When i first had my daughter one o the things i was excited about was being able to buy rusks without people looking at me like i'm insane! They taste so good...
They are suitable from 4-6 months onwards.
At first the rusk must be softened with milk or water and mashed up and fed with a spoon like a cereal. My daughter especially liked hers with mashed banana mixed in too.
As your baby gets older rusks make a great finger food. They somehow manage to both melt in your mouth and stay crunchy enough to encourage chewing. They are large, which ensures your baby cannot put the entire biscuit into their mouth and choke. Also, since the biscuit is almost as big as my baby's head, she looks VERY cute eating one.
The 'melt in the mouth' effect can also cause a LOT of mess however. My daughter likes to suck the edge, then turn the biscuit around a bit and suck the next bit of edge until the whole thing is soft and gloopy, her hands are covered in brown mush and her clothes look like she lives in a gutter. Then she drops it on the floor and sits on it (every time...i have NO idea why) leaving a big round rusk-print on her bottom.
I always keep a box of rusks in my cupboard. They are available in several flavours including original and banana and there is also a sugar-free version which taste just the same as the ones that do have sugar in. My daughter enjoys having a rusk as a treat. We also usually carry a small packet of farleys bears (rusks shaped as bears available in packs of 5) when we are out as they are smaller and therefore less messy than the original biscuits. Also, if we have run out of breakfast cereal she always welcomes a mashed up rusk with some lumps of fruit added!
The best thing about rusks however is their nutritional value. Now that my daughter is 9 months old it is difficult to make her sit down and have a bottle. I was getting worried that she wasnt getting enough iron. One rusk contains a fifth (20%) of your childs daily iron requirement as well as at least 15%of the Vitamin D, Thiamon, Riboflavin, Niacin and Calcium requirement.
I would recommend rusks to any other parent...for both themselves and their babies (they really are delicious) But i would also recommend buying your baby an enormous, plastic wipe cleanbib that covers every part of them before letting them feed one to themselves!
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