Spoon pushing reflex: why does a child spit out solid food?

You are desperate and don't know:

• how to teach a child to chew solid food,
• In general, how to teach a child to chew,
• Why doesn't a one-year-old child chew?

Advice from specialists at the Markushka Children's Clinic will help you cope with this problem: the child does not chew.

The fact that your baby enjoys eating purees but turns away when you offer solids may encourage you to continue giving him good old-fashioned purees, making life easier for you and your baby. But only by learning to chew will the child be able to expand his diet. Mastering a skill such as chewing develops jaw muscles, affects speech development, ensures healthy teeth and allows the child to eat the same foods that his whole family eats. How can you help your child learn to chew?

Spoon pushing reflex

According to the Russian Union of Pediatricians , when a child pushes solid food out of the mouth with the tongue, it is called the “spoon pushing reflex.” This is one of the baby's protective instincts. The baby's body is developing, and the ejection reflex protects it from suffocation or swallowing foreign objects in the first months of life. If something accidentally gets into his mouth, his reflex causes him to push it back out. In addition, the baby's swallowing mechanism is not yet developed enough to cope with solid food. Thanks to this reflex, breast milk or formula is the only thing that gets into his tummy. The reflex does not work when breastfeeding or bottle feeding, but it may work when you offer your baby solid food.

Why does a child chew his tongue?

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July 30, 2014 | views: 43,626

Sometimes parents of babies who are not even six months old notice a strange thing - the child is chewing his tongue. But this happens not only at this age, some children can do this at one or even two years old. It is not surprising that mothers panic; they think that this is due to problems with the baby’s nervous system. However, this is not always the case, and there are many reasons for tongue chewing.

Why does a child chew his tongue? Causes

One of the main reasons why a child chews his tongue is to prepare the baby for chewing adult food. Usually by 4-5 months, children begin to drool. Many mothers associate this with the first teeth, but the active work of the salivary glands may also be due to the fact that the baby will soon need to process more solid food.

Another reason may be the child's hunger. If it's feeding time, your baby may chew his tongue instead of the food he craves. It is clear that there is nothing special about this. Time will pass when the baby learns to ask for food and stops chewing his tongue.

Children who are weaned off the pacifier early or are not allowed to suck their thumbs by wrapping the baby in a diaper or putting anti-scratch pads on their arms often chew their tongues. A child, accustomed to having something in his mouth all the time, begins to suck or chew his tongue.

Another very good reason for a child’s tongue sucking is rapid teething. Many children refuse to use a teether and prefer thumb sucking or tongue chewing. Even if the baby’s first incisors have already appeared, and he continues to chew his tongue, do not worry, because there will be many more teeth ahead.

Sometimes a child chews his tongue when he is thinking intently about something or is very busy with something. Watch your baby as he enthusiastically plays with himself. The baby can chew its tongue, suck it and even stick it out. There is nothing special about this, because even adults, when they are immersed in thoughts or busy with something, can do things that are even unusual for him - winding his hair around his fingers, biting his lower lip, etc.

Children often chew their tongue when they are bored. This usually applies to babies who have already crossed the one-year mark. Lack of attention from adults often leads to the fact that children, trying to occupy themselves with something, acquire different habits - biting their nails, picking their noses, etc.

As you can see, there are many reasons why a child chews his tongue. And in most cases, the problem goes away on its own over time. But, if you notice that your baby chews his tongue without ceasing, that is, obsessively and for quite a long time, contact a neurologist to be sure to dispel all doubts.

How to stop a child from chewing his tongue?

So, we figured out the reasons. And as you can see, there is nothing terrible to worry about. However, a habit is a habit, and it can stay with a person for a long time. Therefore, it is still worth trying to wean your child from this simple activity.

Firstly, you need to distract the baby from chewing his tongue, for example, give him a pacifier. If your child does not suck on a pacifier, give him a toy that he will happily put into his mouth and chew better than his tongue. Secondly, let the child understand that this cannot be done. When your child chews his tongue, lightly touch his lips and say “No!” Even a six-month-old child will understand that he is doing something wrong.

Try to accustom your child to the pacifier; after all, a pacifier is better than fingers in the mouth, and even more so, chewing the tongue. There is no need to wean off a pacifier early, especially if the child does not want to wean himself off it. If you take the pacifier by force, don't be surprised if the baby sucks and chews its tongue.

Do not swaddle your baby after three months. Usually from this age, and sometimes earlier, children begin to study their hands and taste them. Let the kids develop as they should.

If the child is already older - a year, a year and a half, but continues to chew his tongue, then just tell him that it is ugly to do this. At this age, children already understand many things very well. In general, try to pay more attention to your baby. The more you communicate and play with your baby, the less time he will have for various bad habits.

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Feeding Basics

The timing of introducing solid foods into a baby's diet is determined individually, so it's worth talking to your baby's pediatrician first. The Union of Pediatricians of Russia advises starting the introduction of complementary foods to children aged 4–6 months. However, sometimes even after the doctor’s permission, the baby continues to push food out of his mouth. This suggests that his spoon-pushing reflex has not yet disappeared. Wait a few days and try again. Gradually the reflex will fade and the baby will be ready to eat solid food.

Introducing your baby to solid foods is the best time to reinforce regular oral care routines for your baby. Wipe your child's gums with clean gauze soaked in boiled water, or remove food particles with a soft toothbrush for children. Even if your baby hasn't started teething yet, regular oral care is important for his health.

At first glance, a child's picky behavior may turn out to be an important stage in his development. The spoon-pushing reflex protects the baby until his body is ready to eat solid food. Observe your baby's behavior to determine when your baby is ready to eat his first solid food, and enjoy the moment together.

Non-dental problems

If, during the examination, the dentist completely ruled out problems within his competence, and the patient still has a pinching and burning tongue, the reasons should be discussed with a therapist or with a pediatrician, if we are talking about a child. The local doctor will prescribe the necessary treatment or recommend contacting specialists. You can find out why the tip of your tongue hurts or stings, or its entire surface burns:

• gastroenterologist;
• endocrinologist;
• neurologist;
• allergist;
• diabetologist;
• rheumatologist;
• oncologist.

What are the difficulties?

For adults, the process of chewing food seems completely natural. But the child only has a sucking reflex, and even liquid puree becomes unusual and unfamiliar food for him. In addition, the same period is characterized by other reflex reactions, due to which solid pieces of food that enter the mouth are rejected. They weaken by 4 months, but there is no need to wean the baby from the breast at this age: mother’s milk “adjusts” to the baby’s needs, its composition changes over time.

Comprehensive treatment and guarantee of quality results

Dental clinic "VTV" offers a full range of services for the diagnosis and treatment of oral diseases. You undergo a full examination after the first consultation with specialists. Timely treatment allows you to avoid tooth extraction and subsequently prevent the recurrence of the disease.

We offer comfortable conditions for treatment and guarantee flexible prices for all center services. In particular, you can save now by making an appointment through the website with a 10% discount. Our specialists will do everything to make your smile your next pride!

Treatment

Smacking in your sleep is not considered a pathology and does not threaten your health. Rather, this problem is not the sleeper himself, but his environment. There are several secrets that will help solve the problem of teeth movement and grinding:

1. Try to organize your child’s activities in such a way that he does not experience too strong emotions, including positive ones. Protect him from stress, family quarrels, too active evening games, cartoons and computer games with a scary plot.
2. If a child slurps regularly and often (more than 5-7 episodes per night), show him to specialists - a pediatrician, neurologist, somnologist. The cause of night grinding in adolescents may be vegetative-vascular disorders, which are accompanied by headaches and fluctuations in blood pressure.
3. It is also necessary to exclude the viral load on the body and check for worms. If, in addition to manifestations of bruxism, the child is pale, inactive, has a disturbance in appetite and bowel movements, basic tests - urine and blood - will be required.
4. Sometimes children chew because of an uncomfortable bed, scratchy bedding, stale dry air, or high temperature in the bedroom. Be sure to ventilate before going to bed, adjust the humidity to 50–70%.
5. You can come up with evening rituals that will help your baby calm down faster. Swimming, listening to audio books, fairy tales, and some calm games, such as board games, are suitable.

If such symptoms are caused by a pathological condition or some disease, medications are selected only by a doctor. If a pathology is diagnosed, treatment will not be aimed at eliminating grinding or chewing, but at the root cause.

Chewing or grinding of teeth in a child

Chewing or smacking in sleep is an uncontrolled contraction of the oral masticatory muscles, accompanied by a sharp clenching of the jaws, grinding of teeth, smacking, excessive salivation, creaking and other symptoms. In medicine, this problem is called “bruxism.”

The period of time during which a person chews can range from a few seconds to 5-10 minutes. Typically, during the entire sleep phase, several episodes of pathology can be noticed. If one episode lasts more than 15 seconds, cracks and chips in the teeth and soft tissue injuries may occur.

Experts have linked a variety of slurping sounds, chewing, and teeth grinding to other sleep disorders. They accompany somnambulism, snoring, urinary incontinence at night, and the occurrence of nightmares. The popular version attributes the symptoms of bruxism to infection with worms. However, in reality, night sounds of teeth and the presence of parasites in the body are in no way connected.

Most often, manifestations of bruxism, when a person periodically swallows saliva, grinds teeth, smacks or chews, are associated with psycho-emotional disorders, for example, depression, stress, mental overload. Excessively active activities before bedtime, overexcitation, growing internal anxiety, and general tension provoke restless sleep.

If the episodes last no more than 10 seconds and occur 1-2 times per night, then this may not indicate any disease, but simply be an individual feature.

This is especially true for young children, who are often subject to reflexes, and chewing at night is a kind of continuation of the sucking instinct or may indicate the child’s hunger.

Diagnostic measures

When undergoing a routine ultrasound examination during the third trimester of pregnancy, the doctor may detect congenital macroglossia. It is determined after comparison with the norms of each age at a given stage of fetal development. To make an accurate diagnosis, a repeat test is scheduled.

After the birth of the child, an examination awaits from many specialists - an infectious disease specialist, geneticist, otolaryngologist, endocrinologist. An instrumental examination is carried out, and a biochemical study of the blood fluid is prescribed. Based on the results of all tests and diagnostic methods, a diagnosis is made and therapy is prescribed.

Could these symptoms be a sign of dementia?

Many parents are afraid that a baby’s constantly sticking out tongue may be a symptom of mental retardation and even mental retardation. Indeed, with mental retardation in children, similar external manifestations are observed. However, dementia at an early age can be exclusively congenital, and symptoms are not limited to tongue protruding. In addition to the open mouth, parents should pay attention to the following phenomena:

• swollen tongue;
• dry skin;
• yellowish skin tone;
• prolapse of the tongue, which is not controlled by the child;
• poor sleep, anxiety;
• constant regurgitation;
• It is not the whole tongue that appears outside, but only its tip;
• swollen fontanel;
• pulsation in the area of ​​the fontanelle;
• uncontrolled facial expressions;
• throwing your head back during sleep.

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Causes of tongue biting:

• A bad habit due to nervous tension. Essentially these are uncontrolled movements in stressful situations.
• Bruxism is excessive clenching of the jaws during sleep, during which the jaws move relative to each other and damage the soft tissues in the mouth.
• Malocclusion of teeth, usually due to misalignment of wisdom teeth. The characteristic sideways tilt or rotation changes the shape of the dental arch. This allows the cheek to fit into the gap as the jaws join.
• Poorly performed prosthetics disrupts the correct closure of teeth and makes it possible to capture the mucous membrane during chewing.
• The effect of anesthesia after the removal or filling of teeth is the lack of sensitivity of the cheeks and lips and their increase, which contributes to the biting of soft tissues and the formation of small wounds.

If such symptoms are detected, it is recommended to consult a dentist, who, in addition to examination, in some cases prescribes histological examinations. Sometimes a complete diagnosis also requires consultation with a neurologist.

Hypothyroidism

The cause of this disease is problems associated with the thyroid gland. Children whose mothers received insufficient iodine during their waiting period are especially likely to get sick. Tests to detect the disease are taken from newborns while still in the maternity hospital. The site for blood collection is the baby's heel. If after the examination, mommy was not invited to receive medical recommendations, then there is no need to worry. This means that the child is not sticking out his tongue because of hypothyroidism.

The disease is accompanied by the following symptoms:

1. the skin becomes marbled or yellow in color;
2. the baby is constantly with his tongue hanging out;
3. the skin loses moisture and becomes drier;
4. the baby has a developmental delay;
5. swelling of the tongue, in which it swells and does not fit in the baby’s mouth;
6. the outlines of the face become denser;
7. cyanosis of the nasolabial triangle appears;
8. it is difficult to gain weight;
9. The baby suffers from constipation.

Treatment of the disease begins only after a thorough examination, which includes an analysis of the content of thyroid-stimulating hormone in the baby’s blood and an ultrasound of the thyroid gland. Only after this the doctor prescribes drug treatment with drugs containing thyroid hormones.

Game process

The child needs to be interested. A game story for eating is the absolute norm. During the process, you can tell your baby an interesting story in which he will be involved. The well-known “airplane” flying to the “hangar” is a real way to feed a child without nerves and hysterics. However, it is important to understand that if the baby begins to turn away, it means that he has already eaten. There is no need to feed him with the rest of the puree, even if it is only a spoon. Teaching a baby to eat “adult” solid food is a really difficult task that requires attention and patience from parents. Remember that you are helping your child develop one of the most important skills! On this path you need to become an ally to the baby. Force feeding will cause rejection. It is simply impossible to teach by feeding tasteless purees or forcing the child to finish eating porridge when the child is already full.

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