ready for the first spoon feedings of single ingredient, smooth baby food or homemade purees. In many cultures, early spoon-feeding of cereal mixed with either breast milk or formula, or a single ingredient root vegetable, begins earlier at 4 months. Another popular early feeding trend is offering actual solid foods at 6 months of age in the form of “baby lead weaning,” which can bypass the spoon fed puree phase and aims to develop independent self-feeders by promoting early chewing development.
Offering oral stimulation in a variety of forms such as teething toys, mouthing toys and objects or pacifiers, starting infant training cups when your baby is ready, promoting hand-to-mouth play while on tummy time, will not only support your baby’s feeding and oral motor skill development, it will also promote growth in other areas like sensory system integration, cognition, gross and fine motor.
At around 12 to 15 months of age, your baby will likely be eating many of the foods you eat and will begin weaning to cup drinking. As you move into the toddler stage, mealtime behaviors may be more at the forefront of your daily struggles as compared to worries about amounts, development of chewing or weaning off the bottle. Toddlers, individuation and realization of their ability to affect other’s behaviors can become the primary concerns for many parents.
“Picky eaters” and “problem feeders” can emerge at any stage, and a lot of that will depend on parental reaction and early intervention.
A lot of feeding, sensory and oral motor deficits can have a root cause, which when identified, can be easier to remediate. Here are some signs you may need to seek help.
Red Flags
Your child or baby:
- Pushes away from the breast or bottle
- Arches, coughs, gags during feedings
- Exhibits poor weight gain
- Does not explore hands or items with their mouth
- Has difficulty tolerating first foods after one month of consistent introduction
- Refuses to allow spoon or toothbrush in mouth
- Decreased variety/range of foods accepted: can occur in regards to BOTH texture and food groups
- Exhibits mealtime behaviors: cannot sit at the table for a meal, screams cries, complains
- Pockets foods in the cheeks
- Refuses to swallow higher textured foods
- Chews with lips completely sealed (under 3 years of age)
- Gets tired chewing
- Depends on nutritional supplements or still only eats baby foods after the age of 18 months
- Thrusts tongue out of mouth when swallowing solids (over 9 months of age)
How to help your child's eating habits at home
Put your child on a regular feeding schedule. being able to recognize hunger is important for long-term health and promotes mealtime success at all stages.
Staying calm and positive is very important to the emotional health of your baby and child. While they are learning to eat through a developmental timeline, they should not have the added stress of an impatient parent. This will not promote a healthy relationship with food in the long run.
Allow your baby a multitude of oral stimulation opportunities. Finger brushes, teething toys, tummy time with hands to mouth, etc.
Start oral hygiene early. You do not need to wait for teeth to erupt. Brush your baby’s gums twice a day with an appropriate infant finger brush. This will help increase the child’s acceptance of oral stimulation beyond breast and bottles way before you introduce first spoon or solids.
When your child is able to sit unassisted, allow them to explore their food with their hands.
Include toddlers in meal prepping by having them wash ,touch, mash, smell and pick out ingredients with you in the kitchen.
Enjoy supporting your child’s feeding development, family meals and fostering independence. Before you know it, they may be the ones shopping, prepping and cooking the meal for you!