Abstract
To understand the development of the masticatory function of the infants at the weaning period, we investigated the methods of feeding baby foods and the eruption of deciduous teeth every two weeks.
The subjects were 20 healthy nursery school children (12 boys and 8 girls), who were from 4 to 15 months old. They were fed on the same food.
In this study, we examined feeding and masticatory methods used for eating baby-food at various ages (in months), types of food and the eruption types of deciduous teeth.
The results were as follows.
1) The types of baby food were something like paste in the early period, something crushed with the tongue in the middle period and something crushed with gums in the later period. The baby-food of the later period was about ten times as hard as that of the eraly period.
2) We were able to devide the feeding and masticatory methods for eating babyfood into 9 ways.
3) The first way was to let their mouths move frequently. The older the babys were, the more common was this way of the feeding, and it became 100 percent at the age of 15 months. According to the eruption type of the decidteeth, this way was increased remarkably among the A|A/A|A type.
4) The second way was to swallow the food by moving their mouth twice or three times. That was increased among 6,7 and 8-month-old children, in the middle period, and it decreased later.
5) The third way was to thrust their tongue frequently. That was shown about 90% of 4 and 5-month-old children, in the early period, and it decreased suddenly later.
6) The sixth way was to make the children suck the food, that was mostly seen in 11-month-old children, and it decreased at the age of 15 months.
7) Other ways were shown between the early and the middle period. As for the eruption it was still the AA type, and it disappeared at the age of 15month.
