It wouldn’t be unheard of to hear me screaming in a panic ‘Possum, stop! Don’t eat that dead fly!”. The truth is that to anyone over the age of about 5 years old understands the sheer thought of eating a dead fly wouldn’t be highly appealing. Mainly because we already know much (or enough) about dead flies and why they are on the ‘do not eat’ list. For babies they are still creating that list and discovering much about the world we live in. Now obviously I’m not for babies eating dead flies or anything remotely unsafe, but I am for them exploring and using their mouths to learn.
Here is a gorgeous baby having a sensory good time and mouthing on a toy.
Kate x
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Hai Kate,
I really love your blog and been following it. I have just stumbled upon this part of your blog – “mouthing in children”. My daughter loves and enjoy getting pretty much everything into her mouth. She would inspect the object turning it around & soon it would end up in her mouth.
I normally let her be but at times I am worried & I would pull it away from her (concerned on any germs that may get into her tummy). Is that ok? or should I just let her continue?
Hello lovely Shazwani.
How kind you are to contact me and be a regular follower. How old is your daughter? It’s such a natural thing for little ones to put things in their mouth. It’s how they learn. I don’t think it’s a problem, as long as the item is safe (nothing sharp or too small it could be swallowed). There is certainly a safe level of germs that the human body can handle, it can help build immunity, and so I think use your descretion. I wouldn’t allow Possum to put a shoe in her mouth as I feel that would have lots of bad germs, however, a child’s toy that has been on the floor wouldn’t bother me. Let me know how you get on Shazwani. 🙂