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Please Help! I Am Frustrated And Grossed Out.

4 posts on this thread and the last post was on June 30th, 2009 8:39 AM
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carol23 - June 28th, 2009 7:28 PM
 [Original Post]

My two year old is constantly putting his hands(practically his whole hand) in his mouth to the point where his whole hand is wet with saliva. This had been going on for about a couple of weeks. Everytime I catch him, I tell him to take his hand out and he does, then it goes RIGHT back in. I don't know how to deal with this. Has anyone ever had this problem? If so, how was it resolved? He's not in a daycare. I am a stay at home mom. THe only major change in our lives recently, is that my husband(aka daddy), just left on deployment(a month ago for 6 mos.). Could this be the problem? Is there anything I can do? Please help. I'm VERY frustrated about it at this point because he does it EVERYWHERE. It's a major health concern because he touches things, then put all those germs in his mouth.

Buffi R. - June 29th, 2009 9:26 AM

I wouldn't worry too much about the germ issue. Whether he was putting his whole hand in his mouth or not, he's gonna get those. Also, I'm not sure if this has as much to do with your husband being deployed as it could just be a new, fun skill your son learned. I've found with a child that age, ignoring the problem works best because everytime you correct him, you might be reinforcing a type of "game", at least in his mind. That's the only thing that worked with my (now) 6-year-old during potty training when we couldn't get the poo-poo training successful until I stopped making a big deal out of it. It took a couple weeks of being nonchalant about this until my son started using the potty like he should. I don't know if the same will work for you, but it's worth a try. If that doesn't help (and you get really despirate) I would also suggest a product called Mavala Stop which is used to deter biting nails and thumb sucking. It's supposed to work 1000 times better than any other product for that, and it's a type of nasty tasting nail polish that you can find on line. Good luck!!!

babygirlhelen - June 29th, 2009 11:26 AM

Totally agree with Buffi, a mum I know had a little boy who had an obsession with sticking his fingers up his nose, at first it was discouraged by my friend but that just seemed to re-inforce his determination to do it. It does just turn into a game.

She was advised to ignore it and sure enough after toddler discovered that he wasn't able to control mummy by nose picking he soon stoped.

carol23 - June 29th, 2009 1:40 PM

Thank you ladies! I'll start to ignore that behavior. I would have never thought of that. I'm guessing that's what he wants; to control me. Not for long! Thanks again ladies! You all give me hope. =)


MNMOM - June 30th, 2009 8:39 AM

Hi Carol23- my son just turned 2 on june 17th and for the last several weeks maybe months he was also shovnig his fist in his mouth which drove me and my husband mad. I suspected maybe he was getting his 2 yr molars or something. I have no idea. But nagging him about it only made him more conscious about it and certainly wasn't helping so we try to just distract him and get him to start doing something with his hands. I have noticed he does it ALOT less now, so I think it was just a phase and I am sure it will pass for your child too!