Solid food and tongue

[Yorkiee]

Wondering if anyone can help me.

Gave LO (8 months) steamed salmon last week. It was very soft. Put a little in her mouth and after a few minutes I noticed it was just sitting on her tongue. Middle somewhere.

Today I gave small chicken pieces and notice the same.

Is this because she isn't trying chew?

Or should I have given bigger pieces for her to be able to chew?

I'm a bit confused..

Learning to eat solid involves a lot of different mechanism. It is not only about chewing but also the tongue moving the food in the mouth.
Do you give her pouches? The sucking process is totally different than the eating one, as when sucking, your tongue pushes the liquid to the roof of the mouth, not the back.
With a spoon, there is more involvement of the muscles.

You also need to consider lubrication. Was the salmon or the chicken quite dry? Unless you are chewing, there won't be much saliva production and it isn't easy to swallow something that is dry.

Now that I hope your confusion is solved, let's move to the tips.
In between a totally liquid food, and a totally dry food, there are hundreds of options. Try to give something which is in between , so a soupy risotto for example, or a stew again with plenty of liquid. Give a spoonful with a bit of liquid and pieces.

Or teach her to chew with some wet food. Watermelon is good, steamed cubes of zucchinis which retain a lot of water, any food that when pressed against her palate will produce juice which would encourage her to chew.

Oh wow thanks for that!!! @LeGrandBleu

Will be doing all this tomorrow!

I would try her with some strips of cooked chicken, big enough for her to hold herself and let her feed herself, even if she's not eating much she will be practicing using her chewing muscles. Even if she just sucks it, she will get some goodness out of it.

You can also make a small " sauce" to accompany the first meat/fish.
My kids loved sole (we are French, sole is the first fish we introduce in France), cooked in butter in a pan, so the sole would just glide. Or when doing boiled cod, I would keep some of the boiling water, break pieces of still steaming fish in a tiny plate, put some pieces of butter on t, and add a spoonful or two of the water, and a bit of parsley if you have it.
Meat tends to become hard when cooked unless you cook it in foil in oven with some tomatoes, onions, which will release juice and not only give flavours but also make the meat tender. Or just braise your meat in a small pan, again onions and tomatoes are good helpers. Dice them, cook them with a bit of oil, add the already cut meat, let it brown, then add a bit of water (3 or 4 spoonful) and let if cook for 5 min more.

I think bigger, less mushy chunks are always better so they have more control over what they are eating.