When do I start worrying about her lower lateral incisors not being in?

[muddyfeet]

She's 11 months, the calendars say she should have lower lateral incisors by now. They're not here. She's eating more and more solid food, but I still have to be really careful to keep her to soft cubes for her finger foods. Won't she need these teeth to chew as she graduates to next stage foods? Should I worry about them not being in yet?

[Lolly]

My DD has only recently got her upper lateral incisors and it really hasn't affected finger foods. It's the molars they chew with really, incisors are for ripping and tearing rather than chewing and those hard gums seem to be very efficient! If you think about the families that do pure BLW from 6 months, most manage just fine with no teeth!

I have given both mine a range of different textures and hardness of food and they have managed fine with varying amounts of teeth! I don't think it's anything to worry about - teeth is one of the things we really can't do anything about! You could always speak to your dentist to put your mind at rest though.

Laura

[MummyToBen]

No need to worry at all!! Most of the 'chewing' they do at this stage is just done by pressing the food on the roof of their mouth with their tongue.  In fact this is a great way of testing if a food is suitable for lo's - just take some of it and see if you can much it up with your tongue on the roof of your mouth - even if it takes a while then it is fine  .  My DS did not have ANY teeth until 14 months but we skipped purees altogether and he has been fine and loves munching his way through anything!

xx

[Texomamama]

Agree with Claire.  My DD didn't have any teeth until 13 months.  She never seemed to have any trouble chewing or swallowing foods.  Of course, I didn't give her raw veggies, but pretty much everything else was fair game.  I was told by my Ped and her dentist that getting teeth is the most variable (and least important) of all infant milestones, and in fact, there is some school of thought that suggests that the later they get teeth, the more healthy and strong those teeth tend to be (not sure I buy that).

[muddyfeet]

hmmm...hadn't heard about "the later the stronger". OK, well, I'll stop worrying and keep on brushing the 6 she's got. Thanks everyone!

[Mum-of-Two]

Both of my kids had 4 teeth on their 1 year birthday then proceeded to pop out molars around 15 months then fill in the teeth that come in between molars and the front 2 teeth after that.  Crazy teeth!  There is no rhyme or reason to it.

The molars really do help with food, otherwise I'd try things and back off if you are uncomfortable or think DD is swallowing without chewing.  My DD was on baby food well after 18 months old.  My son, well he's an eater and teeth or no teeth liked trying new things and managed better.

I made a soup for my DD because she didn't chew much -- those really tiny noodles, I forget their name -- chicken broth -- chopped spinach and mushed up cooked carrots.  Even if she swallowed it there was nothing to choke on and it was healthy and not baby food !  Between that and oatmeal with yogurt mixed in she didn't eat much else for a while there LOL. 

[muddyfeet]

My LO wants to eat everything we're eating, and gets upset if we don't have the same stuff. Today she wouldn't rest until I made her spinach salad with tomatoes and dressing!  So I chopped it up REALLY small and let her go to! She did fine. I just was hoping to not have to process things quite so much. We'll see how the spinach comes out. ;-)

[Katet]

Teeth aren't needed to chew at this age they are to bite
Seriously both my boys were sucking the nutrients from steak around when they first got teeth which came about from my Mum telling me I didn't get my first tooth until 16mo & she used to let me eat steak, apparently she'd get back the same stringy grey bit that I got back from my boys.

[muddyfeet]

OK, DEFINITELY not worrying after the steak story!

[BrennF]

If she has her central incisors or any incisors, she should be able to bite food. As far as chewing, that's done with the molars I believe. You could always ask your dentist to reassure you but I wouldn't worry.

[Mashi]

I wouldn't go by any calendar for teeth - there are averages and that is about it.  Lots of kids have no teeth yet at 12 months old (my DS had two) and lots of them have their 2yr molars finished by 18 months!  Averages are about all they really have to go by...there is not really a whole lot that is "abnormal" when it comes to timings for teeth!

[Roseii]

12mo tomorrow and still no teeth, eats like a horse, meat on the bone is a favourite

[Lemonthyme]

He just got them recently, one at 12 months, one at 13 months.  It never even occurred to me to worry!  All of my friends babies teeth seem to be coming in at different rates, most slower than my LO and he's been fine on finger foods for ages.