# Letting 3 month old licking foods?



## rachyh1990

ive heard of people letting there 3 month olds try foods not eating the, but licking them is this safe??? im not judging of anything i just want to know as maddie keeps watchin me eat stuff and wondered if this would hurt her? x

sorry if this makes me sound stupid as i say ive heard of people doing this??


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## rachyh1990

may i add i wouldnt be allowing her to try or lick them for another 2-3 weeks anyway x


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## QTPie

Not sure what harm it would do, but I doubt it would stop at licking before long...).

The guidelines are to never give any food before 17 weeks. The paediatrician that I saw said "6 months, but not before 5 months (and then only if he is a very hungry baby - he is exclusively breastfed)".

Alex has been showing interest in food (watching us eat and drink and licking his lips etc) for maybe 8 or 9 weeks. It is really tempting to fed him, but we will wait. Some people wean babies early for medical reasons, but overwise it us really not recommended...

QT


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## Claire788

Lukes had a lick of strawberry and banana! Loved it! cant be any worse than the crap thats in calpol! (not that he drinks it lol but after jabs etc etc)


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## aob1013

I'm sure it would do her no harm at all! x


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## special_kala

I dont think it would do any harm but dont really see the point in it


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## lucilou

I wouldn't personally. If you do want to, I would make sure it was only the kind of things you would be weaning on anyway, eg fruit, veg.... I would stay away from anything with added salt, sugar or anything strongly flavoured. If you start with really tasty stuff, you might have problems getting them to ever eat plain old carrots!


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## blondeNklutzi

My family is very big on letting babies taste things. I don't have a problem with it really. We won't be weaning him early, but we all licked whatever anyone else at the table was eating and we all eat our veggies, and none of us have food allergies of any sort. 

Having said that, we won't be allowing Mika to have licks of many things because he has milk and soy allergies and milk and soy are hidden in EVERYTHING. Things like a carrot or tomato or banana or whatever I don't mind.


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## imace

I can't see it doing all that much harm. Like it was posted above, calpol has a load of crap in it, so I can't see a lick of a banana etc being any worse...

But I'm not too sure why you would want to if you're not weaning?


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## pheobe

No judgement from me I started weaning extremely early for my own reasons...although there is no doubt on my mind licking will be taken over by eating in no time  so give it some thought before you decide hun

xxxx


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## Racheltn

Nothing wrong with that..just know that licking will lead to eating..It's not going to harm baby..I had a friend who started her baby on cereal at 3 months 2 wks..and started him on fruits and veggies at 4 months


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## redpoppy

If you have allergies in the family or eczema/asthma/IBS I've been told it's best to avoid it before 6 months.

If not then go for it I say. I have allergies and my mum made LO lick a pear or an apple last month to my chagrin but she seems fine. :shrug:

Also, in terms of "interest" isn't LO interested in pretty much everything you do? Doesn't necessarily mean she's ready to try it. :shrug:


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## blondeNklutzi

In our case we probably won't have Mika eating much because he does have eczema/allergies/and possibly developing asthma. He does get rice cereal in his bottle at night to make it heavier and stay down b/c of reflux.


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## ktm

the rules change almost every year, when i was growing up the age to start weaning was 3 months then when i had my daugther it was 4 months she grew up (now 7) with no problems i started her on veg mash fruit etc (soft foods) she loves veg now and fruit and would choose carrots and bananas for every single meal she has.
now the rules have changed to 6 months. im not suggesting anyone disregards advice from their midwife/health visitor but i personally will wean this baby when he is ready i.e not full enough from breast milk if that happens to be 4 or 5 months then so be it.


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