Why does a baby stick out his tongue: reasons for a newborn baby

29.01.2020 23267 0

• When to introduce the first complementary foods
• How to tell if your baby is ready for solid food
• Diet for young children
• Common mistakes in complementary feeding
• Prohibited products
• What to do if your child cannot eat solids
• Gameplay for eating

When a small child appears in a family, parents are faced with a difficult task: not only to raise and educate, but also to instill in the child all the necessary skills. For example, young parents are often concerned about how to teach their child to chew. We have collected advice for you from famous Russian and foreign pediatricians that will help you find the optimal solution.

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.

What are the symptoms of teething

Only some parents do not encounter difficulties with their child’s teething and notice the incisor by chance, not understanding when it appeared. In most cases, the process is accompanied by unpleasant symptoms:

1. Swelling, “looseness” of the gums. Redness and bumps may form. Sometimes the teeth show through the gums. In some cases, there are bluish hematomas.
2. Increased salivation. This may cause rashes around the mouth. But salivation at 2 months of age does not always indicate teething. During this period, such a process is physiological. If the rashes appear in other places, this is not related to teething.
3. Restless state. The child cries a lot, is capricious, and the quality of his sleep deteriorates. Often the baby cannot be calmed down. Conventional methods (swinging, pacifiers, etc.) do not help.
4. Increased body temperature. More often these are indicators up to 37.5 ˚C. This can happen due to local inflammation (of the gums). A higher temperature indicates the activity of viruses.
5. Loss of appetite. During the period of teething, children eat poorly or refuse to eat at all. Sometimes the baby cannot be put to the breast. Some babies kick their legs and arch when feeding.
6. Runny nose and cough. Due to increased salivation, mucus flows down the back of the throat. It gets into the nasal passages, since the baby at the age of two months is more in a lying position. When mucus enters the throat, it provokes a cough. More often it appears during sleep.

Such symptoms do not occur all at once and can be combined in different ways. They often become a serious cause for concern for parents. Even the fact that a child is teething at such an early age is already shocking to them.

It is important not to confuse the signs of infectious or neurological diseases that have similar symptoms with the process of teething. Therefore, it is better to show the baby to the doctor. The following symptoms are also reasons to seek help: the child is very lethargic, has a high temperature (above +38 C), vomiting or mouth ulcers. A child may also vomit due to excessive salivation when mucus enters the stomach. Loose and frequent stools also indicate an infection. Diarrhea can cause dehydration.

How to tell if your baby is ready for solid food

As a rule, the baby himself makes it clear that he is interested in updating his diet. This can be seen from his behavior:

• Stops sucking food from a spoon, removing it with his lips

• Tries to chew

• Shows interest in “adult” food

• Puts hard objects into mouth

• Opens mouth wide when feeding

Usually this happens no earlier than 6-8 months - this is when you can start giving your child cereals and other foods with small dense particles.

Underwater rocks

Up to six months, children have an active expulsion reflex - a natural defense against suffocation. Therefore, at the beginning of “communication” with semi-solid food, the child may choke and spit out the food. There is no need to be scared and abruptly return to purees and ground products! Chewing is a skill and needs to be learned.

If you've introduced semi-solid foods a long time ago and your baby is still choking, give him time. Place food in front of your baby and watch - let him try to put food in his mouth with his hand on his own. Children should be praised and not scolded at the table! Otherwise, food may begin to be associated with violence and lead to an eating disorder.

Links:

1. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Volume 94, Issue 3, September 2011, Pages 709–716, https://doi.org/10.3945/ajcn.111.015164
2. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Mastication of almonds: effects of lipid bioaccessibility, appetite, andhormone response. Bridget A Cassady. https://ucce.ucdavis.edu/files/datastore/608-11.pdf
3. Cell. Nicolas Dutzan. Published: January 10, 2022 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.immuni.2016.12.010
4. Effectiveness of Chewing Technique on the Phonation of Female Speech-Language Pathology Students: A Pilot Study. Meerschman I DOI:10.1016/j.jvoice.2015.06.016

Common mistakes

Young parents may involuntarily make mistakes. This is normal and should not cause panic: the first child is always difficult. If your baby refuses solid food, there are several reasons.

Particle size too large

. A child’s protective reflex is triggered, causing him to often spit out food. And if the piece is very large, the baby may start vomiting.

Complementary foods were introduced very late

. Some “specialists” and “experienced relatives” convince young mothers that they need to feed their baby breast milk for up to a year, without giving him other food. The baby gets used to this diet, and his chewing reflex does not develop. There is no need to be afraid, it is difficult, but it can be fixed.

The child does not like the taste

. Yes, he is already an independent person who has formed his own preferences. So the baby can easily eat broccoli and refuse the baked pear. Or vice versa. You should not force your child to eat something he doesn’t like or force him to finish the entire portion.

Negative associations

. Some psychologists believe that refusal to eat from a spoon may be caused by the fact that the child associates food with medicine (manifests itself in cases where the baby was given tasteless medicines).

Too many new products

. Don't try to include a lot of different foods in your diet. As Ellyn Satter writes in Feeding and Nourishing Your Baby with Love and Common Sense, it's best to add "scary and unfamiliar" foods to what your baby already loves, and in very small portions.

The child is fed like an adult

. Larisa Surkova writes in the book “How great it is with a child from 1 to 3 years old: a generator of useful tips”, you should not deny your baby tactile sensations. If he wants to crush food, sniff it, smear it on the table, let him do it. In the end, the table can be covered with oilcloth (and the floor, by the way, too).

Not united by food

Chewing not only ensures a normal digestive process, but also has a number of other benefits. If you start teaching your baby to chew in time (from 6-7 months), his bite will form. Moreover, as shown by a Belgian study published in the journal J Voice, chewing promotes proper speech development. When a child chews, bites or licks, his lips, tongue, cheeks and jaws work. This develops the same motor skills as when speaking. In practice, it turns out that the process of eating food is the most enjoyable type of articulatory gymnastics.

Pediatrician of the highest category Yulia Viktorovna Andronnikova told us about other functions of chewing:

1. Chewing slowly allows you to feel full with less food, as the signal has time to reach the centers regulating hunger and appetite.
2. Chewing movements activate areas of the cerebral cortex that are responsible for cognitive abilities. In children, chewing stimulates development. If this process is disrupted, dementia can progress in old age.
3. Chewing movements form the facial skeleton, which is very important for proper breathing and blood supply to the central nervous system.
4. Not a single cosmetic procedure will help keep you in good shape and improve blood supply to the facial muscles as well as proper (slow) chewing.

What to do if your child cannot eat solids

In some cases, even a one-year-old baby cannot chew food and constantly choke on small pieces. This means that the chewing reflex has not fully formed, and parents will have to act very delicately:

• Prepare thick cream soups and purees for your child, but leave a few tiny boiled pieces of vegetables when blending

• Later, the vegetables can be chopped with a fork; the pieces will become larger, but not hard enough for a child to choke on.

• The best effect will be achieved by products whose taste the child likes. These can be baked apples and pears, bananas, children's cookies

• Food needs to be made not only tasty, but also beautiful so that it attracts the baby

If, during the learning process, the child continues to choke and is unable to swallow solid food, this is a reason to consult a doctor who will find the cause of the problem.

Sniffles, grunts, coughs

From early childhood, children understand that during illness, parents forget about their important, adult affairs and devote all their time to the sick child. As children get older, they may deliberately blow their nose loudly, cough, or sigh while pressing their hand to their forehead. At the same time, the little pretenders feel good, they just want to attract the attention of their parents. Children want to be pitied, shown care, hugged and given warm milk. This happens, as a rule, in families where parents are busy with their own affairs and do not want to spend time with their children.

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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Dangerous causes of tongue protrusion in children

If the baby's tongue sticks out constantly, parents should consult with their local doctor. A particularly alarming symptom is the tongue falling out of the mouth during sleep.

If during the waking period the baby often opens his mouth, his tongue is not held in the oral cavity, and incessant drooling is observed, then there is a possibility of developing an infectious disease. In addition, similar manifestations occur in infants with pathologies of the endocrine system or suffering from neurological diseases.

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.

Associated symptoms

Many symptoms of various diseases can accompany tongue chewing. As mentioned above, these are endocrine disorders, infectious diseases, often teething or pathologies of the bite and development of the jaw bones.

In addition to all of the above, this habit can be accompanied by many inflammatory diseases of the oral cavity:

• glossitis - inflammation of the tongue,
• stomatitis - inflammation of the mucous membrane,
• gingivitis – inflammation of the gums.

These pathologies always cause discomfort in babies in the form of itching and pain, so they begin to drown it out by chewing their tongue. A vicious circle is created here - the child bites the tongue, thereby injuring it, which further aggravates the inflammatory process. That is why chewing the tongue itself contributes to the development of diseases.

Help for autism at EMC

If the diagnosis is established, it is necessary to immediately begin working with the child, and this work must be comprehensive:

• The psychiatrist selects drug therapy (if abnormalities are detected before the age of 1 year, you can often do without medications).
• A psychologist, neuropsychologist and defectologist draw up an autism correction program and regularly work with the child, conducting various classes, testing, and games.

To achieve the best result, complex work of specialists is important, and not just one psychiatrist. It is important not to waste time, but to correct autism at an early age.

Why does a baby often chew or suck his tongue?

Some mothers note another type of alarming behavior in their children - tongue chewing. Why does a baby chew or suck his tongue? This usually occurs at the age of 5-6 months, when the moment of eruption of the first milk teeth approaches. By this time, the child’s salivary glands are already well developed, as preparations are underway for the transition from exclusively dairy nutrition to a mixed diet with the addition of complementary foods to the diet.

Copious secretion of saliva causes a swallowing reflex. The baby learns to swallow excess liquid in the mouth, thus preparing its digestive system for solid foods.

According to pediatricians, a child of this age usually chews his tongue before an upcoming feeding, at times when he feels hungry. However, parents' attention should be drawn to constant chewing of the tongue that is not associated with food intake. According to neurologists, this behavior indicates a high level of nervous excitability.

In some cases, a baby chews his tongue if parents try to wean him from the habit of thumb sucking. Some mothers strive to wean their babies off the pacifier as quickly as possible, remove all pacifiers, and stop attempts to develop the sucking reflex by the age of 8 months. Under such circumstances, the child involuntarily tries to compensate for the deficiency, so sucking the pacifier is replaced by chewing the tongue.

Another factor that provokes this behavior is teething. Swollen gums cause discomfort, the baby wants to get rid of the discomfort. He moves his tongue along the gums and in this way tries to scratch the place where a new tooth will soon appear.

Experts recommend communicating more with infants if there is a tendency to chew the tongue. Perhaps the baby just needs attention from his parents. Communication must be sincere, then there will be no intrusive actions in the child’s behavior.