AAAAH! Stop! Licking! Everything!

[blizzard_babe]

OK, so maybe we've had it easy with DS (2.5 y/o) when it comes to oral issues. He was never one to eat random objects, never sucked his thumb or a pacifier. Chewed on his hands a little back when he was first teething, then gave it up when all his teeth were in.

Until the last week or so.

Suddenly, he's obsessed with his tongue. He's licking random objects and just CONSTANTLY has his fingers in his mouth, playing with his tongue. It is, for lack of a better word, completely disgusting. He has no oral health issues that I can discern (He's more than verbal enough to tell us if he's in pain or discomfort).

I don't want to make it a "hill to die on," but it's driving me absolutely bonkers. I've started inventing arbitrary rules, which I hate: "Yes, I will read you your trucks and diggers book. But no hands in your mouth while we read." "I'm enjoying snuggling you, but I don't want to snuggle someone's who's licking my arm. If you keep licking me, I will move to the other chair." I realize that I'm 40 weeks pregnant and probably making this a much bigger deal than it is, but EW.

Please tell me he'll get past this .

[nukuspot]

DD has one hand in her mouth holding her tongue EVERY SINGLE time I bring her to the park or she's around lots of other toddlers. I think it's a nervous habit and it sort of drives me crazy because I feel like all the other parents look at her like "why is she doing that?" Plus she only then has one free hand to use to get up the stairs, go down the slide, etc, and she falls alot because of that. But I guess it's comforting to her so I don't try to stop it. She never does it when we are alone in the house!?

[St. Margaret]

Oh my, DD has become so like this. She's 3.5 and definitely went through a phase of sticking her fingers in her mouth, but lately it's been that she must rub everything against her lips and philtrum to experience it, I guess, and she has started putting things in her mouth and she was LICKING me and all these toys yesterday!!! This was the 9mo who could have crayons freely because she just didn't mouth stuff! I'm hoping it's some new-baby-is-coming regression that passes very soon after we settle in with baby...

[swd12422]

Mine just started this, too. I don't allow him to lick me, b/c I think it's gross. I also have just instituted a "nothing in your mouth except food" rule b/c it's getting out of hand. He licks mirrors. He licks the dog. His little friend sucks his fingers, so he does it too. His other little friend carries his lovey around in his teeth, so he bites his toys (soft, hard, doesn't matter). He licks DH. He chews his sippy cups til they break. AUGH!

So, nothing in the mouth that isn't food. No fingers in the mouth, and he knows better. He looks right at me before he sticks his fingers in his mouth, b/c he wants to see what I'll say, not b/c it's comforting for him. So I tell him to take his hands out of his mouth, and he asks why. It's a game. Maybe this is too much of a blanket rule for some, but it keeps things consistent for us, and sucking for comfort has never been a need for us, so it's not like I'm taking away something he needs. It's just exploration for him.

Maybe if a lovey or paci or something were necessary in the past, I'd let it go a bit, and I'd never take away things that I know are comfort for him (like his sippy cup), but that doesn't mean at 3 he needs to start developing bad habits that most parents are trying to help their kids break at this point after having them from infanthood.

[blizzard_babe]

Yeah, we've got the new baby on the way, and his cousin (1 y/o) sucks her thumb, so it could be any of that.

It's never been a soothing thing as far as I can tell. He's been weaned for nine months with NO sucking drive. He never wanted anything except mum-mums, and when we weaned when I got pregnant, he very easily found other, non-sucking forms of comfort. He's just mostly (a) playing with his tongue (like pinching it and stuff), (b) like St Margaret's daughter, rubbing everything against his lips, or (c) just licking random things.

He's getting a DROOL RASH, I just noticed in the car. AARGH! I am too pregnant to deal with this silliness .

[ellemenope]

DD mouthed things for about a week when her first 2 year molar came through. She even licked the slide on the way down. She was never a mouther so it was really odd. I checked her mouth, and sure enough, it was a molar just about through.

I am not looking forward to the next three.

[blizzard_babe]

Originally Posted by ellemenope

DD mouthed things for about a week when her first 2 year molar came through. She even licked the slide on the way down. She was never a mouther so it was really odd. I checked her mouth, and sure enough, it was a molar just about through.

I am not looking forward to the next three.

Yeah, DS has all his teeth, and has for quite a while. The little stinker just has a new bad habit and it happens to be one that is driving me off a cliff .

[ellemenope]

Originally Posted by blizzard_babe

Yeah, DS has all his teeth, and has for quite a while.

OMG. I am so jealous of you. That week was teething hell. Her fingers got all chapped because they were in her mouth so much. She would lie awake next to me just chewing on her fingers. I am so bummed it was only one that came through after all that.

[MissMommyNiceNice]

King of the lickers, biters, and suckers here! DS, 3.5, once had a bead in his mouth for like an hour (after I told him to take it out, who knows how long it was there for sure...) and then brushed his teeth before I found it still in there! Oi!

I tell him all the time - ALL THE TIME!!!!! - how I'd like to buy him all this fun stuff like modelling beeswax but can't b/c he is always putting stuff in his mouth. He still eats "found" food off the floor. And rocks. And sticks. His mouth is always chapped, his finger is always sore. *sigh*

I sometimes think maybe he weaned a little early and that might have helped...he weaned at 33 mos, I was 7 mos pgs. I don't think there was much milk left, so it just sorta happend.

We just really try to stress about how licking things leads to germs. I'm so not a germaphobe, but honestly, I don't know what else to say! Don't lick that butcher case, ther could be germs there! *double sigh!*

[blizzard_babe]

Originally Posted by ellemenope

OMG. I am so jealous of you. That week was teething hell. Her fingers got all chapped because they were in her mouth so much. She would lie awake next to me just chewing on her fingers. I am so bummed it was only one that came through after all that.

Well, don't get TOO jealous. He was the slowest-but-most-constant teether ever. Like, one tooth at a time, and they came in at a snail's pace. Basically, from six months until just over two years, he was never NOT teething. When his molars were finally in, I wanted to throw a giant party.

But through all that, he was only an occasional hand-chewer.