eating his hands

Category: Parent Talk

Post 1 by The Bad Influence (kicking ass and dying trying) on Monday, 23-Feb-2009 5:28:16

my son is tething so of course his new favorite chew toy would be his hands, problem is he gets to in to it and ends up with his fingers in the back of his throte gagging his self. after he gags his self he looks over at me like I did it and starts crying. lol. does any one elce have this problem? i've tried putting his hands in hand mits but it doesn't stop him, the little one is determined.

Post 2 by Blondie McConfusion (Blah Blah Blah) on Monday, 23-Feb-2009 11:13:52

have you tried giving him teething toys instead? savannah has taken to sucking her thumb which i don't want her doing and i just have to continue removing her hand from her mouth. you could try this and replace it with a teether. it will take many many times before you can stop him, but well that's normal. just keep taking his hand out over and over again.
hope this helps.

Post 3 by Nicky (And I aprove this message.) on Monday, 23-Feb-2009 12:38:55

I have heard the same as one above says. I also have heard of putting a flavor that the child doesn't like on there fingers or hands a couple of times. It doesn't have to be spicey or hot. It could be some food that the child doesn't like or something like ognons or vinagor. and then maybe putting a good flaver on the chew toy. So that the kid thinks hands = bad flavor, and chew toy = good flavor. Then talking to the kid all happy like when it is doing right. PS As I know I sound, I do not have any kids so what I just ranted off about doesn't really sound all that impressive. I like the lady before me answer better then mine.

Post 4 by SunshineAndRain (I'm happily married, a mom of two and a fulltime college student.) on Monday, 23-Feb-2009 16:09:55

My son did the same thing. He was quite fond of his hands. They eventually learn cause and effect, and therefore, they learn that "When I put my finger too far back, I choke. Maybe I shouldn't do that again." It takes them awhile, but they teach themselves. The more you try to stop babies from doing things that are natural to them, thumb-sucking, hand-chewing etc; the more they'll do it. They get over it believe it or not. If you want, you can substitute the behavior with something they can chew on but I never found it to be helpful. My son always tossed hi teething ring away and went back to the hands. They're always available, soft and soothing. Bottom lince: just let him chew them. They do learn eventually about not putting them back so far.

Post 5 by bozmagic (The rottie's your best friend if you want him/her to be, lol.) on Monday, 23-Feb-2009 18:08:03

Stop It, the foul-tasting stuff usually used for people who can't keep their fingernails out of mouth's reach like myself, lol, might do the trick. Comes in a bottle same as nail varnish with a little plastic wand to paint the stuff on the nails, or, you can get a plastic pot with a sponge soaked in this liquid which means you submerge the fingers, but that's the whole point of it.

Jen.

Post 6 by shea (number one pulse checking chicky) on Monday, 23-Feb-2009 22:00:43

oy, the stop it stuff on baby's hands would be evil. in my opinion anyway. it's natural for baby's to put everything in there mouths, fingers, toes, shoes, toys. it's a stage they go through. There discovering new things. that stop it stuff is ment more for older kids that need to grow out of sucking there thumb , or people that chew nails. not babies. Am i the only one that thinks this would be evil? hehehe

Post 7 by Blondie McConfusion (Blah Blah Blah) on Monday, 23-Feb-2009 22:10:20

no shan you definitely aren't the only one. hell that's freaking child abuse in my opinion. it's just wrong. a baby doesn't know better like an adult who chews there nails do. oy, blah mona please don't use that stuff or anything else to give a nasty taste. it's just wrong.

Post 8 by SunshineAndRain (I'm happily married, a mom of two and a fulltime college student.) on Monday, 23-Feb-2009 22:20:17

I wouldn't call it Child Abuse. That's taking it a bit too far. But if you didn't know better, it's definitely not something I would slapthe Child Abuse label onto. I agree that putting something like that on a baby isn't the wisest idea. Things that are meant for older kids and adults are at a strength that babies couldn't and shouldn't tolerate. Just ignore the behavior and it will pass on its own. If he's putting dangerous objects in his mouth, qen you should definitely intervene. Remember that anything toxic or hazardous shouldn't go in a baby's mouth, nor should anything that can fit through a toilet paper roll. Anything that's small enough to fit through a toilet paper roll is a no-no.

Post 9 by The Bad Influence (kicking ass and dying trying) on Tuesday, 24-Feb-2009 6:13:16

i will not! put any thing on my sons hands. that's not an option. that's for older children, as some one or many someone's said above. i guess i am just going to have to let him grow out of it, because he doesn't like teathers, he's still learning alot of his kognitive skills, because he's still a little bit behind, you know, preemie, so he can't really hold a toy and put it in his mouth at the same time. he can hold it, or put it in his mouth, but not put it in his mouth wile holding it if you get the picture.

I've done research on it and well, there's just really not many options at this point.

Post 10 by bozmagic (The rottie's your best friend if you want him/her to be, lol.) on Tuesday, 24-Feb-2009 12:07:21

OK, maybe Stop It is a somewhat evil substance to paint on the hands of babes, lol, but I'm still biting my nails 25 years later. Ya know why? 'cause nobody told me it wasn't socially acceptable, not to mention looks horrible and also feels horrible. Its a bloody hard habbit to break and I believe it does orriginate from thumb sucking and its also genettic since my mum also did it for years and years which also means your children grow up with short stubby deformed fingers and thumbs as a result of eating hands or thumbsucking. Try putting scratch mits on the baby's hands so he gets a mouthful of cotton glove should he try to eat his hands again. I know those're generally used for newborns to stop them marking their faces with their erratic limb movements as they have no control over what goes where in the first 6 weeks or so after birth, but the scratch mits could also be the sollution for the older baby to quit eating his hands.

Jen.

Post 11 by Reyami (I've broken five thousand! any more awards going?) on Tuesday, 24-Feb-2009 12:15:12

I wouldn't say nail-biting's genetic. Mum's tried getting me to stop biting my nails since childhood, and it's not working ...

Post 12 by shea (number one pulse checking chicky) on Tuesday, 24-Feb-2009 14:06:34

he's a baby. he's going to chew on his hands. Jen, your acting like this is unusual. you chewing your nails,is totaly different than a baby chewing hishands. it's natural they do it. they just grow out of it. you can't glove or put nasty crap on a baby's hands every time they put it in there mouth. the poor kid would never be free of any of it. lol baby's tend to put everything in there mouth. think about it, you give a baby a toy, where does it go. straight to the mouth. you hold babies hand, where do they try to put it, straight in there mouth. it's natural. what are you going to do spray there toys and cover them with gloves too? come on now. when there up and walking you going to spray everything down so they don't touch it? or cover it with something they don't like to touch? wow, shakes head.

Post 13 by SEPTEMBER-TWILIGHT (CAN I TALK? PLEASE?) on Tuesday, 24-Feb-2009 15:50:53

lol, agree with Shea. I've baby sat little kids before and they put everything in their mouths. It really scared me at first because I was afraid they were going to choke on it or something. But I learned they just have to do it, nothing you can change about that fact, lol. Live and learn.

Post 14 by Blondie McConfusion (Blah Blah Blah) on Tuesday, 24-Feb-2009 17:24:47

i sure and the hell hope some people never have kids...

Post 15 by shea (number one pulse checking chicky) on Tuesday, 24-Feb-2009 17:29:07

i know right peepy. and i sucked my thumb. i don't chew my nails. actually the opposite, i have really long nails. and don't have deformed thumbs as you said it causes. nor do i know anyone that sucked there thumb and has deformed hands from it. lol
so yeah, that's out the window.

Post 16 by bozmagic (The rottie's your best friend if you want him/her to be, lol.) on Wednesday, 25-Feb-2009 7:46:56

All right, all right. If you want your kids to go around with horrible short stubby bitten nails till they're 25 or over. That's your decision, your lookout. I started chewing/biting my nails oo, long before I had conscious memory, probably sometime when I was a baby. Naturally, nobody corrected this, but unfortunately, with me and a lot of other people who sucked their hands as babies, it turned from sucking to biting then to nail biting. My cousin used to suck her thumbs when she grew out of eating her hands and our Grandparents were always on about how she'd end up with stubby fingers if she kept doing it, so was her aunt, my mum, lol. As for mine and Kris's kids, well, I'll be proffering the teether or passifier/dummy as an alternative to eating the hands. After all, that's what the two above-mentioned items were made for, plus that awful time between 5 and 18 months when the 1st milk teeth come through.

Jen.

Post 17 by Reyami (I've broken five thousand! any more awards going?) on Thursday, 26-Feb-2009 16:07:44

One of the instructors cae to visit us during guide dog training on her day off, and she brought her then-six-month-old son with her. I was holding him in my lap and allowed him to hang on to my index finger and start gnawing on it. Mind you, he didn't have teeth, so it didn't hurt. lol
Yup, he'll stop putting his hands in his mouth at some point.

Post 18 by MDN1988 (the Zone BBS remains forever my home page) on Saturday, 28-Feb-2009 3:53:26

I have a 13-month-old and she has always been putting her hands in her mouth ever since she was born pretty much. I tried the pacifier, but she has never liked them. She likes teething rings sometimes, but prefers her hands more. When I tried to stop her she gets really upset and I haven't been able to keep her from doing it. People tell me that it will cause her teeth to be crooked, but it is something that she won't stop doing. I will probably stop her when she gets a little older and can really understand what she is doing, but for now she is still pretty young.
Also, I sucked my thumb until I was six years old, and I never bite my nails.

Misty

Post 19 by The Bad Influence (kicking ass and dying trying) on Tuesday, 03-Mar-2009 5:32:57

noah's ECI worker told us that it's fine for him to naw or suck on his fingers, just as long as it's not hus thumbs.

thank goodness he's not a thumb sucker. he was in the NICU, but after he came home we broke that habbit quicly, it's just him teathing and the gagging that we're having issues with.

Post 20 by Gilman Gal (A billy Gilman fan forever and always!!) on Monday, 23-Mar-2009 7:15:54

I never suck my thumbs, yes, I do bite my nails, but that's only when I get nurvous. my thumbs are not deformed or anything. I'm like the rest of them, just let the stage pass, it will sooner or later.

Post 21 by Geek Woman (Owner and Founder of Waldorf PC) on Monday, 22-Jun-2009 17:38:07

Just let him do it. Natural consequences are the best teachers. I'm a big fan of little parental intervention as possible and a lot of natural and logical consequences, so long as they are not dangerous. If you want more information as to how it works, send me a PM.