Right question on development and diet

nesf

This came up in the Parenting forum from advice apparently received from a PHN.

its important for them to eat meat for chewing, developing mouth muscles for speech etc. At least according to the PHN. Makes sense to me.

This seems extremely dodgy to me, I can't think of any reason that meat would be special at a mechanical level for the purposes of developing mouth muscles that would set it apart from other foodstuffs.

imported_guy

nesf wrote: »

This came up in the Parenting forum from advice apparently received from a PHN.



This seems extremely dodgy to me, I can't think of any reason that meat would be special at a mechanical level for the purposes of developing mouth muscles that would set it apart from other foodstuffs.

since no one has replied i'll give it a bash

that is a pretty skeptical reason, why cant the kids chew gum?, and they arent doing much chewing if the meat is minced/ground etc, red meat, fish etc are a pretty good source of protein though, which is essential for muscle development (but they develop all muscles, rather than just the mouth)

how ever if you look at it this way, if your a body builder, you can do barbell curls/bench press to increase arm/chest hypertrophy(and strength), so chewing probably does improve strength/hypertrophy, but i dont see why it has to be meat, i mean i can curl dumbells/barbells/machines or bricks, it will still make my arms bigger if i lift heavy enough and eat properly, my body cant tell if my dumbells are rusty or shiny

Jessibelle

My mother was told something similar by the PHN when my sister was born, but it wasn't specific to meat. She was told it's important that from about 6-7 months, when the baby starts consuming semi-solid to solid foods, that the baby is given something with texture, like mashed with soft lumps and slightly pureed proteins as it encourages the baby to learn how to chew. She did emphasise that anything tough and fibrous like meat needed to be pureed slightly or mashed nearly to a paste as the baby wouldn't be able to actually chew at that stage, but needed to learn to mimic the motion.
But there was no specific reason given for meat exclusively. Sure if that was the case what would vegan/vegetarian babies do?

medicinegirl

imported_guy wrote: »

since no one has replied i'll give it a bash

that is a pretty skeptical reason, why cant the kids chew gum?

I'm guessing it's not a great idea for younger children to be encouraged to chew gum-it can be fairly hazardous. They can't understand the concept of chewing something and not swallowing it at a young age and you don't want them swallowing the stuff as it often isn't digested properly
Also, possibly a choking hazard?

nesf

medicinegirl wrote: »

I'm guessing it's not a great idea for younger children to be encouraged to chew gum-it can be fairly hazardous. They can't understand the concept of chewing something and not swallowing it at a young age and you don't want them swallowing the stuff as it often isn't digested properly
Also, possibly a choking hazard?

Giving chewing gum to a young toddler would be monumentally stupid but I'm pretty sure that the poster wasn't actually suggesting anyone doing that!

medicinegirl

nesf wrote: »

Giving chewing gum to a young toddler would be monumentally stupid but I'm pretty sure that the poster wasn't actually suggesting anyone doing that!

you never know!!