A Study on the Eating Functional Development of Children

Part 1 The Present State of Thing on One Year and Six Months old Children

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the eating functional development.
The subject were 480 healthy one year and six months old children who visited the public Health Center. We sat questionaries about the present state of their mastication, living environment of meals, and the history of weaning prosses and we examined the eruption of decidious tooth of them.
The results obtained were as follows.
1) Almost children can't eat meals by themselves skillfully.
2) There are few children who have meals alone.
3) Over 50% children can't chew their food well.
4) 1/4 children have some kind of problems about the eating function.
5) Children who have functional problems tend to have many likes and dislikes.
6) A lot of parents who cared a hardness or a size of baby food answer that their children can chew their food well.
7) 1st deciduous molars are already erupted with 80% of the children.
8) We think the eruption of 1st deciduous molar is related to the mastication a little.