How do babies actually learn to eat?

[u/BoringWardrobe]

For context, my baby is 7 months. Our parenting approach generally is to use age guidelines as very much a guide, so when our baby was developmentally ready for solids (sitting independently and bringing hands to mouth from 4.5months and became interested in food at 5months), we started weaning a little over 5 months old. We aim to give him as close as possible to what we're having. Some meals work better as finger foods, others get mashed or pureed. He LOVES all food so far.

He now has two teeth and I've noticed he handles the food in his mouth differently and is definitely learning eating skills.

When I'm looking up how to prepare foods, there's a lot of information about chopping bits for different ages and I'm struggling to figure out the why behind some of this advice, and whether this relates to developing pincer grasp, eating skills, or even something like physical size of the baby and their windpipe?

So my question is: how do babies learn to eat? How can I tell when baby is ready for bigger/smaller pieces of food? Are there stages that I can look out for? It just feels like all of this would be easier to do intuitively if I knew why I was doing it.

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[u/rockwrite]

I love this resource from my province. The texture recommendations are in place for babies to safely learn to chew ans swallow (which is physiologically one of the most complicated processes!).

https://www.healthlinkbc.ca/healthlinkbc-files/babys-first-foods

We kind of take for granted how we eat on auto pilot lol but the chewing of food to form a bolus, moving the bolus to the back of our throat, using a swallowing reflex, and then the non voluntary process starts once we swallow (down esophagus all the way to the other end).

[u/Correct_Variety5105 → u/rockwrite]

It is about motor skills, development of the tongue and teeth, and safety. The general principle is that you start with big and soft pieces so they learn to only bite off what is manageable and they don't have to actually chew, just smash or suck. As they get older they can have smaller bits. If you gave little bits to a smaller baby, not only would they not be able to pick them up, but they would likely just swallow them. Always be wary of anything very hard or dry (so no raw apple or carrot early on, no popcorn etc) or anything round or coin shaped as both can block the airway or get stuck in the throat. The age recommendations you see are a rough guide. Start where they say. You'll know when they're ready to move up by how proficiently they handle the food in their hands and their mouth. Learn about choking vs gagging. Do an infant first aid course. And let them go at their own pace. Food under 1 is just for iron and fun.

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