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How to support your child develop their chewing skills
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How to support your child develop their chewing skills
Why does my child struggle to chew?
Children may have difficulties with chewing for 2 reasons.
It may be developmental, and they are just not ready. Children need to be offered food which is appropriate for their level of general development. This might not be the same as their actual age.
It may be sensory, and they do not like how lumps feel in their mouth. This may be because they have had some difficult experiences around their mouths when they were younger such as reflux or frequent medical interventions. For some children, they feel lots of things more intensely than other children, and eating is just part of that sensory sensitivity.
You can find information on how to understand your child’s sensory needs on our sensory service website.
How does my child chew?
Children will continue to develop their chewing skills until around 24 to 36 months.
When chewing, children use a rotary-lateral chewing pattern. This means an up-down, and round and round motion with their teeth and jaw. They will use their tongue to move food from one side to the other and move food from the front to the back of the mouth. During this process food mixes with saliva to form one cohesive texture that is then ready to swallow.
As children develop their chewing skills it is important to offer food which is at a safe texture for them to manage.
What can I do to help?
Do
- Make sure you listen to what your child is telling you. If they show you they are not ready to have the next spoonful, wait until they give you a signal they are ready to have the next spoonful.
- Make sure to offer food at a texture they feel safe to accept and can manage.
- Try to give them other experiences round their mouths that are fun, like stroking their faces and singing at bath time, letting them hold the toothbrush, or trying toothbrushes made out of different things.
- Use chewy tubes or chewy monkeys dipped in a taste of food to help your child chew with different parts of their mouths while tasting at the same time.
- Put the spoon in the side of your child’s mouth, between their cheek and gums. This is where they chew. It helps children learn to move food across in their mouth and it keeps food in their mouth longer, so it is easier to swallow.
- Keep offering the texture that your child is happy with.
- Offer your child bite and dissolve snacks like Organix Melty Carrot Puffs. This can help them learn to have different textures in their mouths.
- Make sure your child can see and touch the food before it goes in their mouth. Sitting in a highchair with a tray or at the table can help with this.
- Move through textures gradually and avoid pureed textures with lumps. Move from a runny puree, to thicker puree, to mashed, to food that is soft and chopped into 2mm pieces.
Do not
- Do not hide any food or trick them. It is important for your child to be aware and in control of what is happening whilst eating and drinking.
Whilst they are developing their chewing skills it can help to cut your child’s food up into bite sized pieces and adding thick sauces. It may also be helpful to avoid the most challenging textures or foods which require lots of chewing, for example:
- food with skins such as apples, oranges and sausages
- food with husks such as sweetcorn
- hard or crunchy foods such as raw carrot
- fibrous foods such as steak and pineapple
- food which has a mixed texture, such as thin soup with chunks
If your child has a feeding mat provided by the speech and language therapy feeding team it is important to offer food in line with texture recommendations.
If your child is coughing or choking when eating and drinking they may benefit from a referral to the speech and language therapy feeding team. If this is the case contact your GP, health visitor or setting to discuss a referral and how to get further support.
Contact us
For more information please contact Jane Shaw, Clinical Lead for Paediatric Dysphagia (Feeding and Swallowing) or call 0114 271 7452.
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Disclaimer
Please note: this is a generic information sheet relating to care at Sheffield Children’s NHS FT. These details may not reflect treatment at other hospitals. This information is not intended as a substitute for professional medical care. Always follow your healthcare professionals’ instructions. If this resource relates to medicines, please read it alongside the medicine manufacturer’s patient information leaflet. If this information has been translated into another language from English, efforts have been made to maintain accuracy, but there may still be some translation errors. If you are unsure about any of the guidance in this resource or have specific questions about how it relates to your child, always ask your healthcare professional for further advice.
Resource number: SL291
Resource Type: Article
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