Why Babies Should Chew On Hard Foods Even Before Teeth Arrive
What Happens When a Baby Chews?
Chewing is not just how food gets broken down — it is exercise for the jaw. When your baby uses their gums against something firm, the jaw muscles contract and work against resistance. This kind of loading is thought to help guide how the jawbone grows. A 2024 study found that the forces produced by the main chewing muscles grow dramatically between birth and age 4, becoming almost three times stronger (Liang et al., 2024). Researchers are still working out exactly how these forces shape the growing jaw, but it is clear the jaw gets much more work as babies move on to solid food. A different study measured jaw muscle activity, and found that firmer food textures consistently produced greater muscle engagement than soft ones, even in very young children (Simione et al., 2018). Therefore, your baby's jaw can benefit from resistive chewing before teeth arrive.
→ New to the concept? We explain what hard munchables are and why they matter in our previous post on: What Hard Munchables Actually Are.
Why Gums Are More Capable Than They Look
Baby gums are commonly thought of as soft and fragile. Whilst they are softer than adult gums, they are actually firm, padded ridges of tissue. Breastfed babies apply strong forces with their gums from their very first days of life — the same jaw musculature that will later develop into chewing. Studies have found that by 12 months of age, basic chewing coordination patterns are already well established in children (Green et al., 1997). The Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne also confirms that babies can develop the organised mouth, jaw, tongue, and lip movements needed for eating — and manage progressively firmer textures — before teeth emerge, using gum pressure alone (RCH Melbourne, 2023).
Why Starting Chewing Before Teeth Makes Sense
From around 5 to 6 months, most babies enter one of the most active phases of jaw growth. The bones are developing rapidly, the muscles are forming their first organised movement patterns, and the brain connections that control chewing are being established. Science suggests that these periods, especially in the first year, are where new textures are most readily and naturally accepted (Harris & Mason, 2017). A large UK study of almost 8,000 children found that those who didn't meet lumpier textures until 10 months or later had more feeding difficulties at age 7 (Coulthard et al., 2009). So starting early can help capture a window that is already open.
What 'Firm Enough' Looks Like for Babies
Not every firm object qualifies. For hard munchables or resistive foods, the right level is firm enough to require sustained jaw effort, but safe to use and explore — meaning it softens gradually with saliva rather than snapping into hard pieces that could be swallowed.
Bickiepegs teething biscuits are designed to meet this. They provide resistance at first contact and soften eventually near end of use. NHS speech and language therapists at University Hospitals Sussex also suggest “hard munchables” such as a large raw carrot or celery stick, about the size of a fat marker pen, held by your baby under close supervision and taken away before any pieces can be bitten off (UH Sussex NHS, 2024). These are for gnawing, not eating: general NHS weaning advice is to avoid raw carrot as a food because of the choking risk. The principle is the same: firm contact that makes the jaw work, in a form that is safe.
→ For a full guide to finding the right product, see our other post on How to Choose a Hard Munchable.
How Bickiepegs Can Help
Bickiepegs were designed to bridge exactly this gap — a firm, safe, grippable biscuit that gives a pre-teeth baby's jaw something genuine to work against. No added sugar, no added salt, no artificial flavourings or preservatives. Offering one after a feed from around 6 months is a simple, low-effort way to give your baby's jaw the challenge it is already ready for — even before that first tooth appears.
→ Ready to get started? Our step-by-step introduction guide is here: How to Introduce Hard Munchables When Your Baby Has No Teeth Yet.
