How babies learn to chew

Chewing is learned, not switched on

Milk feeding uses a sucking pattern. Chewing solid food is a new skill that develops with practice over the first few years.

The NHS says babies who start solids at around 6 months are better at moving food around their mouth, chewing and swallowing it, and that moving on to mashed, lumpy and finger foods helps them learn. Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust says children keep developing their chewing skills until around 24 to 36 months.

The stages, in plain terms

A 2014 review of how chewing develops in young children describes the general path (Le Révérend, 2014):

1. First tastes, 4 to 6 months: jaw movements are simple ups and downs, helped by the lips and tongue. The CDC lists moving food from the front to the back of the tongue to swallow as one of the signs a baby is ready for solids.
2. Around 6 months: babies vary a lot. In one study the review describes, some 6-month-olds let a soft solid soften with saliva and then swallowed it with sucking movements, while others tried to munch on it.
3. From about 8 months: munching. By 8 months, munching was firmly established in that study: crushing food by raising and lowering the lower jaw, without any circular movement yet.
4. Then side to side. Next comes sideways jaw movement, and the tongue learns to move food from one side of the mouth to the other, and from front to back (Sheffield Children’s). In one study the review describes, babies began moving solid food from side to side with their tongue at about 10 months.
5. Mature chewing, from about 2 years and often later: a circular (rotary) jaw movement, as adults use. Older studies placed it at around 24 to 30 months, but the review describes a study that followed children from 9 to 30 months and found no rotary jaw movement even at 30 months, and another that found chewing still wasn’t mature at 35 months. Sheffield Children’s says chewing skills keep developing until around 24 to 36 months.

These ages are research averages, not deadlines.

Gums do the early work

You don’t need to wait for teeth. Early chewing uses the gums, tongue and saliva to break soft food down. Sheffield Children’s speech and language therapists describe the area between the cheek and gums as “where they chew.”

Teeth come later than most of this learning. The review gives typical ranges: front teeth (central incisors) at 8 to 12 months, first molars at 13 to 19 months, and second molars at 23 to 33 months. That’s why first foods must be soft enough to squash between your thumb and finger: your baby is mashing them with their gums.

Textures by age

This follows NHS guidance, with typical sizes from our other guides:

• Around 6 months: smooth or mashed food, and soft finger-sized pieces your baby can hold in their fist, about 6–8 cm long and 2 cm wide (2½–3 × ¾ in). The NHS says to move on from purées to mashed and finger foods as soon as your baby is ready, and to offer lumpy textures from around 6 to 7 months.
• 7 to 9 months: more mashed and lumpier foods, and a variety of finger foods. The NHS says finger foods help babies learn to bite off, chew and swallow small pieces of soft food. Barnsley’s children’s speech and language therapists say children usually begin to manage food with small lumps from about 6 to 9 months. From about 9 months, once your baby can pick up small pieces, add soft pieces no bigger than about 1 cm (just under ½ inch).
• 10 to 12 months: the NHS says your baby should be able to manage mashed, lumpy, chopped and finger foods, with bigger chunks of soft food, and should find it easier to pick up small pieces and feed themselves.
• 12 months and up: family foods, chopped and soft enough for your child to manage. Chewing keeps improving through the toddler years, so tough, hard and round foods still need care. See the choking hazards list.

Why delaying lumps can make feeding harder

Two reports from a large UK study of children born in 1991–92 (ALSPAC) looked at the age babies first had lumpy food:

• Babies first given lumps at 10 months or later were more difficult to feed and had more definite likes and dislikes at 6 and 15 months, and at 15 months were less likely to be eating family foods (Northstone, 2001, about 9,000 families).
• Children first given lumps after 9 months ate less of many food groups at 7 years, including all fruit and vegetable categories, and had more feeding problems (Coulthard, 2009, about 7,800 families).

These are observational findings from mothers’ questionnaires, so they show an association, not proof of cause. Still, the practical message from the authors and the NHS is the same: don’t stay on smooth purées. The 2014 review adds that early experience of a range of textures makes later textures easier to accept.

How to help your baby practice

Tips from NHS speech and language therapy teams in Sheffield and Barnsley:

• Sit them upright, in a high chair if you can. Barnsley’s therapists say it helps children manage lumps and chewing.
• Aim for the sides. Put the spoon, or let your baby put food, toward the side of the mouth, between cheek and gums. This helps them learn to move food across the mouth.
• Step up gradually: runny purée, then thicker purée, then mashed, then soft chopped food. Sheffield suggests avoiding purées with lumps in them and other mixed textures, like thin soup with chunks, while skills develop.
• Let them touch and self-feed, and eat together: babies copy you.
• Don’t hide or trick. Sheffield says your child should know what they’re eating and feel in control.
• Praise the trying, and offer small amounts of lumpy food at meals.

Good practice foods include mashed avocado or banana left a little lumpy, fork-mashed lentils, soft-cooked broccoli and carrot sticks, flaked salmon, well-cooked pasta, and strips of well-cooked omelet (egg).

Gagging is part of learning

Gagging is common when babies meet new textures (NHS). It’s noisy: watery eyes, the tongue pushing forward, retching food back to the front. Stay calm and let your baby work it out. Barnsley’s therapists note that some children gag on lumps for a while and need extra help.

Choking is quiet and needs help right away. Learn the difference in gagging vs. choking. If your baby can’t cough, cry or breathe: shout for help, and have someone call 911. If you’re alone and your phone is with you, call on speaker and start back blows straight away.shout for help. Start back blows straight away, with chest thrusts if your child is under 1 or abdominal thrusts if they’re over 1. If the blockage hasn’t cleared after one round of each, call 999 (on speaker if you’re alone) and keep going.shout for help, and have someone call your local emergency number (such as 112 in Europe or 000 in Australia). If you’re alone and your phone is with you, call on speaker and start back blows straight away. See gagging vs. choking for each step.

When to see a feeding specialist

Chewing difficulties can be developmental (a child isn’t ready yet) or sensory (they dislike how lumps feel, sometimes after reflux or a lot of medical treatment), according to Sheffield Children’s.

Ask your pediatrician, GP or health visitor about a referral to a feeding specialist, such as a speech and language therapist, if your baby:

• often coughs or chokes when eating or drinking (Sheffield Children’s)
• struggles with feeding, gagging or swallowing (NHS Hounslow Healthier Together)
• still manages only smooth purées at around 9 to 10 months, or gags and gets upset with every lumpy food after weeks of gentle tries
• isn’t growing or gaining weight as expected (NHS Hounslow Healthier Together)

In the US, start with your pediatrician, who can refer you to a feeding specialist such as a speech-language pathologist.In the UK, your health visitor or GP can refer you to a children’s speech and language therapy feeding team.Start with your baby’s doctor or child health nurse, who can refer you to a feeding specialist. If your baby was born early, see starting solids with a premature baby.

Where US and UK advice differs

• Chewing in the first year. US advice puts the focus on foods that are easy to swallow. The CDC suggests foods that easily dissolve with saliva and don’t require chewing to help prevent choking, then thicker and lumpier foods as your baby’s skills develop. The AAP says not to give babies food that requires chewing at this age. The NHS frames lumps and finger foods as the way babies learn to chew, and suggests offering lumpy textures from around 6 to 7 months.
• In practice, both mean soft. US “no chewing required” and UK “lumps and finger foods” both point to foods that squash easily between your fingers and can be mashed with the gums, never hard, round or chewy pieces.