-1
$\begingroup$

I have a question that I am very curious to: how do we know we have to use the mouth for eating and drinking? Because we have multiple openings where, if we didn't know better, could put food and drinks in. So there must be someone who started with eating via the mouth and started to teach their children.

I spent many hours on the internet, but did not find any answer.

Improve this question
$\endgroup$
4
  • $\begingroup$ It's an instinct, there's no teaching involved. You're better off asking about the biology of this instinct. $\endgroup$
    – vkehayas
    Oct 14, 2017 at 19:14
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ The people who fed themselves through their other orifices died out, leaving only that minority who used that crying orifice. As they survived, it was taught to subsequent generations. Now it seems everybody does it that way. $\endgroup$
    – anongoodnurse
    Oct 14, 2017 at 23:56
  • $\begingroup$ Excuse me, I heard that this kind of logic is prevalent in the knowledge of sects and cities where artwork and nudity is banned. People become very confused... I also would not breathe with my head if no one told me. I would breathe with my armpits or something. You don't have to... If you put a some small foods in the other way round, and you stay upside down, you can regurgitate it and it will still be digested backwards through your digestive tract... try it at home one day. so you don't have to use your mouth if you dont want to. the world is an illusion anyway. why listen to reason? $\endgroup$
    – bandybabboon
    Oct 18, 2017 at 16:34
  • $\begingroup$ Food doesn't taste good when you put it in your ear. It does when you put it in your mouth. So every baby who experiments with stuffing food into places, will quickly find that it's much nicer when put in the mouth. Not really much to it. $\endgroup$
    – terdon
    Jul 9, 2018 at 15:41

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
4
$\begingroup$

Quite frankly we don't, eating is instinctual, only later as we grow up do we learn why we do it. It is reinforced with learning later but that is a minor effect. Eating is one of the most basic of animal instincts.

The association "hungry > eating > not hungry" this could reinforce the behavior, but the instinct is present first. infants will learn eating stops hunger long before their brains have have even developed the capacity for abstract thought, and they will latch and feed long before that.

No human "figured out" or "started" eating, eating existed before brains existed. And every single organism between that first feeding organsm and you and me ate. Eating was hardwired into the genome long before parental care existed.

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
2
$\begingroup$

There are several reflexes that are hard-wired and present in newborns. The root reflex and suck reflex are two of them, among others. An infant doesn't have to know how to feed, it will automatically do that.

Once it is feeding through the mouth, the growing baby will have no reason to change its habit when starting on solid foods. Besides, its parents will start to spoon feed the baby by presenting food to the mouth. The parents will do the best they can to comfort the baby when its crying because of hunger. Stuffing the food in the wrong place won't aid that purpose.

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .