Alicia Silverstone defends pre-chewing her baby’s food, says it’s ‘adorable’ when son eats directly from her mouth

Video shows Alicia Silverstone chewing food, then feeding it directly from her mouth to her son Bear's.

Alicia Silverstone is standing up to critics who don’t agree with her mouth-to-mouth method of feeding her 11-month-old son.

Since a video of her chewing food and then feeding it directly to her son Bear went viral, the actress has remained quiet, despite backlash she’s received over the controversial feeding technique.

“I wasn’t saying this was anything somebody should do,” the “Clueless” star said Saturday during an audience Q&A at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, according to the Daily Mail.

“I wasn’t trying to be independent or cause such a ruckus. I’m very glad that I did it.”

Silverstone was in New York to promote her upcoming film, “Vamps.”

In defense of the debatable feeding method, called premastication, Silverstone explained how it is used as a weaning process and that “people have been feeding their kids that way for thousands of years.”

“He attacks my mouth and I think it’s adorable,” she said. “He also knows how to use his hands and he also eats regular food, so when babies are weaning, he still breast-feeds. Some people think that’s disgusting, too, which is insane.”

Experts have mixed opinions on whether the actress’ quirky feeding method is actually good for her son. Some say children receive essential enzymes from pre-chewed food that help their immune systems and digestion, while others warn that the mouth-to-mouth method can spread disease.

Dr. William Schaffner, chairman of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn., takes the middle road, saying that “for conventional germs, this is not a big issue.”

“When we kiss our babies, the bugs that we all have resident in our mouths are likely to be transmitted to the babies,” Schaffner told ABCNews.com.