Some children find chewing foods difficult. This may be because they have not had enough practise with foods that require chewing.

Some children may gag, refuse foods or chew and spit out foods or lumps which are all typical when children are practicing their skills. Try to remain calm if your child does these things.

Chewing requires your child to use a range of jaw movements and sideways tongue movements to break down foods so they can be safely swallowed. This is a skill that children learn with practise though oral exploration of objects and foods. Foods and objects safe for your child to explore should be encouraged to be placed to the side of your child’s mouth to encourage sideways tongue movements – essential for building chewing skills.

Children should be seated securely when eating and drinking, for example, in a high chair with their feet stable on a flat surface.

Ideas

Bite and dissolve foods: Offer foods that will dissolve/ melt in the mouth such as wotsits, melty puffs, wafers, chocolate buttons. These can be offered to the side of the mouth either as crumbs or as whole crisps to encourage sideways tongue movements. These can be dipped in purees or sauces for your child to explore different flavours and textures.

Hard munchable: These are foods that do not easily break apart and that children can hold independently. They offer opportunities for oral exploration, help to develop chewing skills and can support teaching the mouth how to accommodate foods of different sizes. Hard munchable are not for eating and should be offered outside of mealtimes always under adult supervision. Examples of hard munchable include a whole raw carrot, hard meat/ jerky sticks, raw celery, candy canes.

Mesh bag/silicone feeding dummy: Offer whole foods within a mesh bag/ dummy as these allow your child to safely explore foods without the risk of choking.

Using chewelry: Offering your child teething toys such as chewelry for them to explore. You can dip these in puree or use them as cutlery during feeding.

Offer thicker purees: Try adding baby rice to purees or reducing the amount of fluid added to the puree to develop your child’s tolerance of different textures. You can also mash down lumps in more textured purees and gradually fade this out over time.

Soft fruit/veg: Begin to offer soft (well-cooked if needed) fruit and/ or vegetables cut up into sticks or batons e.g. slices of ripe avocado, peeled well-cooked pear.