It is common in many societies for mothers to pre-chew the baby's food.
It probably does not change any nutritional components of the food, but
it does add salivary enzymes which begin the digestion of the food.

If I may be allowed to speculate...  It is also fairly common in some
societies for the mothers not only to pre-chew the food, but also to
actually bring their lips to the baby's lips and then push the food into
the baby's mouth with their tongues.  I have always wondered about how
readily young babies kiss, even 6 or 7 month olds.  This might answer
the question of why we express love by kissing someone else on the
mouth.  Because, if you think of it, it is not completely obvious why we
should do that to express love.  In many cultures, food=love.  And maybe
we learned to kiss before we got so "sophisticated" and found such an
idea as pre-chewing repulsive.  It carries on in the French kiss.

I don't know if this is an original idea (I know, there is nothing new
under the sun), but it is something I have wondered about since I heard
of this feeding with the tongue.  Any thoughts Kathy D?

Jack Newman, MD, FRCPC