Milford chronicle., 1954-01-08
Baby Fingers Food
First; Forks Follow

First; Forks Follow
BY DOROTHY v. wHIpPLE, M. D.
AP Newsfeatures
Al about the time a baby is
teething and anxious to chew ON
anything he can lay his hands on,
ne Is also developing other new
skills.
He can use his hands TO grab
things. AT first he SCOOPS I'D OBJ
Jects with his whole hand. A lit
lie later he can use his thumb
ana Iorefinger to pick up all sorts
OF tiny objects.
Most of these picked-up things
go directly to the babys mouth. He
Ieels them with his lips, he tastes
them, and likely he chews them.
II he has already had some ex-
perlence with chewing food he has
gnawed off bone, he is likely to
swallow the bits he chews up.
This is an age when you must
keep a constant vigil that your
youngster does not pick up and
swallow things that would do him
harm. But don't try to keep every
thing away from the exploring
fingers.
Give him things to pick up that
he CAN eat. Some of the dry cere-
ais that come in tiny pieces are
ideal.
While you are getting his meal
ready and your young demander
Is voicing his Impotence in no I'M
1 certain terms, scatter half a dozen
/ pieces Of dry cereal on his tray
It's quite likely to keep him happy
until you can get the rest of his
food before him. Let him go on
eating a few pieces of the dry
cereal while you spoon in his
other foods.
soon he will want to feed him
/ sell more than just the dry cere-
al. Try giving him other things
/ ne can manage with his fingers
He will open his mouth for the
spoon while he is busy picking
/ up HIS bite. Wait for him to chew
and swallow his bite before you
offer him another spoonful.
Many a baby will chew anC
swallow the food he puts in hi.
mouth himself although he still
objects to Jumps from the spoon
When food comes from spoon h,
expects just to swallow, but if h,
puts II in himself, he will chew i
before he swallows it.
Each meal, give something to b,
picked up in the fngcrs-neveI
very much at a meal, but as tn,
days pass, use many different foods
We want him to become accus
toned to The taste and consistency
of a huec variety of foods. Civ,
him every vegetable that grows 81
long as it can be chewed easily
all kinds of meat. ground up s,
the pieces are small: give him hi
eEE-yOlk hard-bOiled and crumble,
so that he can pick up little pieces
Everything you give him to chey
at this stage must be soft. neve
anything hard or brittle. If tn
food is damp, dry it off in a pane
napkin. Wet, slippery food is har
to manage.
The bulk of his food still need
to be smooth and fed to him frOr
a spoon. But as the months mas
and he understands more abou
chewing and swallowing he viii
eventually begin to use a 5000
or fork to get the food into hi
mouth. He then knows that foo
from a spoon can be chewed JUS
as bits he puts in with his finger,
I It's troublesome to let a bah
feed himself. It's lot quicker +
pin those busy hands down IN
poke the food in with Il spoon. It.
trouble that pays dividends i'm IN
long run, however.
Mrs. Stacklcy was busy woman
She had a job as we'll aS bah,
She just didn't have the time +
fool around with Tommy's eatine
She fastened a diaper around hi
chest, put him up in his hig
chair, and got his meals over i
record time. Tom was a plump red
faced youngster. the picture q
health-up until he was about tw,
All of Il sudden he baked at hi
meals. He wouldn't have anythin
to do with food that wasn't com
pletely smooth and he often at
mighty little of that Eating Jus
didn't interest hint wasn't an
fun. It was a long slow process t
get Tom back to where he ate be
cause he enjoyed eating.