Fingers in mouth ahh!!!

[playfelt]

Ok .... I'll put up with thumb sucking and drooling over this any day. Way too gross...

[godsgirl]

Omg! I was just asking myself this same question about a 3yob who I care for. He's been with me for over a year and he definitely has gotten better but still puts things in his mouth and licks things. I've just been repetitive with him and take the toys away that he is mouthing and throw them in the sick and say 'we don't put toys in our mouths. Yucky germs' and when I catch him licking things (like my window) I make him clean it off with a wipe (I go back after with cleaner). Like I said it has gotten better and now that I think about it, he used to always have his hands in his mouth too but I used to be on him all the time with that too and now I can't even remember the last time I had to ask him to stop.

[sunnydays]

The one bit of success other than the constant repetition, that I have had is a teething ring clipped to the shirt which the child is allowed to put in his/her mouth, lick, suck, chew on, whatever floats their boat I started this with a child who was starting to bite...he had always been an extreme mouther...as soon as I started with the teething ring, he stopped biting and the mouthing decreased drastically. He needed to get those oral urges out somehow, so I gave him an outlet. It could help for some of our extreme mouthers. Not sure it would help for thumb or finger sucking though...my 3 and 5 year old suck their thumbs...nothing seems to work!