Aussie Childcare Network Forum

Hello There,

My son is 18months old. Im at home caring for him. I plan to send him away to a childcare within the next 3months and return to work. My concern is that he is yet to learn the habit of chewing. He still takes mashed and pureed food for his meals. He snacks on arrowroot biscuit, butter cookies, cheese blocks and pretty much anything that can be mashed with his tongue and swallowed. He can bite using his front teeth but chewing with molars is not happening. He has 4 molars, and more than 10 teeth in total. During his meals he 'must' play with his toys or watch a children's video, if not he refuses to open his mouth. Also he takes at least 20mins to finish his meal.

He is quiet skinny, wont drink more than 80ml of milk, gets tired within 30mins of play. Otherwise he is quiet an interesting kid. He can kick around a ball, say a couple of words, offers his hands and legs while getting dressed up, understand what we talk and behave accordingly.

I am trying to hook him off the children's video during feeds. And am also showing him how to chew with my mouth. He sits with me while I have my lunch and will give him a few tiny bites off my plate. Sometimes he swallows, sometimes gag and sometimes it ends up in a spew. Hopefully he will learn to chew and swallow within the next couple of months.

Will there be any childcare which would accommodate special attention to his feeding issues ?

Thanks in advance for your time =)

Hello L.A,

Thaks for ur reply.
Yes I do feed him with sandwiches and other chewable foods. but he swallows bits of those foods after mashing them with his tongue. if I offer bits of apple, which does not fall apart when wet, he jus spits it out or keeps it in his mouth as long as I let him to spit it out.
yes I do brush his teeth everyday and he doesnot have any tooth problems.
I visited the pead, and he suggested that we must give DS more time for his instincts to kick in.
in the last couple of days, he has started to mimic the chewing action, it is so cute to watch him do it. but he is not engaging the food in the action, he is not pushing the food to the teeth with his tongue.I think the pead was right, DS needs some time to get his act together and coordinate the chewing muscles..

Thanks again for those documents, they are of good help and I am going to start the bite-chew activity game with him

Yes I understand the childcare arrangements, and that shouldnt be a worry because he will catch up with the other kids. He is keen to engage with the kids at the park when we go to play there.

I was about to say what LA said, perhaps something actually hurts when he chews which is why he isn't willing to do so.

Like LA I also second the fact that children usually eat better at childcare because they see other children eating. I worked at a centre that provided food and I had parents say "Oh he won't eat that" yet the child would sit and happily eat and even want seconds! Yet at home the mum couldn't get him to even try the stuff.
Go figure! children can be funny sometimes

But I would check everything out just in case there is a problem somewhere