Chewy Qs

Chewy Q’s – Beyond the Pacifier


Why Chewy Q’s?

Chewy Q’s promote healthy mouth development.

  • Develop biting skills safely and naturally
  • Promote proper alignment of the upper and lower jaw
  • Transition babies off the pacifier
  • Stimulate lateral tongue exploration
  • Support development of the masseter jaw muscle

 

Specifically Chewy Qs support:

Mature tongue movement by providing tactile stimulation (stem-like protrusion of the Q) for side to side and extended tongue exploration. This is especially true at 6 months (and beyond) when the baby’s tongue naturally matures beyond vertical movement and develops motion on a horizontal plane of movement inside the mouth.

Up and down jaw motion needed for biting and chewing skills. Using the stem-like protrusion as an object of oral interest, a 6 or 7 month old baby will naturally position the stem on the side of the jaw to bite on it. This biting helps to mature and strengthen the masseter muscle which is in charge of constantly closing the jaw for biting, chewing and talking.

Healthy upper and lower dentition by eliminating risk of open bite (open space between upper & lower dentition that prevents normal occlusion) in anterior dentition due to rigorous pacifier use or thumbsucking.

Healthy hard palate formation by preventing malformations to the palate due to aggressive
pacifier use (impingement of the pacifier bulb into the palate).

Chewy Q’s encourage early mouthing experiences that support the transition from tongue exploration to lateral jaw action, facilitating the development of the masseter muscle needed for speech biting and chewing skills.

Chewy Q’s encourage early mouthing experiences that support the transition from midline tongue exploration to lateral jaw movement. This transition facilitates the maturity of the masseter muscle needed for speech development, and biting and
chewing skills.


Chewy-Q-Poster

 


Knobby Qs

  • Encourages up/down jaw motion – Practice needed for developing biting and chewing skills, and important for later speech production.
  • Encourages side to side tongue movement – Skill needed to move food side to side in chewing
  • Allows proper and natural growth of the hard palate – Does not indent baby’s malleable palate.
  • Encourages variation in sound production – The mouth is open and available for sound exploration.
  • Allows an open mouth for breathing – Helpful when a child has a cold and the nose is stuffed up.
  • Encourages tiny hands to grasp Chewy Q and place in mouth – Supports hand to mouth coordination and self- regulation of biting by baby.
  • Promotes proper alignment of the upper and lower dentition as teeth erupt.

Pacifiers

  • Does not allow up/down jaw motion to practice biting skill – In fact, if baby opens her mouth it will fall out!
  • Does not permit tongue movement – The tongue must stay positioned in midline to hold it in place.
  • Can potentially indent baby’s hard palate especially with strong sucking, permanently changing its shape.
  • Baby’s sounds are limited – a pacifier does not allow mouth opening and closing, a skill needed for sound play.
  • Pacifier use keeps baby’s tongue and jaw predominantly closed and unavailable for oral breathing.
  • Typically cannot be grasped by a young infant and placed in the mouth when sucking is desired.
  • Can inhibit proper dental growth and promote across bite as teeth erupt.

 

© Copyright Chewy Tubes - 2012