How do you teach DC to chew? Do you need to? EDITED to ask - what is a good first food to give baby to chew?

I want to start giving my 9mo bigger chunks of food but I am afraid he will choke! how will he know he has to chew it and not just swallow it immediately? TIA!

ETA: What is a good food to start with?

Message edited 6/7/2008 5:26:23 PM.

Re: How do you teach DC to chew? Do you need to?

that's so funny b/c i'm having the same fear! I'm going through the same thing on my post about his 8 month doc visit, and his ped said we can try reg food...but i'm so scared of him choking

Re: How do you teach DC to chew? Do you need to?

Good question-is chewing/gumming instinctive?

DD is 9.5 months and still gags on puffs sometimes, makes me nervous.

Re: How do you teach DC to chew? Do you need to?

Yes it is instictive. You cannot teach them to chew or swallow. Some kids do it earlier than others, but it's def a developmental thing.
I was assured by my PED it's somethign they do on their own, and so far he's right. DD used to gag on cheerios at 7 months and now eats them 2 at a time.

Re: How do you teach DC to chew? Do you need to?

IMO you just start of with easy things like puffs. Then you gradually introduce new foods.

Slowly but surely i am told they "learn" to chew

Re: How do you teach DC to chew? Do you need to?

So do i just hand him a cheerio and hope for the best? break it up for him? How do you know they are ready until you try and what if they are not will they choke?

Re: How do you teach DC to chew? Do you need to?

First and foremost you have to remind yourself that gagging and choking are 2 different things. Easier said than done...

Certain foods are good to try b/c they go in as solids but get very mushy pretty quickly...

I use wheat puffs from the cereal aisle. The ones in the big bag for 99cents. I like these better than the Gerber ones. They also have rice puffs...Ritz crackers are good too b/c they get mushy quickly. Firm tofu breaks right up in the mouth too.

Re: How do you teach DC to chew? Do you need to?

Re: How do you teach DC to chew? Do you need to?

I loved using the safe feeder. It really helped to train him use his gums/teeth with food. I also make chewing faces at him when I feed him

Re: How do you teach DC to chew? Do you need to?

I agree with a pp, babies have to learn to move food from the front of their mouths down to the back etc, they may gag, sometimes they may even throw up (my son did) but its all part of the process of learning to eat. Keep giving the kid different things and he will get the gist eventually.

Re: How do you teach DC to chew? Do you need to? EDITED to ask - what is a good first food to give baby to chew?

Re: How do you teach DC to chew? Do you need to? EDITED to ask - what is a good first food to give baby to chew?

Re: How do you teach DC to chew? Do you need to? EDITED to ask - what is a good first food to give baby to chew?

we started with really ripe bananas, Cheerios cut in half, cubed avocado.

Re: How do you teach DC to chew? Do you need to? EDITED to ask - what is a good first food to give baby to chew?

My daughter was definitely a gagger!! She had an awful time with stage 3 foods, puffs and cheerios. Eventually she did get it. But she is still a gagger. It's scary the first couple of times you hear it but then you learn the sound and come to recognize that she his not choking. They do learn to chew from practicing.