baby putting hands in other people's mouths

[octobermoon]

i think it's gross. i wouldn't let someone's baby put their hands in my mouth. it is unsanitary. human mouths have a lot of germs. i guess people don't think about it but it really bothers me. i don't want my baby picking up some illness i don't say anything because i don't want to seem neurotic and i don't want to hurt their feelings. i guess i just hope my baby won't get sick. what do you all think? do people you know do this with your baby? would you say something if they did? am i just being paranoid?

[neverdoingitagain]

Wait, what? Do you mean, people are putting the baby's hands in their mouth or that the baby is trying to stick its hands in other peoples mouth?
If people are sticking the baby's hands in their mouth, then tell them to stop. Explain how you feel and remove baby when necessary.
If its other way around, I can't really help you. My children try to stick their hands in my mouth sometimes and the only thing I can do is put them down or run away

[firewoman]

Most people I know wouldn't want to let a baby put his/her hands in their mouth. I let my OWN baby put her hands in my mouth which she often likes to do while nursing but I haven't ever seen her and I don't remember my other children attempting to put their hands in anyone else's mouth. I think it is cute that your baby wants to. It seems like it is your baby's way of getting to know someone. Is everyone the baby does this to allowing him/her to put hands in their mouths? If you don't like it and want to say something I would just make it sound like the baby might have germs on her hands to deter the person from allowing it. Say something like, "EWWW, I wouldn't let her do that because she was just crawling around on the floor", or say she was touching something that wouldn't be sanitary for them to be putting in their mouths. That way they won't be offended that you think their mouth is gross because you are making it seem like your baby is the gross one! The end result is the same!

[beckyand3littlemonsters]

I'd probably say over protective rather than paranoid, i think providing the persons whose mouth your lo is trying to shove her hand in doesn't have something contagious then i'm sure your lo would be fine.
Babies hands can be pretty grubby sometimes especially when they get to the stage of grabbing as soon as the nappy comes off maybe this would be a good way of stopping people letting your lo put their hands into their mouth.

[kitteh]

Ela loves to try to shove her hands in people's mouths--she starts off resting her hands on your cheeks and then starts grabbing on to lips. I think it's cute but it can HURT. She mostly does it to me and daddy, but I've seen her go for other peoples' lips too, though I've never seen her actually get her hands in. She also loves to grab people's hands and shove them into her own mouth. Babies sure are gross

I figure it's harmless, as long as no one involved is sick. From the beginning of time babies have been putting everything they can get their hands on in their mouths, and probably shoving their hands into some grubby places before hand. I try to keep it to a minimum, but I figure she'll be fine even if I can't stop her every time.

[CookAMH]

My 13mo DS really likes feeling men's beards or goatees at church, which I usually allow. He's never been sick (that doesn't mean he couldn't get sick). I figure, there are worse things to protect him from and he enjoys it, and it's not anywhere excessive.

[lifeguard]

Personally doesn't bother me.

[JordanKX]

I wouldn't really worry about it. Yeah, seems odd that others would be okay with that - but are we really talking about strangers? Grandparents around here are OK with all the face pulling, but that's about the only that DS would go that far with.

I don't like the grandparents sticking THEIR hands into DS's mouth! Yes he's teething and grabs their hands and wants to suck on them, but Yuck! Go wash your hands first, please!! :-)