Parents are always anxious about the baby's hand-eating behavior.
In fact, every few days, parents will leave a message asking: What should I do if the baby eats hands? Does your baby need to stop eating hands? Is it normal for the baby to be three years old and still eat hands... Problems like that.
Today we will talk about the things about children eating hands.
Almost every child experiences hand-eating behavior between the ages of 4 months and 1 and a half years, because when the child comes into the world, he is curious about everything in the outside world.
However, when the child is 0-4 months old, he perceives the world more through hearing, touch, and smell, and vision will first perceive the difference between light and darkness from 0-3 months, and then perceive the change of color at about four months.
But children need to have a clearer understanding of an object, so they must touch and play with their own hands.
However, the development of the 4-month-old baby's hand is still in the stage of clenching the fist, and when the child is crying or anxious, as long as the parent puts his hand into the baby's mouth, the baby can quickly quiet down and begin to suck his fist happily, as if he has discovered a new continent.
At this moment, the child is aware of the existence of the hand and perceives the difference in the external world with his mouth.
Then the mouth opponent began to explore continuously, from eating fists, slowly to eating fingers, and the child's hands were also awakened by the mouth little by little, from clenching fists to opening the five fingers to holding objects, and then to the pinching and pinching of fingers, the hand gradually became flexible.
And this process of hand development is inseparable from the inspiration of the mouth opponent.
Because 0-2 years old is the formation period of children's perceptual motor development, children must use their own operations and plays to achieve cognition and learning of the external world.
At the same time, this stage is also the child's teething period, and the itching pain of the gums can also be alleviated by biting the object.
Babies not only like to eat their hands, but also like to nibble on their own feet, but because it is too inconvenient to nibble on small feet, they will eat more hands.
This behavior is also due to the foraging reflex and sucking reflex in the innate reflex.
Babies are not only exploring the outside world with their mouths, but the process of sucking can also give them a sense of security, which is why children in crying will quickly settle down as long as they eat their hands.
In addition to eating hands, children will also have a rich exploration of toys. All kinds of toys should also be nibbled, quilts should also be licked, and clothes should also be bitten.
Because the act of biting also satisfies the child's different stimuli of perceiving smoothness and roughness, corners and lines with his mouth, which is also the result of the child's cognitive process.
Parents also use a variety of tricks in the face of their children's eating hands: the whole family mobilizes, stops them when they see eating hands, wraps tape around the baby, smears pepper water or gloves, and even smears garlic water.
What we need to do is: do not stop, do not worry, wash your hands frequently for the baby, clean and disinfect the toys frequently, and do not let the baby eat the particles with a diameter of less than 3cm to swallow, so as to ensure the safety of the baby.
The behavior of babies eating hands will gradually disappear by about one and a half years old, because the child's hands will gradually increase the exploration of life, and the attention will shift to exploring toys and games with their hands.
Many parents find that why are two- and three-year-olds still eating hands? In general, the reasons for continuing to eat hands are divided into the following categories
01, baby is too boring
When the child does not have the interaction of the family, there is no game to mobilize emotions and attention, it will feel bored, then it will think of the hand that brings him a lot of security, and then he will eat the hand as a way to comfort himself.
So in the face of this situation, parents let the baby's hand keep moving. Finger games, building blocks, and patching snowflakes can all make your baby's hands move tirelessly.
But parents for eating hands this matter do not criticize the child, do not strengthen the general reminder not to let the child eat hands, as long as the child is emotionally excited, the fingers work, naturally can not think of eating hands.
02, depressed mood, when crying to eat hands.
When the baby's toy is broken, or when he falls and hurts, his heart will be very fragile, and he will also eat his hands to appease himself.
At this time, parents do not need to be anxious and stop, but take the initiative to hug the baby, give him a sense of security, give the child encouragement, and after the child's heart gradually recovers to a state, naturally it will not eat.
03, eat your hands before going to bed, eat your hands to sleep
Baby before going to bed at night will also have a lack of security behavior, the child always needs to be accompanied by the closest and most trusted person to sleep at ease, if the child's inner love needs and the lack of security of relatives will also appear to eat hands to relax themselves and settle themselves down.
Therefore, what parents need to do is still to give the baby more love and comfort, such as hugging the baby more before going to bed, telling the baby about picture books, relaxing the baby's brain, touching the baby's whole body, and letting the baby fall asleep slowly in a happy mood.
When the child still has the behavior of eating hands, parents can choose to shake hands with the baby, or let the baby hold a small doll to sleep, and gradually transition to the behavior of eating hands.
If the transition is not good, the child's hand-eating behavior will become more frequent, and even some children have eaten their thumbs out of the cocoon, and the four or five years old have slowly become the habit of biting nails, and they still like to bite the pen cap after school, and even the biting behavior will occur.
At this time, parents should not only pay attention to the child's behavior of not eating hands, but think about the reasons behind the child's eating hands and the needs of the heart:
Is it because the child is not confident? Bored? Insecurity? Or has it become a habit of eating hands?
Here are three picture books for parents to recommend about babies eating hands, parents can read them for their babies.
"Little Mole Sucks Fingers", "Thumb, It's Delicious", "I Don't Eat Hands Anymore"
But no matter what the reason, parents' non-denial, non-criticism, and non-scolding are parenting guidelines that must be strictly observed.
With patient guidance, high-quality companionship, and increased outdoor activities, the child's attention is diverted, and the child's heart is more fulfilling and more confident, and the behavior of eating hands gradually disappears.
You can also let the baby find resonance in the story and slowly transition to the act of eating hands