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You are here: Experts > Kids > Health for Kids > Pediatrics > My one year old dont chew
Pediatrics - My one year old dont chew
Expert: Sharon Rosen Lopez - 10/28/2009
Question
My 13 month seems no interest in chew solid food,he is still like stage 2 puree food.he only have 6 teeth.some time he bite corn chip and cheese toddle just one from whole piece.
he don't like to pick finger food but every thing else direct in the mouth.
i don't know how to teach him chewing solid food.
Can you please advice.
Answer
Hi Farah,
I wonder why your 13 month old isn't interested in chewing. Have you given him small cheerios or animal crackers? You mention that he chews on other things, so that makes me wonder if he is perhaps a picky eater, or if he feels that swallowing chunkier food is hard for him. Some children may not chew food because their mouths are either very sensitive or not sensitive enough -- so that either they feel that the food is too hard or they don't feel the food enough to know how to chew and swallow it. Since you mention that your son doesn't like to pick up finger foods, I wonder if he's not wanting to get his fingers dirty, which also might suggest that he might be generally overly sensitive.
Here are afew suggestions, and possibly one of these will help:
1. Do some play activities with your son that involve food. You might want to start by using cheerios and pretending to feed one of his stuffed animals. Or have a birthday party for bear, and cut small pieces of banana and have small cookies for all the stuffed animals who come to the party. Then you and your son can pretend to feed the stuffed animal party participants. Of course while you're feeding them, you will taste a piece of banana for yourself and a cookie, and see if your son will do the same. Another activity would be to have your son help you make a cheerio necklace by putting cheerios on a string. You'll make one for yourself too, and then see if he might like to eat his yummy necklace just like you! (Don't leave the cheerio necklace on him though, as anything around his neck when you are not there would not be safe!) If your son will do these activities, then see if he'll play with foods that will be a little messier. Plop a small amount jello on a (clean) table and you and your son can use your fingers to draw in the jello, or drive a toy car thru the jello, or drop cheerios into the jello -- randomly, or to make a happy face or other design. Then you'll taste the jello, or taste a cheerio that you dropped into the jello, and show him how good it tastes by saying something like.."mmm...iyummy!!" See if your son will imitate your tasting.
2. Does your son like strawberries or blueberries? These are soft fruits that he might enjoy eating, and that he might want to pick up with his fingers as well. If he resists eating these by themselves, you can add small pieces of these fruits into his pureed foods, and gradually diminish the amount of puree that you're combining with the fruit. Eventually he might just enjoy the fruits alone!
3. Try putting something soft and tasty on a harder food. Have you tried bread pudding? That is soft, and would introduce your son to the taste and a little of the texture of bread. And if he likes that, you could then try putting something sweet -- maybe yogurt -- on top of very small pieces of soft french toast, and see if he will enjoy these. If you let the yogurt sit for a while, it'll seep into the french toast and soften it even more. If he likes the french toast with yogurt, you might get him to tryi toast with jelly. And from there, you might try giving him a bagel with yogurt or jelly on top!
4. Have your son sit with you at the dinner table when you eat...and if there are others in the household, include them at the meal as well! By having your son be a part of the family dinner time experience, he may be tempted to want to try foods that he sees others eating. And if you sit him on your lap while you are enjoying your foods, you may even find his little fingers finding their way into your food!
5. You may need to work hard to distract your son while you introduce new foods for him to eat. Turn on a vibrant TV show, or make funny faces and noises as you feed him and see if he'll accept more foods if he's not so aware of what's going into his mouth.
5. Finally, be aware of the tastes that your son is drawn to. Does he like salty pretzels? Does he like sweets? Does ketchup on top of chicken nuggets get him to eat the chicken nuggets? You've mentioned that your son will sometimes taste a corn chip or cheese doodle, both of which are flavorful foods. So do keep these foods available for him, and try to find other foods for him that are also really flavorful!
I hope these ideas will be helpful to you! If your son continues to resist eating harder foods,do discuss this with your pediatrician, and if need be, consult with a speech/language pathologist who has experience in working with children's feeding!
Best of luck!
Sharon Rosen Lopez, MA, CCC-SLP
Speech/Language Pathologist
http://www.SpeechSkillsForKids.com
http://www.SpeechArts.com
Westchester County, NY
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