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Show MOTHERS ARE apt to suppose that teaching a baby to use a spoon is the first step in self feeding. feed-ing. But prior to acquiring this skill, baby has to learn to chew. For sucking may be an instinct, but what to do with his teeth is a mystery baby spends a lot of time happily solving. Actually, some children seem to object to chewing chew-ing and will hold solid pieces of food in the rnouth for hours, or spit them out at first contact. Your best ally In this chewing game are baby's fingers not only will he chew on them, but if he is allowed to pick up small bits of food with his fingers and put them in his mouth he will chew experimentally. experi-mentally. (If you put the pieces into his mouth he Is more apt to spit them out.) Dr. Dorothy Whipple, author of "Our American Babies" suggests that you let baby begin be-gin his meal with little dabs of cold cereal on his plate which he can pick op and put into his mouth himself. He is hungry then, and while you finish preparing pre-paring the rest of his dinner he can be giving himself a chewing lesson. Later on let him have some of his vegetables cooked In strips so that he can hold them in his fingers and bite off a piece. This practice should be kept up throughout early childhood for young children, as well as babies, need a chance at each meal to eat some food with their fingers. What does this do to table manners? man-ners? Let's quote our same authority. au-thority. Dr. Whipple, who says: "Because a baby eats with his fingers and is somewhat messy at the table need give no fear that his ultimate table manners will be sloppy. In babyhood we want joy in eating that paves the way for a good appetite in years to come. Table manners, in time, will be a satisfactory copy of his parents'." One warning about that earliest stage of chewing when baby puts everything in his mouth, from blanket cover to mother's purse, If left in his carriage. Be very sure that he gets hold of nothing that can be bitten Into pieces on which he might choke. That is why raw carrot sticks should not be given an infant. Even without teeth he might chew off a bite with his hardened gums that could later lodge in his throat. Celery is safe enough because the strings aren't easily separated and baby just mashes the stalk. And the chicken drumstick is as fine a chewing delight as ever. Babies love bones almost as much as puppies do, and If the bone is smooth, with no sharp corners, any kind of meat bone is satisfactory. Most of the meat should be cut off so that only small pieces are left for the beginning chewer to practice prac-tice on. |