Many parents have found that their babies love to eat their hands, especially when they are angry, they put their hands in their mouths, and they also like to eat their hands while sitting. They only stop eating their hands when playing with toys, and then put them in their mouths to bite. Toys need to be disinfected and cleaned regularly, otherwise they will always give their babies too much food and not be clean. However, this habit of eating hands is not good for teeth. What's wrong with a 1-year-old baby who always eats their hands? Let's learn about it with the editor:
What's wrong with a 1-year-old baby always eating their hands
Firstly, parents should be happy about their child's love for eating their hands, as your baby has made new progress in intelligence. Because children need to go through two processes when eating their hands: one is to place their hands in front of their glasses and shake them, which provides visual stimulation for the child to start recognizing their hands. Secondly, through the command of the cerebral cortex, one learns to accurately place their hand in their mouth for inhalation.
This way, children can complete coordinated movements of their hands, glasses, and brain functions, and start using their hands as a tool, which is a developmental challenge for their intelligence.
How to help babies solve their bad habit of eating their hands
1. Satisfying a child's sucking needs is often a psychological need for them to eat their hands. Therefore, when breastfeeding a child, it is important to control the flow rate of the milk to meet their sucking requirements. If a one year old child likes to eat their hands, there is no need to worry anymore. They can fully experience the taste of their "chicken legs". Many children naturally give up this habit when they are older.
2. Don't let your child stay alone for a long time. After waking up, they may be very energetic and not in a hurry to cry, but at the same time, they may be bored, so they will naturally put their hands in their mouths and develop a habit of eating their hands.
So try not to let your child bear the burden alone. You can spend more time with your child in daily life, sing nursery rhymes, play games, etc., so that your child forgets to eat their hands during the game. At the same time, if you just discover that your child has a habit of eating their hands, be sure to take your hands away from their mouth as much as possible, but do not use verbal abuse. You can gently tell your baby where their hands are and how great they are when holding toys with their hands to encourage them.
Eating hands is not necessarily a bad habit for a 1-year-old baby, it's just that the baby uses their hands to feel the world. Eating hands proves that the baby is smart. It's normal for babies around one year old to eat hands. If your baby still eats hands at the age of three, you should be nervous, which may be caused by calcium deficiency. Therefore, when a 1-year-old baby eats hands, don't worry too much. Wash their hands more, play games with them, and shift their attention. The baby will eat less.
