All of us moms have been there. It is your first kiddo and they are wanting more than just pureed baby food at meal time. The panic sets in and all the nerves about your child choking, gagging, or refusing the eat kick in. What do we reach for? All the soft mushy stuff! Bananas, overcooked noodles, giant wafers, itty bitty puffs that dissolve so that there is no chance of choking.
What if I told you that while those foods are not bad, you do need to provide your child with firmer or crunchy foods so that they can learn to manipulate their food correctly.
When you stick to much and soft textures, your child's go to manipulation method is going to to mashing that food with their tongue against the roof of their mouth. Then, when it is time to had over a firm or crunchy food, we panic when they don't chew it or manipulate it the way they need to. This can lead to the gagging, choking, swallowing food whole, or food aversion or picky eating. It is so important that your child learns how to manipulate and chew their food with the right textures and consistencies.
Good news!
There are ways to do this without causing excess stress for the child and parents. Start with foods that are easily broken down. Reach for a graham cracker or a club cracker. Take a look at the technique below. Grab a milk shake straw. Cut it into thirds and stuff it with the cracker. Create several of these tools. One for you. One for your child, and a few more for them to independently grab and explore. Guide them to place the straw on the right or left gum line and model or tell them to "Crunch" or "bite". They get immediate sensory input from the sound and feeling of the crunch. This reinforces another bite, and another. As they manipulate the food in the straw it will work it's way out , make it's way to the tongue and they can safely swallow. You can do this with them to model the appropriate placement and chewing patter as well. I have done this with apple, melon, crackers, and chicken nuggets. As your child gets the hang of it, you can easily explore different textures using this same method!
Other tips for introducing solid foods correctly:
-Cut bananas into handheld spears. Freeze them. This is a handheld that with easily soften but can also be placed on the lateral surface to reinforce the correctly manipulation.
-Cut grilled cheese or quesadillas into handheld strips.
- As the child progresses try narrow carrot sticks or apple sticks (you can also freeze).
-Crisp up some sweet potato fries!
The easier for them to hold and place, the better.
Say goodbye to large dissolvable wafers and handheld nets. You will set yourself up for an easier transition with the above suggestions!
