Safety 101: Health Issues and Developmental Issues that Alicia Silverstone May Not Have Thought Of

With the video of Alicia Silverstone "bird feeding her baby going viral, is it a good practice to pre-chew or pre-masticate your child's food for them?  My first response to this video was ooowww yuck and then I started to think about all the ramifications that could come from pre-chewing your child's food.  Alicia talked about this being a long time practice among mothers and if she meant one that was done long ago before the invention of the blender I agree.  Alicia wake up, outside of birds, mothers don't chew their babies food anymore for good reason 

Besides exposing your baby to the dirtiest place of any human's body, using your mouth to pre-chewing your baby's food puts them at risk to contract several diseases that may be present in your mouth.   The list includes herpes, HIV, Strep and tooth decay.  In addition, there are muscles that develop in a small child through the process of chewing their food that are being stunted when mommy chews the food for them.  This delay in muscle development may actually cause a delay in speech development which would in turn cause other developmental difficulties to occur.  A virtual domino effect.

As a counselor, I would like to add my own concern's about some developmental delays that this practice may cause as well.  It is important for a child to start recognizing early on that they are an individual, separate from their mother.  This practice may delay that process and stunt the developmental growth of the child.  I am not concerned about the mouth kissing as an issue for a baby because in many cultures this is an acceptable practice but I have seen children at school quite embarrassed when their parent kissed them on the lips.  Maybe there is a statute of limitation on mouth kissing your children.

Alicia, cut the cord already.