Vestnik Kavkaza continues the cycle of the program 'Ask Dr. Kozlova'. Honored Scientist of the Russian Federation, pediatrician, the Deputy Head of the Federation Council Committee for Social Policy, Ludmila Kozlova, answers questions of readers, listeners, and viewers of Vestnik Kavkaza. Ludmila Vyacheslavovna is the senator from the Smolensk region.
Today Dr. Kozlova speaks about first words and first teeth.
- A question, apparently from eager parents, about the regulations of speech ability. "When should we start to worry about the absence of the transition from babbling to first words?"
- It all depends on the environment and on how much attention parents pay to the child and how they do it. There are silent parents and their child will start to speak later. Too talkative parents also interfere with the development of the child's speech, because they take the initiative, and the poor child cannot insert a word. There must be a rational communication. A child listens, remembers words, and then begins to speak consciously. Sometimes, parents think that their child seems to say "Mom", "Dad" when he or she is 7 month old. A child can pronounce syllables, and you get a feeling that the child speaks words. But he or she will say it consciously somewhere at 11 months. Starting from 6 months, a child learns and remembers intensively. Talk to a child, name things, people, and he or she will remember them. At the age of one year, a child will start to speak.
- A question about "bottle-fed children". I have read that "bottle-fed children" have less developed jaws due to insufficient strain on them while sucking. Is it true that "bottle-fed children" are guaranteed to have weak chins and small jaws?
- It is absolutely not true. Everything will depend on how you feed a "bottle-fed child." You can feed him through a bottle with a teat, you can feed him using a spoon. These are different approaches. Formation of malocclusion is affected by pacifiers, which should not be used by parents sometimes. And there are hereditary problems caused by these changes.
You should promptly give and move to more solid food. It is well-known in which month it is necessary to give juice, in which month porridge, in which month vegetable purees, in which month meat. Compared to suckling, a "bottle-fed child" needs all of this a little bit earlier. A "bottle-fed child" can be raised and fed properly.
- What is the reason for the delay in child's teething? How much should we worry about slower growth of teeth?
- First teeth usually appear between the ages of 6-8 months. And the age at which teeth appear is affected by many factors. Those are maternal nutrition during pregnancy, nutrition of the breastfeeding mother, the child being on some form of feeding, natural or artificial, and heredity. So you should not worry if teeth did not appear before 9 months. But if a child does not have teeth at 9 months, in order not to worry too much, ask a pediatrician, and he will give you advice, or explain to you, because he sees in a child that there is nothing serious, or he will advise you to go to a dentist.
