Hors d’oeuvres (Horses Doovers)

There is a theory that it’s good for babies to eat food with a range of flavours and textures… and also that its good for them to eat ‘finger food’ right from the start. Maybe this is to prepare them for a life-time of gallery openings and functions. Really it’s based on their development, particularly on tongue action and their instinctive ability to feed. They know how to find a boob and suck as soon as they’re born, and they know how to eat solids, when the time is right… Current guidelines recommended by the World Health Organisation are that your baby should be exclusively breastfed for the first 6 months (or formula fed, if you have to). By around the 6 month mark a baby will have lost the tongue-thrust reflex that makes them automatically appear to spit out food. We waited til Milla was 5 months – she had well and truly lost the tongue-thrust, and was soooo eager to eat our food. Plus, she was sitting up un-aided, was super active, and was wanting way too many boob feeds in the night.  Anyways – if you have waited til the right time, there is no need to feed your baby exclusively mush, and their swallowing / food processing ability is such that it’s recommended (ie. by the Australian Breastfeeding Association) that you give your baby a go at finger foods. As long as its not a hard chunk of food like an apple, it should be OK.  Doesn’t even matter if they don’t have teeth - they know how to chew with their gums. The theory goes that if your baby puts the food in her mouth by herself, she will instinctively know how to mouth bits off, move it around her mouth, and then swallow it. 

Chewing food themselves is good for their jaw development, which in turn helps with speech. There is also apparently a “window of opportunity” when it comes to getting your kids to eat everything. If you miss this, and keep feeding only puree, you could end up with a 5 year old who won’t eat anything hard.

So. We tried this with Milla, with a piece of steamed broccoli as an hors d’oevres before her main course of mashed pumpkin. She loved it!!  I have to admit I read up on ‘Choking’ in my baby manual, and was poised to do the Heimlich Manoeuvre if I had to.  But Milla handled it like a pro. It was her first taste of broccoli. She started by sucking the flowery bits “look mum, no hands”, and then got in to it… exploring, mashing, eating, rubbing, wiping on feet…. I finished up by shaking her off outside.