why cant you give young babies a taste of food?

Question

I have a 2 month old. and once in a while i will let it try my food. not like hard food or anything. I will let him try like gravy and stuff of that sort. I wont do it very often. but once in a while i will wash my hands dip my finger in the gravy and put it in his mouth. he loves it soo much. everytime i do it he gets this huge smile on his face. Someone told me i shouldnt do that. but why? Also i am not giving him spoonfuls or anything. just a little finger dip!

Answer 1

There has been a long history of when to feed a child and when not to feed. My mother would feed us at that age, bowls of cereal. However, now they say babies don't need food until their are 6 months. The formula or breast milk gives them the nutrition they need. Not sure either. The only thing I could think of would be allergies to the food. Or choking, which that can't happen on gravy unless it is full of chunks. I would, I'm a mother of 3, and give my baby a taste. What harm would that do. But there is controversy over this, why? I don't know for sure. Every thing changes from generation to generation. Can't drink coffee, bad for you, however 2 cups is okay. Never know what they'll come up with next.

Answer 2

There are a few good reasons to wait on giving him adult food, one is allergies. Introducing food too early drastically increases the risk of a child's body developing a reaction to foods (eggs, wheat, peanuts, chocolate, strawberries are all more common) For that reason alone I waited until the recommended 6 month age- can you imagine you child becoming allergic to any of these things and having to avoid them for their entire life? It would be awful. Another reason is that their bodies cannot properly digest certain things yet- primarily proteins in cows milk, eggs and meat. So you could hurt his digestion. The last reason is that many seemingly innocent foods are very dangerous, for instance honey. Babies under 1 year can get botulism (sp?) from honey- amazing but true and life threatening. Since you never know for sure what ingredients may be in a food, you should be very careful and consult your pediatrician about what is safe for tasting.

Answer 3

My advice is to be careful. At 2 months an infants body is still developing and exposure to too much table food can create food allergies. just wait til he turns about 6-7 months then you won't have too worry about giving him a taste, because at that age...an infant can go from sitting idle to putting there hands in a bowl of ice cream in 5 seconds. Enjoy your little bundle.

Answer 4

Oh people has said for years that feeding a baby at a early age was unhealthy for them.said they will be fat,have alot of allergies and have upset stomachs.All of mine was having small taste of food at 2 months and eating mashed potatoes with gravy and toco bell cheese and beans and baby food and baby cereal at 3 months.They did fine.None is over weight and according to their pediatricians they are healthy.In Russia it is consider child neglect if a young baby is not eating table food.Their kids do just fine too.I know alot on here wont agree with me but I have 6 healthy boys to prove it.A well fed baby is a happy baby.

Answer 5

well a small amount might not hurt but some foods might upset their stomachs and make they sick. the reason people say not to food the adult food is because the can't digest stuff as well as adults. But if u think about it what did babys eat before baby food came out i'm sure that not every one breast feed their babys. But i won't feed the baby and thing big or hard and tough just mashed foods that are good for peole not like junk food.

Answer 6

they say cause a baby has such a fragile stomach and plus gravy has a lot of salt in it they say 4 months plus is when to wean but i dont blame you its exciting giving them a little try of real food one of my friends her baby was born 4 weeks early and she fed her solids from six weeks so in effect if her daughter was born at 40 weeks she would be on solids at 2 weeks old i know its obsurd but it happened but she is a lovely healthy girl now so not all bad and our parents fed us on solids from 3 months i think its a mothers instinct but you are supposed to used baby rice and things first! but hope goes well good luck xxx

Answer 7

I would definetley give him tastes of food a lot so he can get use to it. As long as it's soft and he can't choke on it go for it. I didn't let my son eat any kind of food except for baby cereal at four months and baby food and it was so hard whenever he got older to get him to eat regular food. So on my second baby I gave her tastes of food all of the time and she eats great!

Answer 8

Their stomachs are very sensitive and cannot tolerate spices and grease yet, so please don't do that.

Also, you don't know if the child is allergic to anything yet and feeding them table food early increases your chance at making them allergic to foods. The problem with table foods is they consist of more than one ingredient and you can't reliably pin down what ingredient would cause a reaction if they had one.

That is why when you introduce them to solids at around 4 months, you start with simple foods that don't have any additives. Once you get through veggies, fruits and meats, then you can gradually start adding other foods, but please save the meats and grease until later.

Answer 9

I do it all the time...my little girl is 2 months also and she loves to "taste" mommy and daddys food! There is nothing wrong with a little tongue full of yummies everyonce in a while...don't worry :)

Answer 10

Sounds great to me. But, I would check with a pediatrician if you have any doubts..Sounds like you got a good bond with the kid and this would only reinforce it. What a good way to establish a community, by sharing a meal, even if only a finger full.