Text / Meng Mama
Graph / Network
All babies around the world have a common hobby: eating hands.
However, seeing the baby eating hands, many parents always can't help but stop it, because in the eyes of many people, eating hands indicates "bad" things...
Seeing a small-month-old baby eating hands, parents must be worried - is he hungry? Is it that mom doesn't have enough milk to eat? Slightly older babies eat hands, parents may immediately stop drinking - too dirty! Unhygienic!
In order to make the baby eat the "bad habits", parents can be said to have tried thousands of ways, such as coating the baby's fingers with bitter melon:
outcome:
？？？
Don't be anxious first, the baby eating hands is not a big problem, parents should have a peaceful attitude, do not be too anxious about this.
01
Why does your baby eat hands?
Babies suck their fingers repeatedly or involuntarily, which is medically called sucking fingers, which is what we call eating hands. Babies start eating before they are born. After birth, babies will gradually develop from unintentional eating to intentional eating, and even change from eating hands to biting
hand.
When babies are 0-2 years old, they like to explore the world with their mouths. Babies' hands, the clothes they wear, the toys around them, etc., they all love to lick and taste with their mouths, and to know things in this way.
Therefore, eating hands, feet, eating all kinds of things, this is a process that every baby has to go through, it is not a bad habit, and parents do not need to stop it.
Under normal circumstances, about one and a half years old, with the rapid development of the baby, the range of activity increases, and the baby's interest shifts, at this time it can be corrected by itself.
However, if the child eats the hand intently for a long time, the parent needs to guide the child to shift the attention from the finger to the brightly colored things such as toys and picture books. When the baby eats the hand, the parent can also give him a teething biscuit, or a teething stick to free the small hand.
We mean that the attitude of parents must not be too hasty, try not to bring anxiety to the baby, first analyze the reasons for sucking fingers, and then prescribe the right medicine to solve the problem quickly and effectively.
02
What are the benefits of eating hands for babies?
From the perspective of psychological development, there are some benefits to eating hands:
#1
Babies may be smarter
The development of a baby's brain requires a lot of sensory stimulation information input, so babies who are often touched and have their parents accompanying them may be smarter. Eating hands is a sensory stimulus that babies can accomplish on their own.
The smaller the baby, the more dependent on the mouth for sensory stimulation, so give them everything they like to nibble first.
#2
Exercise the sensorimotor system
The baby can take the initiative to put the finger in the mouth accurately, in fact, it relies on the coordination of the sensory system and the motor system, which is a happy progress for the newborn baby.
#3
Achieve self-soothing
Children who eat their hands can be used as a substitute for "being able to control themselves" when they are not soothed by their mother's nipples. Babies are able to find ways to satisfy themselves, which is also conducive to the development of children's sense of self.
#4
Primitive emotional coping
For the little baby, eating hands can eliminate the baby's uneasiness, irritability, nervousness, and has a calming effect. Sucking his fingers gives him comfort, and they can get some kind of pleasure from sucking their fingers, even if the mother is not around, he can not eat the nipples he can get comfort from it.
03
How to stop your baby from eating after the age of 2?
Let the baby stop eating hands, the method actually varies from person to person, often parents and children together to find a way. It is most effective to keep trying to come up with the methods that have been summarized.
Divert attention
Use toys, food, going out and other things to attract your baby's attention and make him unconsciously forget to eat his hands. If your baby is older, you can play games with him that require both hands to coordinate.
Use a pacifier
The pacifier cannot completely correct the habit of eating hands, but it is relatively clean and hygienic, and can avoid the damage caused by eating hands to the baby's fingers. If the child is completely uninterested in the pacifier, the grasping ability of the child before the age of one is still relatively weak, and can take physical means to assist in abstinence, such as sucking a finger, using a hygienic cotton cloth to make a finger sleeve, tied to the finger, not too tight or too loose, to the baby himself can not tear off and does not affect the finger blood circulation prevails.
If your baby is likely to suck multiple fingers, you can also wear a cotton glove, again without being too tight or loose. After wearing it for a while, the baby can't eat the real hand (parents also try to divert their attention), and the baby will slowly choose to give up. During this period, the baby is forgetful, as long as you insist on more than a week (depending on the situation, you can choose a longer time), the baby will soon forget the habit of eating hands. Parents should pay attention to the observation at any time to prevent rebound.
Exploit disgust
Anti-eating gloves, applying bitter items, etc., are all using disgust to make the baby resent eating hands. However, this is a last resort, although the habit of eating hands has been corrected, but the baby's emotions have not been relieved, and parents need to be more appeased.
If the baby only eats hands occasionally, do not forcibly intervene to stop, otherwise the baby's emotional needs will not be met, but will lengthen the time of the eating stage.
For the baby to eat hands, all parents have to do is be patient and respectful. Every baby has the right to express emotions, and eating hands is the embodiment of the baby's sense of security and satisfaction. Calm your mind, pay attention to the correct guidance of the mind, assist in the use of physical isolation and distraction and other methods, as long as you insist on a week or so, you will usually easily and smoothly quit the bad habit of eating hands.
-END-
Meng Mama
The post-90s "little fresh mother", love life, love to share, love Mencius and love Mencius and his father. Over the years, pen cultivation has accumulated nearly 850,000 fans, sharing the latest and most fashionable baby poses with mothers, the coolest and most interesting mother and baby content of science.
2022 / 01 / 26 Thursday
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