Oral motor development is important! Good oral eating movements are an important foundation for children’s speech intelligibility | Heho parent-child | LINE TODAY

My child, just stay with me

Children’s occupational therapist Shuangbao Amu teaches effective companionship methods for 0-6 years old!

Author: Wu Yixuan

Publisher: Guangsha, Taiwan

Editor:Lai Yiling
Reasons for recommendation:0-2 years old is a critical period for the development of oral movements, and gradually matures at 2-4 years old, developing oral movement skills equivalent to those of adults. Through their children’s eating experience of eating, sucking and chewing food made of different materials, parents can continuously practice the tongue, lips and cheeks in the mouth of young children, accumulate muscle strength and flexibility over a long period of time, and train future children’s language and speech articulation. Clear basics of movement.

Congratulations to the hard-working parents, you have finally succeeded in making your baby before 1 year old willing to accept different diets and non-staple foods, and you have passed a major milestone in baby diet. However, we found that babies about 1 year old begin to become less obedient when eating, and will experience the so-called anorexia period. The main reason why babies become anorexic is usually because they eat the same non-staple foods and repeat the same food or texture. No matter how well-behaved the baby is, he will still have anorexia! So dear parents, don’t forget that children are constantly evolving rapidly, and food needs to change accordingly.

We understand that it is very time-consuming for mothers to prepare non-staple food. Therefore, for convenience, mothers usually cook a large pot and then freeze it in portions, hoping that the baby can eat it repeatedly. However, when the baby is still ignorant, he may be half-kidded and half-deceived and will eat it obediently. But as the baby grows older, he will start to feel that frozen food is not delicious, and the repeated taste is very tasteless. Even adults will get tired of such a consistent taste!

Furthermore,Children between 8 months and 1 year old will develop oral movements from the grinding stage (using tongue and oral movements to grind food, such as minced meat), and then slowly enter the chewing stage.During the oral chewing stage, children can use their front teeth to bite off food, and then use their gums to grind food. Therefore, from the perspective of physiological development, babies at this period will begin to dislike eating soft and rotten food. They like the texture of food that they can bite and eat! This means that parents should readjust the types of non-staple foods and let their children enter the next stage of food types.

In early childhood, we always think that the baby’s cheeks are “puffy” and look very cute. However, this usually shows that the child’s facial and oral muscles are not strong enough, so babies at this period are prone to drooling.In children’s eating experience, they can through the process of eating, sucking and chewing food of different materials, let the tongue, lips and cheeks in the mouth of young children practice continuous movements, and accumulate muscle strength and flexibility over a long period of time. It is the basis of movements for future children’s language and clear articulation of speech.

Clinically, we often see elders who are excessively worried about their children eating well, and only feed their children soft and rotten food for a long time, even if the children are over 1 year old. This situation eventually turns into many problems in the children’s language development.If adults do not gradually adjust the food patterns for children according to their oral development, especially for children after 1 year old, it is easy to cause “oral muscle weakness or insufficient tongue flexibility experience”, which greatly affects the clarity and clarity of speech. pronunciation status.

Therefore, if a child at home has difficulty speaking clearly, parents can first review their own feeding patterns to see if any corrections are needed. If you still have many problems after adjustment, please consult a speech therapist as soon as possible to assist in assessment and optimal treatment.

Compilation/Pictures by Lai Yiling/Yang Shaochu

Further reading:

How to play with babies aged 0 to 12 months?Parent-child interaction enriches sensory experience, and mini games help develop sensory integration

How should I play with my 1~2 year old baby? Enlighten children’s sensory development through life games, take your baby to do it together!

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