Letting baby taste grown up foods...

[Jocelyn.]

My son always seems very interested in what my boyfriend and I are eating/drinking. Sometimes I let him taste things. Like I'll put it up to his mouth and he'll lick it. Its never enough to swallow. No whole pieces of anything end up in his mouth. If its juice or something I'll put some on my finger and let him taste that way. My boyfriend and I tend to eat pretty healthy too, so its never anything fattening or processed.

My thinking is that he's interested so I should let him explore new tastes and textures. Plus, he's eating rice cereal and some vegetables already so his tummy is getting used to food other than formula. In the back of my mind I'm kind of worried about letting him do this. Does anyone know if this could be harmful or not?

[Through-Glass]

Hey there,

Exposing a young infant to too many different kinds of foods can be harmful. It's best to let them warm up to food slowly. However, I doubt that little tastes of things can do any harm. Personally, I wouldn't worry about it.

If you're still concerned, call your pediatrician and ask. It can never hurt to check with a health professional, yeah?

Take care.

[MegaMadness]

A little bit wouldn't cause harm I don't think. But too much could cause problems. If your really concerned do as Jessi suggested with asking your pediatrician. It dosen't hurt to ask.

[Justin Bieber]

Eh, just a taste here and there is good for him! Exposure to new things is stimulating and awesome. As long as it's not tons of new things all the time, and too much of it, he'll be fine. I'd stick away from giving him tastes of meat though and of course seafood/shellfish.

[hopefaithlove]

Be aware of allergies and things that wouldn't do well in a developing digestive system.

[iHEAVENn]

Actually it can be somewhat harmful.
Around 6 months is when you can start giving them baby foods... but doctors warn to try one kind of food every few days. (like peas for 4-5 days. then carrots for 4-5 days) They suggest this to make sure the child doesn't have an allergic reaction to anything he may eat.

If you want to continue to give him little bits, write down what you're giving him and take it to your next doc appointment so they can discuss it with you.

[J&M's Mommy]

I really do not see anything wrong with little tidbits and tastes of things every now and then honestly. Just not too much.

[LucyLouWho]

I've let my son taste a lot of things. And by taste, I mean just a tiny little bit, not even enough to make a baby spoonful. I don't see any harm.

[TheBabyEater]

Now I know it's totally weird for ME of all people to be posting here but...

Just the other day in psychology, we were talking about the development of our senses, including tastes. I learned that giving 'grown up' food to a young baby can mess up it's taste bud development. It's not so much how healthy or unhealthy it is, it's more like the taste of it. Now, it mostly depends on how old your child is and how well developed he is already. Like, giving him peanut butter could develop some peanut allergies. Plus, I learned that it is important to introduce vegetables to them before fruits, simply because fruits have all that sweetness in them and such.

But, I am in psychology one and certainly no baby expert. In fact, we only talked about this for maybe... 30 minutes? So, don't take it from me I'd talk to your doctor if you're worried about it.

[faithhopelove]

When I was a baby and I started wanting the food my mom had, if she was having spaghetti that night she would rip a bun in half and dip one end into the spaghetti sauce and give it to me to taste. I couldn't really eat the bun but I guess I licked off the sauce... kept me entertained as well... :P

[Algernon]

It's good to let children taste lots of foods. That's a good thing for him because children become picky eaters after infancy. =) Looks like he wants to try things.