Baby porridge is the best way to stimulate oral development. Find out why in our note.
The first six months your little one should be fed breast milk, which is enough and covers everything your child needs, but from the sixth month the baby requires other foods that complement his nutrition, that’s why it is called complementary feeding.
Eye-hand coordination
Coordination develops and improves as the baby grows. An important advance is when he manages to hold the trainer cup by himself, that happens around 6 months. Later, between 10 and 14 months, the little one can start taking food with his hands, since he already has the coordination to do so. The next step, at 12 months, will be for him to feed himself with the spoon.
The baby, from birth to four months, learns to suck and is the only oral skill he has. From the fourth month on, he begins to perfect other oral skills, such as performing the lateral movement of the tongue, which later will help him to pass the food from one side to another inside the mouth. When it integrates this new capacity, a third appears: the wave movement, which will allow the food to pass into the throat and swallow it. For this reason, your baby’s porridge helps him perfect his oral skills as long as his textures are adequate at each stage of his development.