When do babies stop putting EVERYTHING in their mouths?

[Saffy]

I know it's normal but My DD appears to be on the high end of the ' I have to taste everything that is on the ground' scale, when approximately does this stop? She is almost 11 months.

I gave up long ago worrying about it but it's exhausting especially if we are out in the garden as she will eat everything she can lay her hands on. We were at a picnic last weekend with 3 other babies of the same age, the other babies were happy to potter around on the rugs and play with toys, my DD spent the entire time crawling off the rugs and trying to eat grass, dirt, stones, sticks, flowers, *****les, leaves, gravel etc, you get the picture.

Hoping she gets a good immune system out of it

[LimeSlice]

DD2 is about to turn 3. I'll let you know when the phase passes.

DD1 was never one to put things in her mouth that weren't food. It was quite uncanny how she only put things in her mouth that were supposed to be there. From as young as I can remember, I never had any fears of her choking on random object, because I knew they would never go in her mouth.
DD2, on the other hand, is EVERYTHING must go in the mouth. Constantly. She never choked, never even came close, noever swallowed anything she shouldn't - she seemed to have very good control over keeping whatever it was actually in her *mouth* and he seemed to like the feeling of it. DD2 is very much a sensationalist - she has to touch everything, when she feeds or is falling asleep, she will be rubbing something between her fingers, or pulling, tugging on my clothes, bra, her er, anything. I think the object:mouth is just an extension of that really.

In short, I am not sure it will ever go away, just be limited by social normality. LOL

[~Kim~]

My DD2 is nearly (sob) 2. She still does it on occasion. Especially with her favourites.....crayons in particular. She is my first out of three that have ever done it. She seems to revert when we are somewhere new, like last night at a friends new house for a BBQ and she had everyone in horrors.
That's just the way she explores.
She's pretty tough my youngest squirt. Gets sick much less than her two school aged siblings lol.

[No.5]

Have been wondering too. My DD is the same saffy, EVERYTHING must go in the mouth. Drives me insane.

DS never put anything in his mouth so this is very much a new thing for me.

As normal as it is, it's still annoying

[Saffy]

Yes I am too lazy to vacuum everyday so just have to accept I spend my days fishing stuff out.

The joke is she doesn't actually eat that much real food. Although I don't think she eats the stuff she puts in her mouth, I've never seen sticks or rocks or grass in her poo, unless there is a birds nest in her stomach

[Teeki]

DD2 is about to turn 3. I'll let you know when the phase passes.

Lol I was going to say just this!

DD is 2.5 and we're always saying to her that the only things she should put in her mouth are food and drink that Mummy & Daddy give her. The worst was when she found a rabbit poop on the floor by the hutch and it was on its way to her mouth, so glad I caught her! She doesn't want to *eat* things, she kind of just has it in there, like my earrings, toys etc.

The absolute worst thing lately is that she just will not keep her fingers out of her nose and mouth. Her hands are always filthy from playing, then she sticks her fingers in her nose and mouth. So that makes her get a runny nose, and then she wants to put her fingers in her nose and mouth even more... Gah! It's a never ending cycle that we're trying to break at the moment, I'm sure if she wasn't constantly rubbing germs all over her face she wouldn't have a cold right now. And if she wasn't constantly eating her boogers the runny nose might not have turned into a cough.

[onthefly]

It depends on the kid. DS was about 9 months, DD over 2.

[Jellyfish]

Yep, I have an almost two year old who is still the queen of putting things in her mouth. She just has to explore everything with her mouth.

DD1 never put things in her mouth so no idea when it will pass! Interesting to hear others never had it with their others either.

[Taurean]

DD2 is 2 tomorrow and I reckon she's getting worse the older she gets! Some recent things she's sampled has been coins (eeek!), stones, shells (from DD1's collection), mini My Little Ponnies and dog poo

DD1 was never this bad. Each kid is different.

[Marley&Me]

Haha, dd is only 5 months and I can tell it will only get worse. She grabs a chunk of fur from the dog as he walks past and I have to dive over and stop her from eating it

[Ladylove]

My CHN told me the instinct remains until they're 3! But not as full on. DD is 22 months and still puts the odd thing in there.

[Kazzo]

My 3 year old is just starting to get out of this habit. Swollowing a coin a few weeks ago may have helped her stop