chpt 7 Putting It Into Practice 3-3

HOW CAN I STOP THEM FROM TOUCHING THINGS? WHEN WILL THEY STOP PUTTING THINGS IN THEIR MOUTH?


We can’t stop babies from touching things or putting things in their mouths. Babies are born explorers—they need to move and explore the world around them, and the best way for them to do this is by touching what they see and bringing it to the most sensitive part of their bodies: their mouths.


The nerves in their mouth are one of the earliest parts of the body to be myelinated (where the nerves are able to allow signals to pass through more effeciently) so that they can feed effectively from birth. This makes the mouth the most sensitive and most suitable body part for exploring everything in the baby’s path.


At the end of the first year to around 16 months, the hands will become more sensitive as myelination extends to the peripheral parts of the body, and the oral phase of development usually starts to come to an end. If a 14-month-old brings a coin to their mouth, we can usually show them how it goes through the slot in the coin box, and then they become more interested in completing that activity than putting the coin into their mouth.


Some babies stay longer in the oral stage of development if they like to suck, for example, babies who use a pacifier a lot or suck on a bottle. So the oral stage of development will ease once the pacifier and bottle are no longer being used.