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Chewing and biting

Chewing might be a lost art. Before the processing of food became easy, our ancestors often had to chew for hours. An activity that we unfortunately neglect nowadays. This lack of chewing muscle activity causes our jaws to shrink and often leads to misaligned teeth, as the teeth have too little space in the jawbone. At LOGICANA.at, we always strive to offer a wide range of products for all needs in order to improve the function of the jaw muscles.

Chewing and biting - a lost art? 

In a world where everything is boiled, cooked and processed into porridge, chewing is probably a skill that is being pushed more and more into the background. Many children refuse to chew a carrot. Because it is too strenuous? This is an obvious assumption if only porridge is given from the complementary food stage, bread is offered without a crust and vegetables are steamed. Of course, children should be introduced to hard foods slowly and carefully. There is no doubt that dealing with different food consistencies is essential for a healthy lifestyle. 


Why is chewing so important? 

Being able to chew a piece of bread or raw vegetables requires a number of skills. The jaw must be opened wide enough to decide whether it is still soft enough to be bitten off with the incisors or whether it is better to use the molars to bite off. The tongue must be able to lateralize in order to hold the food on the molars to grind it down, and at the same time the tongue must be able to move the food from one side to the other. The tongue is then brought into a bowl shape to receive the food, the tip of the tongue is brought to the papilla incisiva (the N-Spot) and the chyme is brought towards the esophagus by a "mermaid" movement of the tongue. For all this to happen, the integration of the mouth reflexes is necessary, which cannot happen completely with food that melts easily or does not need to be moved in the mouth at all. 

When should a baby start chewing? 

Chewing is an extremely important function for grinding food and also for jaw growth. Obvious problems that a child who does not chew enough will have are: Gagging, digestive problems, possibly choking and/or swallowing. We are all born as a newborn lying curled up in our mother's womb and first have to learn to sit upright, and the same applies to chewing. Parents often eagerly await the time when the baby turns, rolls, sits, stands, walks, runs, climbs etc. for the first time. Everything is done to ensure that the learning of the upright position up to walking takes place in a healthy way. When it comes to oral development, society's knowledge is (still) limited. This is why we focus on the healthy development of oral functions - chewing is an essential part of this! Babies are equipped with a natural bite reflex - the phasic bite reflex. This should be integrated around the 9th month of life. Until then, babies may appear to chew air. Babies chew with an empty mouth for a good reason: to train and prepare the muscles to ingest solid food. Chewing with an empty mouth is NOT a sign of being ready for contemplary food- these are listed at the bottom of this category
Teething can also be a reason for the baby "chewing air". Here it is particularly suitable to offer your baby the baby teething rings from our store. This makes training even more effective and promotes jaw development
When a baby is born around the due date, the jaws have reached around 50% of their adult size. By the age of 6, the jaws have reached 80%. And the biggest growth takes place in the first 4 years! 

Why are chewables important for children? 

Jaw bone growth is greatest in the first 5-6 years, so it is important to offer the child a range of opportunities to use the jaw bones. This is because development in the human body follows the principle: "Use it or lose it!". If structures are not used, growth and development may not be ideal. Chewing and biting are the tasks of the jaw structures. If a child cannot perform these skills adequately, for example because too little chewable food is offered, the growth of the jaw bones can also be restricted. Teething rings are great for supporting the child's oral exploration phase in the best possible way, but they can also be helpful for offering new (harder) food textures, as the teething ring provides training for the chewing muscles. 

My child gags when eating hard food, what can I do? 

The gag reflex is a so-called protective reflex that ensures at the beginning of life that only things (i.e. milk) are ingested. The gag reflex shifts further and further back towards the throat with the start of complementary feeding and oral exploration. To support the backward shift of the gag reflex, it can be useful to offer different textures and the opportunity to explore the oral structures. Different teething rings with different surfaces and different hardnesses can be used.