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I have 2 daycare kids that are 3 and they constantly have their fingers in their mouth, sucking on them and then touching everything throughout the house. They seem to do it more so when they are sick LOL I keep washing their hands, and telling them that it's not good to put hands in your mouth because your hands can be dirty, germs etc but no avail. Any suggestions?
Yeah I have a dcb like that. He is also 3. Needs constant reminding to stop. He actually licks his hand and then runs it down my walls, table surfaces and couch. This is why I have a (cheap) leather couch in my playroom. I am constantly disenfecting it. As for advice to stop? I just keep reminding him to stop but it is almost a neurotic behaviour with him.
Put a pair of those stretchy gloves on their hands and hopefully they will taste awful.... Or everytime you catch them with their hands in their mouth make them wash their hands and then make them sit at the table without toys .... Each time they have to sit there the duration gets longer ....When their friends are having fun and they are sitting at the table watching it won't take long
I feel your pain...I too have this issue...along with mouthing toys. I have found that constant reminders does reduce it (although not eliminate it).
I know this is old... But I thought I'd keep it going rather than start a new thread!
Has anyone had success with getting them to wash their hands every time you notice it? I was thinking I'd start that as the reminders haven't worked so far with one dcb I have (he's 3 & a bit). I thought if I got him to wash for longer than usual every time it might make a difference.
He mouths toys too, and every time I catch him I make him put it in the sink or mouthed toys basket, but that hasn't seemed to help much... Probably too many other toys to choose from...
Anyone had any other successful strategies?
I'm just going to record myself saying "not in your mouth" and put it on replay every 10 minutes.
While it isn't a complete wash I kept a wet washcloth in a dish on the kids table in the kitchen. Whenever I caught him with his hands in his mouth I would just call his name and say D....hands and point to the kitchen. He had to stop what he was doing and go wash and whatever he was doing while he was gone was not protected so if another child started playing with it while he was washing too bad. He was just told sorry you were busy cleaning your hands. Next time don't chew on them and you won't have to leave the room. Took awhile but it soon got to where I could just remind him with something like do you want to have to leave to wash as he was about to put them in his mouth and he would stop. It is a compulsion they do without thinking - in psychological terms it will stem from oral needs not met such as soother or bottle taken away too soon or not soon enough till it became a security habit.
At the same time unless the child is sick I don't go out of my way to have a mouthing bucket either because it becomes a fetish for the caregiver as the kids don't care and even if you miss one toy then all you are doing is for naught as it only takes one toy to spread the germs so save yourself the trouble. Seriously, I have no more illness in my daycare by relaxing my germ rules and in some cases maybe even less as they build up immunity during the inbetween times.
I've given up. I have a thumbsucker and all I have to do is say her name and she pulls it out of her mouth after a million times of trying to stop her. My other 1 year old hardly has any teeth so I suppose that's why he's been sticking his fingers in his mouth lately and my 3 year old has always been oral but he's doing much better after a year of me saying nonstop "NOT IN YOUR MOUTH". Yes, I feel like a broken record and have to repeat that over and over every day.
I agree with playfelt, if they are sick I'm diligent with their own diaper wipes to constantly wipe their faces and hands. Hey, the parents can pay for those wipes! If they aren't sick then I'm a little more lax because it's frikking frustrating!
I have an 18 mos old who licks EVERYTHING!!!!! It's driving me nuts. Apparently this freaky behaviour is just for me as he doesn't do it at home. He licks and mouths every single toy he picks up. He's picked up my sandals by the door to the back yard and licked them. I've seen him licking my walls and dog dishes. I was in the fridge retrieving something for lunch and when I turned around, he was licking the fridge door. When I was sitting having a cup of tea with my feet up on the foot stool, he came over and licked my leg. It's really bizarre and I'm constantly telling him to stop licking everything. Ugh.....so gross....and weird.
Ok .... I'll put up with thumb sucking and drooling over this any day. Way too gross...