Babies licking foods?

[mill2304]

I know babies shouldn't start on solids until around 6 months but does anyone let their little ones lick foods and if so at what age?

TIA xo

DD1 had food first at 26 weeks and DD2 and 25 weeks and she couldn’t handle it and ended up with blood in poo. I personally won’t give a baby food before 26 weeks unless it was under the advice of a paediatrician or a paediatric dietitian and even then I would be questioning why they think it’s a good thing.

What purpose does licking food serve? Either let them eat it or don't.

No, I don’t really see the point tbh. Why not just wait til they’re ready?

@Chickenlickeninthepot it serves the purpose of introducing them to different tastes without them needing to digest anything other than milk

@PastaLaVistaBBY was just a question🙃

I'm on dc3 and have no idea how you would regulate "licking".

They'll be able to pick up food and (messily) feed themselves by 6m. What's the rush?

No. Babies don’t know how to lick and not eat/suck food

They will learn to try new foods when they are weaning

You’ll probably just end up with a frustrated baby who gets upset when you remove the food to stop them biting it. There’s no rush with these things just wait til they’re properly ready

Judging from DS1's reaction to food at 24 weeks, there is no way he'd have stopped at licking. The whole thing would have gone in his mouth pretty quickly. So I'd say licking is a bad idea, as you might get them eating it. Therefore you should wait until you are prepared to let them eat it, if that's what they want to do, before introducing food.

Clearly going against the grain here, my baby is 6.5 months and such a foodie. She’s been trying (and succeeding a lot) to lick/generally demolish everything we’ve eaten so by about 5 months we gave up and (as long as it was fruit or veg) let her have a lick/suck. Otherwise we had to eat in secret hiding from her 😂

[quote mill2304]@Chickenlickeninthepot it serves the purpose of introducing them to different tastes without them needing to digest anything other than milk[/quote]
But there is no benefit of doing this. Wean your baby when he/she is at the right age and showing signs that they are ready. You don’t need to let your baby lick foods before then.

No. There is no point at all, and can end in an upset tummy.

Judging by your previous posts your baby is no more than 3 months of age - 3 month old babies cannot "lick" - they literally have no idea how to do this. They don't need to taste anything other than milk - really odd thing to say tbh. At 6 months they're able to wean and taste whatever, at 3 months it can really upset them and it's totally unnecessary. 6 months for anything other than milk. Even a "lick".

@wildeverose my baby is almost 3 months, I’m not planning to give solid food to a baby that can’t even hold their own head, i was asking for age suggestions from those who have so if you havent theres no need for your comment.

Thanks @Sls668 for the helpful comment😊

You literally said throughout you want them to have a taste of other food without needing to digest it.

At about 5.5 months I started putting a tiny drop of food on my finger for them to lick/suck. Eg a drop of juice from a grape, so they could start to experience tastes.
I doubt it made any difference, but they were great eaters as soon as I started weaning.

Yeah not at 3 months though. Are we not allowed to consider plans for a few months time? I was looking for comments like Sls saying she introduced them at 5 months

@user1471604848 thanks so much😊

I don't really understand why you'd want to rush in starting them early with tastes. Weaning just felt like extra work (while still doing all the milk feeds) and I most definitely wouldn't want to start doing anything earlier than necessary and lengthening the whole process.

Enjoy the 'drinking only milk' phase while you're still in it.

I don't know how realistic the risk is, but what if they start being fussy about the taste of milk after you introduce them to food tastes?

I loved weaning and giving my dc all kinds of foods to try but getting them to lick stuff before that seems a bit pointless and won’t give any extra benefit.

Plan to start at 6 months, when they can actually eat. Letting them lick something before is just pointless