not believing this about preschoolers being unable to chew

[SolidButShamblingUndeadBrass]

Has anyone else heard something to the effect that due to evil chavvy parents who are Selfish and Don't Care, lots of reception-age children can't chew food properly as they have been fed so much slop their jaws haven't developed?
It just sounds implausible to me. I thought the oiks fed their DC Greggs products from 6 weeks old anyway and you need your bloody teeth to get through a steak bake...

It is true

I work with several children who are completely unable to chew and just gag or spit out anything with a texture more complex than yoghurt

one of the children I work with is nearly 5 and has had all but 4 of her teeth taken out due to decay

but some of them have all their teeth, they just don't know how to eat

what on earth do their parents feed them? surely they don't have jars of food right up until they start school

I have heard of this as well but not witnessed it myself so far.

I know one who only eats milky bar desserts (her mum calls them yoghurts) drinks coke and will suck popcorn

nothing else

the TIME I have spent sitting with her with little bits of fruit, pinching it to show texture, applauding her for licking, modelling biting/chewing - it just is not happening

and it isn't even that unusual where I work (children's centre in deprived area with lots of very high-need children)

Christ really?

What the bloody hell have they been fed? Even thoe most feckless of parents would have tossed a bag of quavers or some wine gums their way?

sometimes a child like this will put something in his/her mouth - a bit of banana for example, try to crush it up with the tongue and panic/gag/spit when they encounter a bit of resistence

they do not understand how to use their teeth

hear of this but not seen it.

there was a family on supernanny or some such where the children were 4 or 5 IIRC and still hvaing bottles and jarred food.

also big problem of tooth decay and sore teeth and gums and pain must make eating difficult.

you can't bite an apple with a mouthful of diseased and rotting teeth

Bleeding norah greeny.

That is utterly tragic.

What is wrong with the stupid mother? I mean I grew up eating lard and spam but when I was an adult realised it wasn't the best nutrition.

Poor kids.

It is true, My son was long-term ill in intensive care,high dependency and a sepcial childrens unit, at the developmental age he should have been learning to chew.

He had to have a pureed diet for a while then had to be taught to chew.

well, often the families are up against i in a lot of respects

and often the parents have learning needs of their own which have never been properly addressed

I have cried over the little girl who had to have all her teeth taken out

just tragic, as you say

Greeny you must have gone home and cried and cried. Poor kids.

Greeny that happened to me when I was 6! I thought it was because I was a bad girl and hadn't looked after my teeth. Ffs I'd never been given a toothbrush or toothpaste ever. But I still thought it was my fault. oh shit. I just want to cry

My little sister was quite traumatised by her early life and would only eat jars of baby food until about the age of 6, it's quite common apparently.

Ds is 3 and he wont eat chewy stuff but he eats pasta and apple and cucumber and lettuce and stuff so Im guessing he's not the kind of kid youre talking about?

He wont eat chewy meat though or chewy sweets for that matter, anything that requires much effort tbh.

I know a teacher who swears blind that children are becoming unable to chew and use cutlery and blames the tubes of food (froobs is it?) and cheesestrings.

language development must also be affected if they are not able to move their tongue effectively around their mouth

I know one child who on entering the foster home was only familiar with milky bar chocolate and raspberry fromage frais - they were over 2 at the time and had come from a dreadful environment

nemo

speech delay almost always accompanies the eating issues in children like this

and it's really hard to work on the diet when there is a communication barrier and the child is anxious/frustrated as well

That's really sad for the poor kids, but like others have said their home environment is often far from ideal and their parents have some real issues of their own.

It does really make you feel for them though.

it really isn't the case that parents who let this happen don't love their children or don't deserve them or whatever

the little girl with the decayed teeth was the baby of her family and was absolutely idolised by her mum and much older siblings - they just liked making her happy, worried when she was upset, didn't understand her additional needs and had never had much in the way of nutritional understanding themselves

they need proper, pratical, ongoing non-judgemental support

pity the ConDem idiots are about to suck all the money out of the infrastructure that currently tries to provide that support

I know a kid whose father had to sit with her for every meal, aged 3, to hold her jaw and move it up and down for her in order to show her how to chew. Her mother (who she'd been removed from) had only EVER given her jars of baby food and yoghurts.

Nutritionally, she was fine (there were other issues necessitating the removal) but she couldn't deal with proper food at all.

My Aunt used to teach reception level in a very deprived rural area back from @1970-2000 and she's often talked about how every year there would be at least 2 or 3 children who didn't know how to chew or use their teeth and had very poor/limited speech and appalling dental problems (and, occasionally, underdeveloped jaws), so it is sadly nothing new. Quite often, she says the parents would come to school to kick off about their lives being made difficult when she and other teachers and dinner ladies used to introduce them to new food and teach them how to chew, etc.

She also used to have to help children who weren't toilet trained or who would just do a wee/poo in a corner, as they thought it was normal. Very sad.

well dd4 has bad teeth. mainly due to diet and other issues.

but she can chew and eats well. well most of the time she does, atm she doesnt want to eat. but go through phases.

she see's a dentist regularly.

Aww misdee I still remember the pics of your dd. How is she doing? Hope she goes through a eating like a horse phase for you soon!