Sucking fingers to eat?

[jenfl]

My DS is 7.5 months old and a dedicated finger sucker.

He took to solids slowly -- we've done both BLW and purees.  We're at the point where he enjoys tasting and playing with different foods, but little actually makes it into his belly.  Which I'm fine with; it's more important to me that he be exposed to different tastes, I don't feel he _needs_ food yet.

My concern comes that he doesn't seem to get chewing and swallowing yet.  If it's a food he can hang on to (like a roasted baby carrot), he "nurses" on it.  If it's small things (like shreds of cheese or puree), he seems to have to put his fingers in his mouth and suck on them in order to swallow.

I was willing to write it off as just needing practice at first.... but we're a month and a half in to his experience with food, and he still does it just as much.

Has anyone else's LO done something like this?  When did they really "get it"?

ETA: I should add that he had a slight anterior tongue tie that was clipped at 5.5 weeks and a remaining slight posterior tongue tie that was not clipped.  But his tongue mobility seems pretty good now.

[momto4plus4]

Hi Jen! So, Jeremiah seems to get chewing but if he's feeding himself, like he had green beans last night, he sucks them, he doesn't bite and chew. He does that for everything. If it's a food I put in his mouth, like a puffy or pear piece or something, he'll chew. But, he also puts his fingers in his mouth as well. I'm thinking this may be normal for this age. I don't think I gave my others anything but purees this young so I don't have anything to go on either.

I also wonder how much his tongue tie may affect him. You probably remember the ENT said JR does not have a tongue tie. She's an excellent dr, I trust her. BUT, I feel concerned, still, about JR's tongue. The back of his tongue is up almost to the roof of his mouth when I put food in his mouth while the front of his tongue is curled up. It just looks odd. I don't remember my others doing this. Maybe I'm just anal because he's had so many latching issues and still falls off the breast at times. I don't know.

I hope it helps just knowing Sprout isn't the only one sucking food instead of just a chew swallow motion. But, I think you're right to keep an eye on the tongue tie and how it's affecting those abilities. Maybe someone else will have better help for you.