Snacks for healthy jaw, face, airway!
I get asked about snack ideas for kids all of the time. As a preface/disclaimer, we try to eat as “nutrient dense” as we can, mostly organic, and balance out grains with grain free items in our house. So most of our snacks fit into this framework, but as always, 80/20. We don’t not eat fruit and veggies if we can’t find or fit organic into our budget that week. Because…balance. And because fruits and veggies are better than NO fruits and veggies. Also, it may be worth sharing that we followed the book Super Nutrition For Babies (Erlich & Genzlinger) for introducing solids and did a combination of purees and gentle baby led weaning.
The jaw requires stimulation and input in order to develop correctly. Bones grow when muscles and forces (gravity) pull and push on them (this is a simplified explanation). Muscle function improves with movement. So to grow the jaw properly and keep the joints and muscles strong, healthy and working optimally, it is important to provide little ones with lots of healthy chewing practice. Muscles, joints, and bones in the face help keep your airway open, palate forming correctly and jaw strong and growing out and away from the airway (ideally…). This all means that if things are functioning well and growing properly, there' will be less need for intervention (for sleep apnea, sleep disordered breathing, crooked teeth, etc.) down the line.
Breathing and chewing properly are important for a range of things from digestion to attention and learning.
Our modern diet incorporates a lot of mashed, soft, processed, refined food which is just not hard enough for an optimal level of chewing practice. We are seeing that jaw/facial structures are changing, getting weaker, and growing incorrectly which is causing our kids to have more health issues and at the very least, grow up to have more health issues than their parents and at younger ages. Yes, yes, I’m aware that there are OTHER factors at play and it’s not ONLY about jaws, airway, breathing and the like. Problems are rarely because of ONE thing only (that would be too easy!). However, this post is about chewing and how to get your baby/toddler’s jaw and facial structures some more exercise through crunchy foods, so I’ll stay focused on that.
I get asked ALL THE TIME, do you have any ideas for crunchy foods for my baby/toddler/child? Yes, I do!
But a few things to keep in mind:
Crackers, chips, etc. should be limited because of the way they get chewed up in the mouth and get stuck between teeth and cause cavities! I’ve had pediatric dentists tell me that crackers are worse for cavities than ice cream! Take it or leave it, but I try not to have these convenience foods on rotation every day. Even the “healthy” ones.
Chips, taco shells, and various sizes of raw & cooked veggies are considered choking hazards for babies of varying ages. This isn’t a post about how to cut various foods, but I recommend checking out Solid Starts if you have questions on sizes to cut foods at different ages (there’s an app too)! And follow choking hazard guidelines for how to break up or cut up certain high hazard foods.
Please, use safety and judgement in feeding your child.
But also remember, you’d rather they practice and work on these skills while at home with you instead of suddenly having to learn to chew and practice eating something that’s harder at someone else’s house in a less than ideal environment right? So balance the fear with safety and explore these crunchy foods!
And before you ask me, how I got my kid to eat a lot of these is by:
Starting early
No pressure to eat anything ever
She does not have a feeding disorder, any sensory issues or any oral motor dysfunction
Lots of exposures even if she doesn’t like something, that’s what’s on the menu that day so she still gets the exposure
Always including a preferred food with new foods
Demonstrating and modeling chewing these foods and using good judgement to change the size as her skills changed and improved
Knowing that some days she will eat a whole plate of cucumbers and the next week she might avoid them completely and that’s okay
In his book, The Dental Diet, Dr. Steven Lin, a prominent dentist shares that a good ‘dental diet’ “prioritizes hard, fibrous foods that require chewing thereby developing the jaw throughout your adult life. These foods include: whole, raw veggies, whole nuts and seeds, meat on the bone, chewy dried or cured meats”
I have included some items below that might not be THE HARDEST FOOD ON THE PLANET, but are hard enough and/or fibrous enough, because BALANCE and VARIETY. I also don’t want to get stuck serving my kid and myself the same things all the time, and chewing is better than no chewing, you know? That’s actually why I recommend limiting smoothies (even the green ones). They are fun and a great way to get some fruits and veggies in, but ideally limiting them to a few times a week is ideal since they don’t help us with chewing our produce!
One other tip I have is to MIX IT UP. Whole apples some days, apple slices other days, change up the sizes especially once your kids are older and can safely handle this. Sometimes raw, sometimes blanched, sometimes steamed or lightly sauteed. Broccoli stems are plenty fibrous even when they are lightly steamed, you know? Mix it up and balance. That’s pretty much the key to everything in parenting, I think!
Here are my ideas and any favorite brands linked for some of the packaged items. I normally find the shortest lists for crunchy foods so I’m hoping this list has PLENTY of ideas on it and is close to the ULTIMATE crunchy food list for kids. Good luck!!
Meat:
meat on the bone (chicken, lamb)
steak/chicken strips where the meat needs to be bitten OFF from a larger piece that is held in the hand
crispy bacon
jerky (beef, turkey, pork, salmon….or even mushroom jerky exists these days!)
Fermented foods:
pickles (whole, spears)
sauerkraut (if you make your own you can cut the pieces bigger, chunkier for more crunch; ALSO we mix up the brands we use but always get the raw/probiotic/fermented kinds from the fridge section if you can for other bonus health benefits)
Any pickled crunchy veggie (carrots, radish, cauliflower, beets)
Crunchy, fibrous fruits:
whole strawberries (especially the firm ones!)
oranges, mandarins, clementines
apples
Crunchy, fibrous veggies
jicama (Trader Joes often has sticks pre cut)
radish (watermelon radish is milder and beautiful to look at!)
Broccoli
Broccolini
Carrots
Cabbage (red and green; you can make cabbage cups or cut thicker strips for more crunch)
cucumbers
green beans
romanesco
cauliflower
snap peas
peppers (strips of raw bell pepper, mini sweet peppers whole or cut in half “boats” filled with ground beef “pirate treasure”…whoa sorry I got carried away with my food play there.
Nuts & Seeds
Nuts (break or chop for safety until you and your doctor clear your child for whole nuts)
Seeds (Go Raw sprouted seeds are our favorite; they come in a cinnamon variety too!)
Nori (I try to get the kind with olive oil linked here if I can, but get any organic one if I cannot; we fold each small sheet over 3-4 times onto itself into a little “pillow” for a little extra crunch and chewing)
Chip-like snacks (again, we limit these & we do a lot of grain free in our house, but you can use whatever brand or kind you want)
Pita chips and seed/nut crackers (Simple Mills oh and Flackers are superrrrr crunchy and very few ingredients)
Grain free tortilla chips (I am personally obsessed with the cinnamon churro strips and also the restaurant style dipping chips)
Grain free taco shells
Plantain chips (With minimal ingredients, ideally. There are too many good brands to list them all here!)
Papad (a crispy, Indian flatbread thats made from black gram bean, chickpea, lentil etc. flour - it varies)
Grain free or flour tortilla crisped up in a pan by sitting in some fat (butter, ghee etc.)
Speaking of fat…
Kids NEED FAT! It supports brain growth, nutrient absorption, and more! That, and it makes things taste good. And keeps kids full longer.
Now, remember the rule of MIX IT UP and balance. I don’t serve broccoli with butter EVERY time. I change the fat or occasionally serve it without. Sometimes you can have them dip a veggie into the fat like with guacamole, hummus made with EVOO or a melted ghee & sea salt dip. Or fruit, the other day my 2 year old dipped apple slices into some basil, dill, avocado and EVOO “green sauce” we made….
SO here are a few ideas for adding fat:
nut butter, peanut butter (try to get brands with just the nuts no added oils or sugar)
coconut whip (you can purchase this from the frozen section OR make your own)
guacamole
ghee and sea salt
hummus (you can change the colors by adding things like peppers, beets, etc)
pesto
pork fat/lard
pair with cheese
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