Babies chew on nothing because their brain and jaw are practicing a skill they’ll need soon: eating solid food. This “empty chewing” is a normal part of oral motor development that typically appears in the first six months of life, often well before any teeth arrive. It can also be a way your baby explores sensations, soothes themselves, or responds to something interesting in their environment.
Oral Motor Practice Starts Early
Chewing is a complex movement that requires coordinated control of the jaw, tongue, and lips. That coordination doesn’t appear overnight. It develops in parallel with your baby’s head and trunk control, which is why you’ll often notice empty chewing ramp up around the same time your baby starts holding their head steady and sitting with support.
In the second half of the first year, these practice chewing movements become more deliberate as your baby’s body prepares to handle foods beyond purees. But the groundwork starts earlier. Babies as young as three or four months will open and close their jaw rhythmically, move their tongue around, and make chewing motions with nothing in their mouth. Think of it as a rehearsal. Your baby is building the muscle memory and neural pathways needed for real chewing later on.
Sensory Exploration and Self-Soothing
Mouthing and chewing are among the primary ways babies learn about the world. Before they can reach out and grab things reliably, their mouth is their most sensitive tool for gathering sensory information. The chewing motion itself provides strong proprioceptive input, meaning it gives the brain feedback about where the jaw is in space and how much pressure it’s applying. That input is inherently calming.
This is why you might notice your baby chewing on nothing more often when they’re tired, overstimulated, or fussy. The rhythmic jaw movement works as a self-regulation tool, similar to how some adults chew gum when stressed. Your baby isn’t doing this consciously, but the sensory feedback loop is real and well-documented. Chewing provides powerful calming input that helps babies manage their emotional state.
Teething May Be a Factor
Even before you can see or feel a tooth, pressure may be building beneath your baby’s gums. Teeth can begin shifting into position months before they break through, and the resulting discomfort often drives babies to chew, gnaw, or rub their gums together. If you notice the chewing paired with drooling, fussiness, or your baby constantly bringing hands to their mouth, teething pressure is a likely contributor.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends rubbing your baby’s gums with a clean finger or offering a firm rubber teething ring to chew on. A few things to keep in mind: avoid liquid-filled teethers, don’t freeze teething rings (too-hard surfaces can actually hurt swollen gums), and always supervise your baby while they’re using one. The FDA specifically warns against numbing gels and teething tablets, which carry real safety risks for infants.
Copying What They See
Babies are wired to watch faces, and yours especially. Research on infant imitation shows that even newborns respond to adult facial movements, particularly mouth movements like tongue protrusion. By a few months old, your baby is closely studying how you move your mouth when you talk, eat, and chew. The empty chewing you’re seeing may simply be your baby’s attempt to mirror what they’ve watched you do at mealtimes.
Interestingly, research suggests these early mouth movements aren’t pure imitation in the way adults think of it. They appear to be a form of oral exploration, your baby’s way of “reaching” toward interesting things with their mouth before their hands are coordinated enough to do the job. Once babies develop reliable manual reaching (usually around four to five months), some of these oral responses naturally taper off as the hands take over as the primary exploration tool.
When the Movements Look Different
Normal empty chewing is rhythmic, happens when your baby is awake and alert, and stops and starts naturally. Your baby looks comfortable and engaged during it. There are a few patterns that look different and warrant attention.
Infantile spasms are a type of seizure that can sometimes be mistaken for odd repetitive movements. They look distinct from chewing: sudden body stiffening, back arching, arms or legs jerking forward, eyes rolling upward, or repeated head nodding. These movements tend to happen in clusters, with each spasm lasting one to two seconds and repeating every five to ten seconds. They most often occur just after waking up. If you’re seeing movements that fit this pattern, especially if your baby seems to be losing skills they previously had (like babbling or reaching), that combination needs prompt medical evaluation.
Rhythmic jaw clenching that happens during sleep, movements your baby cannot be distracted out of, or chewing paired with staring episodes and unresponsiveness also look different from the relaxed, voluntary chewing that’s part of normal development. The key distinction is that normal chewing happens during alert, interactive moments, and your baby can be easily redirected from it.
What You Can Do
For most babies, empty chewing doesn’t need to be “fixed.” It’s doing something useful, whether that’s building jaw strength, processing sensory input, or soothing sore gums. A few practical things help:
- Offer safe chewing options. Firm rubber teething rings, clean silicone toys, or a cold (not frozen) washcloth give your baby something to work with when the urge strikes.
- Watch for teething signs. If chewing ramps up alongside drooling, ear pulling, or irritability, gentle gum massage with a clean finger often provides relief.
- Let it happen. Resisting or redirecting normal chewing isn’t necessary. Your baby is developing a skill they’ll use for the rest of their life.
The chewing typically becomes less noticeable once your baby starts eating solid foods and has real things to practice on. For most families, it’s one of those odd baby behaviors that makes perfect sense once you understand what’s driving it.