Yes, But What Is It For….?

Sometimes I’m baffled as to the logic behind certain inventions designed to make babies’ lives easier – while these things may seem logical to a grown-up, present them to the baby for whom they were intended and it’s a very different story.

The other week, for example, I decided to experiment with giving Emily her water in a lidded cup instead of a bottle, since she has been quite happily drinking from her bottle without help (well, she has been putting it furiously, but hasn’t quite realised that you have to tilt it to actually get any liquid out, hence she spends ages sucking in air and looking rather confused).

Sure enough, she reached out for the cup, as she is doing for everything offered to her or within grabbing distance these days. She then proceeded to turn it upside down and push the bottom of it into her mouth, scattering water everywhere as it spilled out of the lid. At which point I decided she probably wasn’t ready for it just yet.

Today, meanwhile, I attempted to soothe a bout of teething discomfort with a special ‘teething biscuit’ that babies apparently chew on to relieve their aching gums. According to the instructions on the packet, you thread a piece of string through a hole in the top of the biscuit, attach it to baby’s clothing and then they happily gnaw away on it  – cue end of discomfort.

In reality, what actually happened was that I diligently followed the instructions then held it out to Emily – who then proceeded to stare at it, play with the string, wave the biscuit around in the air and eventually throw it on the floor (meaning of course it had to go in the bin rather than in her mouth). And it’s hardly surprising really. I mean, how was I supposed to explain to her what the biscuit was for?

Some things of course she is capable for figuring out for herself – toys are for playing with, food is for eating, Mummy and Daddy are for crawling all over and headbutting at inopportune moments. But naturally I’m now left wondering how you explain other mysterious objects to a baby. Maybe if they also came with instruction manuals it might make the whole process easier.