Did you know that babies have more #tastebuds than adults?
Did you know that while we have 10,000 taste buds, our own little fellows have around 30,000?
Did you know that babies have a heightened #sense of taste?
Now THAT explains WHY they are so keen to put everything in their mouth first, so eager to explore how the new object tastes! And while a new parent may be constantly on a look out while the baby is outdoors, or playing on the floor, it is important to understand the WHY behind this action:
Sensory: Babies learn through sensory exploration and a mouth, along with the tongue is a fantastic sensory organ.
Curiosity: Need we say more? Learn about the object, the texture, the taste, the shape via just putting it into the mouth and rolling it around.
Teething: One important factor could be teething and to self pacify the discomfort, the baby is trying in her own way.
Natural: Babies are born with the natural ability to suck. Feeding gives them a comfort and it is quite possible they are replicating the act by popping their ‘find’ into their mouth.
Hand-eye coordination: We may not give it too much credit, but natural instinct of a little one is to learn on its own. What better way than to test their hand-mouth-eye motor coordination?
A key factor to remember is that while it's normal for babies to explore their surroundings by putting things in their mouths, it's important to ensure their safety by keeping small, sharp or potentially harmful items out of their reach. What gets them excited are colours, things that they see their parents working with, like buttons, pencils, vegetables, medicines, jewelry, coins, keys…you know the daily humdrum.
On a lighter note, parents of a 2 year old wrote in to us. Their little naughty fellow picked up a dead bee and promptly put it in his mouth. The mum, aghast, ran and wriggled it out of his mouth and asked him why would he do such a thing? Well the response was ‘mama I wanted to taste the honey!’ ☺
Warm hugs new parents! Join the tasting club.
Anjali Sharma, founder CB, July 2023.