I have heard that some people do not allow a child to see his or her reflection in a mirror before they can speak (or say their name, possibly). Is there any traditional source for this practice?
Answer
In Be'er Moshe, R' Moshe Stern relates how it was the custom in his home not to allow children to see their reflection in the mirror before their teeth come in or before they begin to speak. In regard to several of these type of (bizarre) customs, he writes:
וכל אלו הג׳ מנהגים בכלל מנהג נשים זקינות שעליהם כתב הרשב״א שאל יזלזלו בדבריהן ובמנהגיהם כי בודאי יסודתם בהררי קודש גם אם נעלם הטעם ממנו
and these three customs are all among the custom of old women about whom the Rashba wrote that we should not belittle their words and customs because their basis is doubtless in mountains of holiness even if we do not see the reason
[However, a commenter on this article quotes R' Shmuel Kamenetzky as saying that the custom to tie a red string on a baby's carriage (one of the customs mentioned by the Be'er Moshe above) is nonsense and should not be worried about.]
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