Child Care #2: Why babies stick things in their mouths.
You just fed the baby, baby is very full and just took a nap. Baby is happy and exploring its gigantic world. Suddenly, baby becomes very quiet. Has baby discovered something? Or is baby choking to death? Or maybe something absolutely horrific is happening. So you check on baby.
Aw, there is baby, sitting behind the couch chewing on one of the many things lying around. You couldn't clean your house because you were dead tired. So, what is baby discovering today? It's sounds kind of crunchy.
"What have you got there?" you ask baby, but then you realize the thing in baby's mouth is kind of big. Baby will choke! So you ram your fingers into baby's mouth and you pull out a great, big roach! Scream like you never screamed before! With all the yellow guts slimed on your fingers, the spindly legs still wiggling, the long antennae twitching in their death throes. Bits of tiny roach eggs slide from the busted guts. Your whole life flashes before your eyes! You rush baby to the sink and wash out its mouth--would that you could put soap in it, but you can't! YOU CAN'T! AAAAAGGGHH!!!!
So, whatever possessed baby to do such a heinous thing? Well, baby has only one really developed sense in its whole body: taste. So when it sees something it doesn't know, baby sticks it in its mouth to explore the unknown thing. Baby's are cunning. They catch things no one else can catch: mice, roaches, spiders, flies--and they check it out.
Baby doesn't need to discover a lot of things yet, so always be alert and keep everything as clean and out of reach of baby as possible.
Aw, there is baby, sitting behind the couch chewing on one of the many things lying around. You couldn't clean your house because you were dead tired. So, what is baby discovering today? It's sounds kind of crunchy.
"What have you got there?" you ask baby, but then you realize the thing in baby's mouth is kind of big. Baby will choke! So you ram your fingers into baby's mouth and you pull out a great, big roach! Scream like you never screamed before! With all the yellow guts slimed on your fingers, the spindly legs still wiggling, the long antennae twitching in their death throes. Bits of tiny roach eggs slide from the busted guts. Your whole life flashes before your eyes! You rush baby to the sink and wash out its mouth--would that you could put soap in it, but you can't! YOU CAN'T! AAAAAGGGHH!!!!
So, whatever possessed baby to do such a heinous thing? Well, baby has only one really developed sense in its whole body: taste. So when it sees something it doesn't know, baby sticks it in its mouth to explore the unknown thing. Baby's are cunning. They catch things no one else can catch: mice, roaches, spiders, flies--and they check it out.
Baby doesn't need to discover a lot of things yet, so always be alert and keep everything as clean and out of reach of baby as possible.
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