Alicia silverstone chewing food for baby

Alicia Silverstone taps long tradition of pre-chewing baby food

Alicia Silverstone taps long tradition of pre-chewing baby food - CSMonitor.com

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Dana Tynan / NBC

Actress Alicia Silverstone, shown here in a publicity photo for the 2003 NBC series 'Miss Match,' appeared in a video pre-chewing food for her 10-month-old son, Bear Blu.

Mary Schwalm/AP

Birds do it...so does Alicia Silverstone, whose video of herself pre-chewing her toddler's food is causing web buzz pro and con. The practice of premastication is ancient and still exists in many societies.

Alicia Silverstone: Birds do it, our ancestors did it. Pre-chewing baby food is a long human tradition not invented by Alicia Silverstone, whose video of her premasticating her toddler's food is grossing out people on the Internet.

By Stephanie Hanes Correspondent

March 28, 2012

The Internet community is buzzing about a video of “Clueless” star Alicia Silverstone pre-chewing food for her 10-month-old son, Bear Blu, and then feeding him out of her own mouth. Ms. Silverstone posted the video on her own site, The Kind Life, and writes about the baby bird-like feeding method for her son.

“I fed Bear the mochi and a tiny bit of veggies from the soup…from my mouth to his,” Silverstone wrote on the site. "It’s his favorite...and mine. He literally crawls across the room to attack my mouth if I’m eating. This video was taken about a month or 2 ago when he was a bit wobbly. Now he is grabbing my mouth to get the food!”

It didn’t take long for the scene to go viral, and not much longer after that for the grossed-out comments to start.

“Every time New Yorkers have seen this in mass media before, it has generally been a gross-out joke, played for laughs,” CBS New York wrote on its webpage.

“Mayim Bialik doesn't believe in diapers. January Jones takes capsules made of her baby's placenta. And now we have Alicia Silverstone chewing up food and spitting the food into baby Bear's mouth,” noted USA Today.

A few experts, however, have pointed out that pre-chewing food is actually a fairly common technique around the world – especially during the weaning process – and that until the modern days of commercial baby food and the Cuisinart, most mothers used the technique.

Indeed, premastication is considered a fairly nutritious way of feeding young children, many researchers say, providing iron, increased immunity and improved digestion for infants. In a 2010 issue of the journal Maternal & Child Nutrition, for instance, authors Gretel H. Pelto, Yuanyuan Zhang, and Jean-Pierre Habicht argue that premastication plays a crucial role in infant health, and that its relatively recent abandonment, particularly in poor societies, is a significant threat to infant nutrition.

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At the same time, other health workers believe premastication could transmit disease – and worry, in particular, about the HIV virus.

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Silverstone’s fans tend to agree with the pro-premastication crowd. A debate has started in the comment section of her site, which is dedicated to healthy living, but many are praising her feeding technique.

“This is one of the SWEETEST and most pratical things I have EVER SEEN!!!” writes one commenter who calls herself Lisa. :My Mama used to chew up my food when I was little too!!! Not only are the health benefits magnificent, but the BONDING!!! THAT IS THE BEST PART!!! Are babies are babies for such a short period of time...THANK YOU FOR SHARING THIS GIFT!!!”

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Alicia Silverstone chews food for her 11-month-old child, Bear Blu

Entertainment

Published April 6, 2016 8:47pm EDT

By Hollie McKay , | Fox News

Celebrities have a tendency to be a little on the quirky side, but is "Clueless" star Alicia Silverstone’s unique method of feeding her 11-month-old son Bear Blu clever or, well, clueless?

The actress and animal rights activist posted a video herself feeding her son breakfast on her popular health food website TheKindLife. com over the weekend.

The video shows the actress taking a spoonful of food, chewing it, and then passing it open-mouth to her little one.Which may not be such a great idea, say some medical and nutrition experts.

“There are those who think that a mom chewing a baby’s food provides helpful enzymes from her mouth but it doesn’t seem like a hygienic practice. Various viruses and bacteria, but especially herpes virus, may be passed from mother to baby,” Dr. Jennifer Landa, M.D Chief Medical Officer of BodyLogicMD told FOX411’s Pop Tarts column. “These microbes present a challenge that the infant’s immune system may not be ready for. So the practice is questionable for safety, and then, there’s a certain ick factor here that needs to be considered.”

Dallas-based family therapist Melody Brooke said the bigger question was whether it is appropriate, on a psychological level, for a toddler to be diving at their mom’s mouth for food. Mira Jacob, deputy editor of parenting site Babble. com, noted that while the concept itself isn’t all that unique, it does come across as – odd.

“A lot of moms chew a portion of their baby’s food; it’s often a very natural transition. But this just looks really funny, like Alicia is making out with her son,” Jacob mused. “There is nothing terribly wrong with it, it just looks really weird.”

Even JJ Virgin, Certified Nutrition Specialist and star of TLC’s “Freaky Eaters,” was a little freaked out.

“Sounds like she is taking eating like a bird to the extreme. While this could help predigest some of it as we start carbohydrate digestion in the mouth it could also pass along any bad oral bacteria she has too,” Virgin said. “I think a food processor and a spoon are a better bet!”

On the flipside, Heather Lounsbury, founder of LiveNaturalLiveWell.com said the Silverstone’s baby would have already been exposed to anything mom might have through being carried inside her and through her breast milk.

“I'm sure Alicia is brushing her teeth regularly as to not expose her baby to bacteria in her mouth. It is dangerous to try and live in a completely sterile environment, because it's impossible,” Lounsbury said. “And it doesn't allow for the body to fight minor infections so it can fight more serious illnesses it may be exposed to.”The interesting feeding approach has generated mostly positive reactions from Silverstone’s blog followers.

“I had never thought of this before but it's the cutest way of feeding yourbaby! I have a 7 month old and I think I will try this method...she is always trying to lick my mouth anyways might as well give her a reward,” commented one fan, while another wrote that it was “so sweet.”

Jackie Keller, executive chef of Los Angeles healthy food company NutriFitstill thinks such behavior would be better suited in the wild.“I've never seen anything like this – except in the animal world where birds and some other species pre-chew their offspring's food,” she added. “I wonder what benefit there could possibly be to the child and the mom? Certainly there is no scientific literature that I'm aware of that promotes this type of behavior among humans. ”

A rep for Silverstone did not respond to a request for comment.

Alicia Silverstone feeds her son like a bird

Alicia Silverstone, who we expect to see in the film "Games of the Gods", received an immediate reaction to her recently published method of feeding a child. The 35-year-old actress recently shared how she feeds Sharon Stone's pet son, Bear Blue, on health food website TheKindLife.com. She accompanied her post with a video in which she personally chews food before sending it to her 10-month-old baby from mouth to mouth. "I feed Bear mochi and small pieces of vegetables from the soup... out of my mouth. It's his favorite... and mine. It literally crawls across the room and attacks my mouth if I eat," writes the former movie star "Clueless" and "Blast from the Past" in his post. She also elaborates: "This video was made about a month or two ago when he was a little clumsy. Now he's grabbing my mouth to get food!" Most of her fans reacted positively to the post. "I've never thought about this before but this is the cutest way to feed my baby! Mine is 7 months old and I think I'll try this method," wrote one. Another said: "I think this approach to feeding is incredible. Alicia, you are amazing. Raise your boy how you see fit and don't think what others will say. I applaud you!" However, some did not share these sentiments. "I don't think this is a healthy way to feed a child. Children should learn to eat with a spoon. We are not birds, we are people." Another fan commented: "What happens when he grows up a little and sees someone eating? It will be quite embarrassing if Bear comes up to them and tries to eat what they are already chewing." Nutritionist JJ Virgine weighed the information carefully as well and told Fox News, "It looks like she's going to the extreme of trying to feed him like a bird." The Freaky Eaters star added, "While this could help start the digestion process in her mouth, it's also a way of passing on the bacteria she has in her mouth. I think it's better to put it on a food processor and a spoon!"

ylsyls

06:26, March 29, 2012

Comments (41)

Bimbaa

Hmm. I thought she was a sensible woman. There is one more last hope: maybe she joked that she feeds her son like that and everyone was seduced?

stirlitz

way, to be sure, unusual... but about bacteria - what nonsense, but how do people kiss? on the contrary, they say that the mutual exchange of bacteria is good for immunity

Solny6ko

I think it's strange. Doesn’t it really occur to her that she, a fairly adult aunt, has a hundred times more bacteria in her mouth than what Lyali has? I agree with one comment that it would be strange if he approaches one of the chewers and tries to take food from them I hope it's a duck

Alicia Silverstone feeds her son like a bird - Psychology

Children

The actress gives the child food in a very extravagant way: first she chews the food herself, and then spits into her son's mouth.

Moreover, the baby's diet consists of dishes of Japanese cuisine.

The actress gives the child food in a very extravagant way: first she chews the food herself, and then she spits into her son's mouth. Moreover, the baby’s diet consists of Japanese dishes.

5 April 2012 21:48

Alicia Silverstone decided to share with the world the joys of motherhood and the extravagant way of feeding her son Bear Blue. However, instead of sighs of tenderness, her video posted on the Internet caused viewers to experience nausea. And it's not even that she feeds a 10-month-old baby with Japanese dishes like miso soup, grated radish and rice cakes wrapped in nori seaweed, but how she does it. And Alicia does it like a bird, and in the literal sense of the word: she first chews the food, and then spits into her son's mouth.

At the same time, Silverstone assures that Bear is delighted with such feeding and does not let her pass when she eats, demanding to immediately share the food with him. The only dish that the boy is unlikely to ever try in such a form chewed by his mother is meat: the actress is a well-known vegetarian. Subscribe to our channel in Telegram0013

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