Many parents will reflect such questions, “My baby likes to eat hands too much, simply to the realm of forgetfulness, “My baby is nine months old still likes to eat hands, need to stop?” “How many months is it normal for babies to eat their hands? How many months still eating hands need to see a doctor?” …… So many questions about baby hand eating. Today we are going to talk to moms and dads about baby hand eating. Why do babies love eating hands so much? 1, the mouth and hands are tools for exploring the world The way babies initially explore the world is their mouths, and their hands are their first toys, so babies love to put all kinds of things into their mouths, including their own little hands. Just as obsessed with a certain toy as obsessed with sucking on their own little hands, even if the outflow of lah, that people just like it. However, babies like new and old very quickly, if you let nature take its course and do not force intervention, after a period of time will naturally disappear. 2, nipple association Have you ever carefully observed, in fact, the baby’s fingers loose meat, joints wrinkled, finger tips are very rounded, the size is very much like the mother’s nipple? If the baby does not have the mother’s nipple attachment, or request to contain milk and was rejected by the mother, it will be the second choice of their own fingertips. After all, the fingertips are your own and you can suck on them if you want to, we’re not asking for it! Besides, the texture and size of the sucking up is similar. 3, the oral period 0 ~ 1 year old is the oral period, the baby will be sucking, swallowing, chewing from the joy and sense of security. If these desires can not be satisfied or too satisfied, it will produce the phenomenon of fixation, the formation of self-centered, overly dependent, pessimism, withdrawal, suspicion and other personality traits. If the desires of this period are satisfied, they can pass through this stage smoothly; if not, stagnation occurs, so some children will still eat their hands when they grow up. Here to remind the majority of parents, the scientific knowledge to tell the elders to see the child, do not let them reprimand or forcibly stop the child to eat their hands, we must know, if the child has been in the pre-school age to eat their hands, it is likely that the child’s oral period is not adequately meet the prolongation of the, then it will be too late to regret. 4, teething In the early stages of teething, the baby’s teething bed will itch, pain, difficult to be quiet, the baby will put their fists or fingers into their mouths, vigorously gnawing or sucking, so that the teething bed can make the analgesic, so that they are a little more comfortable. If this happens at five or six months of age, accompanied by increased drooling and small red dots near the mouth (drool rash), be even more wary. It won’t be long before the tip of the baby’s teeth will be “small lotus just show the tip of the corner”! Don’t let the baby eat hands The four major benefits can not get! 1, the earliest knowledge of the world and self-confidence because the baby is through the mouth to explore the world. If parents start to block the baby eating hands in three months, the baby’s psychological development will be very much affected, and it is easy to become self-confident, suspicious and timid after growing up. 2, happy and stable emotions For the little baby, eating hands can eliminate the baby’s uneasiness, irritability, nervousness, and has a calming effect. Sucking fingers can give him a sense of comfort, they can get some kind of pleasure from sucking fingers, even if the mother is not around, can not eat the nipple he can also get comfort from it. 3, the more you eat the hand later the smarter Baby in eating hands, can strengthen the sense of touch, smell and taste stimulation, to promote the development of nerve function, which is a signal of the baby’s intellectual development. 4, exercise hand-eye coordination The process of eating fingers can exercise the baby’s hand flexibility and hand-eye coordination. Differentiate between the baby’s various ages to eat the performance of the hand 3 months of infants eat hand is very natural 2, 3 months of infants do not know that the hand is their own, in the chance to notice their own hands, will put their hands into their mouths, eat sweet satisfaction, this is the child’s exploratory behavior, do not need to stop. Guidance: 2 and 3 months children learn to use their hands. The hands of small infants often clenched fists, when encountering objects sometimes open, you can let him touch the different textures of the objects, learning to hold for a while. If you hang some toys in the place where the baby’s vision hand can reach. He waves his little hand to touch the toy by chance, and learns hand-eye coordination in this repeated contact with toys intentionally. 4-6 months of infants eating hands is the development of perception 4, 5 months, infants can hand-eye coordination to grasp toys, not only to eat hands, will also grasp the toys and any other objects into the mouth, parents do not have to be nervous, do not have to stop, the mouth to explore conducive to the baby’s development of the ability to perceive. Guide: 4-6 months children exercise with the hands. 5 months can be placed at different distances, in the child after efforts can reach the place, let the baby with their own efforts to reach the toy, do not passively put the toy in the hands of infants. 6 months exercise the child to pass the toy from one hand to the other hand. When sitting, the baby already holds an object in one hand, give another object to the same hand and see if it will pass the original object to the other hand. if not, teach the baby and it will be learned after a few times. 7-12 month old babies eat their hands to relieve teething pain After 6 months, most children are teething. When teething, babies feel uncomfortable, and children soothe themselves by biting their own fingers, fists, or other objects. It’s just like when we adults have sore legs, rubbing the muscles can relieve the pain, it’s the same thing. You can give your child dental chews to achieve a gentle massage of the gums. Baby need to do a good job of protection when eating hands 1, to pay attention to the baby’s hand hygiene; 2, parents should be diligent for the baby to wash their hands, to keep the baby’s small hands clean. Need to remind the mothers is the baby around the lips to pay attention to keep clean and dry to avoid the occurrence of saliva rash; 3, for the baby to provide safe and hygienic items and toys; 4, often check the toys, do not have easy to fall out of things, so as to avoid the baby accidentally swallowed caused by the danger. It is best to use non-toxic lead-free toy products and often cleaned and sterilized. Although there are so many benefits of eating hands, but if the baby has developed the habit of sucking fingers at any time, then, it is likely to cause these hidden dangers: 1, the damage to the fingers and teeth The baby’s small hands soaked in saliva for a long time, by the teeth of the oppression, over time is prone to finger molting, swelling, infection, deformation and other problems; in the period of teething, if the baby sucked long time small hands, and may also affect the teeth, the teeth, for example, because of the direction of force when sucking the fingers. For example, because of sucking fingers when the direction of force, may make the teeth to the incorrect direction of growth, which affects the alignment of the teeth, bite, thus triggering oral problems; and teeth alignment is not neat, will let the baby speech leakage or biting words, affecting the development of language skills. 2, health and psychological problems The baby’s little hands will often touch everywhere, often stick to the dirty things, and when eating hands, these bacteria are brought into the mouth to eat into the stomach, increasing the risk of infectious gastroenteritis and other diseases. Baby hand eating may also affect its healthy development at the psychological level, for example, leading to negative emotions such as nervousness, anxiety, low self-esteem and depression. Children over the age of 1 need to be guided to eat their hands Babies after the age of 1 eat their hands mainly to seek a sense of security. A relaxed and cozy family atmosphere will increase the child’s sense of security, and parents should avoid overly blaming and criticizing the child. If the child is preoccupied with hand eating for a long time, parents need to guide the child and shift the attention from fingers to toys, picture books and other brightly colored things. When your baby eats his hands, you can give him teething cookies, or teething sticks, to free your little hands. Babies need to be satisfied during the mouthing period, so as not to cause psychological imbalance and insecurity when they grow up. Of course, finger sucking should not be allowed to become a permanent habit. When correcting or helping babies to quit the habit of finger sucking, we should find the right way step by step, and should not cause psychological pressure on babies because of too much tension. The most important thing is that the attitude of parents should not be too hasty, try not to bring anxiety to the baby, first analyze the reasons for finger-sucking, and then the right medicine, in order to solve the problem quickly and effectively. Mom’s tip: to treat the problem of hand eating, parents must have an understanding of the pros and cons of it, so that we can do a comprehensive weighing, hold the degree, not only does not impede the child to use this way of perceiving the world, but also help the child to avoid thus suffering undeserved health damage.