My 9 month old doesn't chew..

[kirsty87]

(posted in weaning and nutrition too!)

As the title says..! My little girl has done so well with her eating, she wil eat pretty much anything but the lumps in the meals we feed her have to be soft/mushy ready for her to swallow because she doesn't chew, she has table foods like breadsticks, rice cakes, pieces of fruit, etc and although she does manage to swallow some of these things it's not from chewing, she wil suck, move it around in her mouth and even squeeze and break the food up in her hands but she does not chew, is this normal for a 9 month old?

She will eat anything puréed and almost anything mashed if it is wet enough to slip down quite easily but she will spit out and refuse to eat anything with lumps in that she needs to break up with in her mouth, she also will just suck spread off bread then spit it out, same with toast, she never seems to swallow these things. Is this normal at 9 months an is there anything I can do to help her learn to chew??x

 

[BabyJayne]

Does she have teeth? It's pretty hard to chew without them!

It's totally normal. Madeline didn't have any teeth until she was 13months old. She sucked the life out of everything until then.

 

[kirsty87]

She has just 2 at the bottom! I thought Maybe they were stil meant to b chewing with their gums tho? I must sound so silly !! Thanks for ur reply I guess it's all normal then!

 

[vintage67]

My 10 month old hasn't really caught on to chewing yet either. I'm not concerned at all.

 

[liz1985]

They don't need teeth to chew, their gums are hard enough. But it is normal. My LO can chew, with one tooth. But he doesn't do it very often, he usually does the same and sucks and breaks things up. I think it's normal and will develop as they get older .

 

[Jules8987]

My lo was the same! Hes starting to get the hang of it tho doesnt like lumps that are too hard still! Im not too worried, he will get used to it in time, just keep trying with the finger foods

 

[patch2006uk]

Chewing is a learned skill. Keep offering plenty of opportunity for LO to practice, and eat together so she watches how you eat. She'll pick it up

 

[BabyJayne]

She has just 2 at the bottom! I thought Maybe they were stil meant to b chewing with their gums tho? I must sound so silly !! Thanks for ur reply I guess it's all normal then!

Of course you didn't I just remember Madeline with no teeth and how it took her an age to eat anything until she got her first gnashers at 13 months. It was only then she really started to chew things. Before then she could make a piece of toast last for what felt like days