Perhaps humans are too far "evolved" to pay attention to how
babies/children learn, but it is very obvious to anyone who has ever
observed other mammal young learn what to eat.

They watch what MOM eats!  Case in point:  When our family was in the
"having kittens" STAGE (not me, the mother cat!), it was fascinating to see
how the mother cat introduced solids to the babies.  My job was to put a
small plate down on the floor with soft food.  Then mama cat (who normally
limited her intake to dry cat food (kibble) OR raw egg when I gave it to
her when pregnant for the extra protein--she was one among many cats I have
raised who could not TOLERATE cow milk; gave her horrible diarrhea) would
daintily taste the food and then step back.  The kittens would be wandering
around near her during her taste-testing.  After watching her eat, they
would stumble and bumble their way (usually at 5 weeks of age) over to the
bowl and stick their noses in the soft food.  They would then REAR their
heads back and lick the food off their noses.  Hmm.  A taste!  Not bad! and
then they would approach the bowl again.  After several episodes of getting
on noses and licking same off, they got the idea of how to get the food
directly into mouth without the detour to the nose first.  When learning to
lap water, they did the same thing: inevitably they put their faces into
the water too deeply and ended up sneezing the water out of their nostrils!
Eventually they learned not to approach too deeply; after all a water dish
isn't nearly as cuddly as the body-warmth of mother when she was suckling
her babes.

Once again, imitation was what introduced the kits to what mother defined
(by her actions) as food!  Why must we assume that human infants are less
smart than other mammal young?  When babies are at the table with parents
and sibs, they will gradually explore what the rest of the family is
demonstrating to be good food!  no need for the sloppy messes that come in
jars (I never could figure out what was attractive about baby peas; the
smell always gagged me)....  off soapbox..... need air

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"We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly
disguised as impossible situations."
Kathleen G. Auerbach,PhD, IBCLC (Ferndale, WA USA) [log in to unmask]
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