Recently we saw that in many occasions getting a baby to take his first porridge normally is not an easy task and it takes a lot of patience. A new swallowing mechanism is imposed, and the little ones do not know how to eat with a spoon.
The ability to swallow non-liquid foods is established over 4 or 5 months of life. All parents will have observed that with the first tablespoons, the baby returns to take the food out of the mouth.
This movement is the extrusion reflex and it consists precisely in that, when a food is introduced in the anterior part of the mouth, it is expelled with the tongue. This reflex allows the little ones to expel from their mouth any food that is not liquid or of the texture of the breast, or of the taste and smell of milk.
The extrusion reflex only disappears between 4 and 6 months of age, provided it is "practiced" with the spoon. Many times this reflex is interpreted as a sign that the baby does not like the food in question and rejects it, but as we see it is about an automatic movement.
When this reflex disappears, naturally, the little ones are able to take the food to the back of the oral cavity and finally swallow it. It is important to try that the meals do not contain lumps, nor pieces of fiber that stimulate this reflex.
Another thing is that those new foods that you start to taste don't make it funny ... As we said, a matter of patience!
