Feeding Therapy
By 3-months:
- Latches onto nipple or bottle
- Liquids only (milk/formula); cannot digest other types of food
By 7-months:
- Shows interest in food & opens mouth when spoon approaches
- Begins to eat cereals and pureed food. Smooth, pureed food (single ingredient only).
- May observe both munching (up and down) jaw movements and Lateral (side to side) jaw movements
- Lateral tongue movements emerging, which helps with eating efficiency
By 12-months:
- Eats an increasing variety of food
- Begins to use an open cup and can drink from a straw
- Ready to try soft-cooked vegetables, soft fruits, and finger foods
- Full transfer of foods from side to side in the mouth with tongue, without difficulty
- Licking food off of lips emerges
By 18-months:
- Eat ground, mashed, or chopped table foods (including soft pieces of meat)
- Chews bigger pieces of soft table foods
- Improved biting skills
- Sometimes chews with lips closed
By 24-months:
- Swallows food well with no loss of food
- Chews with jaw movements in all directions (round and round, up/down, and side to side)
- Better able to manage hard-to-chew foods (like meats)
- Swallows well from a cup with good lip closure around the cup and no loss of liquid
By 36-months:
- Eats the same foods as the rest of the family
- Eats well with utensils
- Has definite food likes and dislikes & refuses certain foods
- Chews with lips closed
- Working on increasing speed, strength, and efficiency with bigger pieces of harder to chew table foods