To be afraid of baby getting sick from putting everything in mouth?

[August24Mama]

Hi everyone, I have an 18 week old DD who has just recently learned if she sees something, she can grab it. Most of the day is spent stopping her from putting whatever object in her reach in her mouth. I'm not sure if its teething or just exploring things. It's never anything crazy or dangerous, just usually either a blanket, bib or muslin cloth. I give her teething toys but they seem to make her upset after a minute or two, I'm not sure why.

Before I can take whatever she's grasped off of her, it's usually in her mouth already. Should I be more strict with making sure she doesn't do this? I don't want to inhibit a natural thing to do, but I'm terrified of her getting sick off something unsterilized. She's exclusively BF and obviously nipples aren't sterile, so I think I may be overreacting. But it's still lingering in my mind that it'll make her sick, AIBU?

Your son sounds like a determined person, thats hilarious😂 pavement haribos😂

I was wondering about could I stop sterilizing altogether now, I was told BF equipment only needed a good wash with hot water and didn't need sterilizing. But on the other hand been told everything needs to be sterilized. I never really pump so I don't have to make that decision just yet lol.

Someone once pointed out to me once that I don’t sterilise my breasts. And - let’s be honest - with a tiny baby even washing them was not as thorough as one would like!

Don’t worry.. i have 4 all grown adults now…. 3 were the normal putting odd things in the mouth, but 1 of them (3rd girl) was absolutely feral… i would have to constantly follow her everywhere whilst crawling as she would put stones from garden, snails, sand on beach, anything she could find … i obviously had 2 older ones to contend with aswell so the obvious was inevitable and one day her older brother was potty training so you can guess what she did 🤮 luckily it was like nuggets 🙈
what i will say is my other 3 were all much more prone to illnesses than my feral child so she must have built a wonderful immune system up 🤣🤣🤣
Relax a bit this behaviour (not my DD’s) is totally normal

When DD was six months’ old, I started taking her to three different baby groups (it was September, so some had just restarted). Within the next few weeks, she had two colds and a tummy bug. I told the health visitor and she said, “good!”

Children do need to be exposed to some infections for their immune systems to develop properly. I’m not sure when this should start though - I was afraid of DD catching anything when she was a tiny baby, but knew she needed to have contact with other young children and their everyday childhood bugs before she was one. I just made sure her immunisations were up to date.

As everyone else has said - normal and important to get those germs for healthy immunity.

Please be careful though not to leave anything with button batteries within reaching distance. That IS something to worry about. They can be extremely dangerous if swallowed.

And your baby is way too young for these but keep in mind for the future that the same goes for the godawful Orbeez (should be banned).

Love that, Pavement Haribo! yes there was no way I could have stopped that.

My MiL used to say “You’ll eat a bucket of muck before you die” I think ds2 was trying to get his in early. See also licking the pushchair wheels btw lol.

Re sterilising – I mean ask your HV, but I would say if she is getting towards mobile there's not much point. Like I say, with DS1 (first baby) I sterilised toys, plates, all sorts. DS2 was exclusively breastfed and I didn’t sterilise anything - obvs not my boobs and then what else? By the time he was using a plate and a cup he was already crawling (early mover to get to the Haribos for sure) so there was no point really. He was fine and has always been super healthy.

Yy to the button batteries tho, they are lethal. But I am sure you are being careful about anything small like that.

A few years ago we were going into town on the train. I turned around and my (old enough to know better) child was licking the train window!! 🤢

NO!! That’s disgusting I said.

Why, because of covid? said they
Because it's totally disgusting said I!

Children are just odd.

As people said its what they do ,they like to learn about things by having a good nom of it.Just sterilize food equipment, unfortunately though they are going to find germy things to nom on just keep on top of vacuuming.Keep in mind that they keep doing this for years so watch out for small choking hazards on floor.

I recall my mother telling me how as a toddler my sister managed to stuff pomegranate seeds up her nose.They were in California and the ER doctor commented on this was a first ,of all the things kids shoved up there .Pomegranate was a new one =p

children have a habit of finding new things to give us parents a heart stopping moment

I was going to say the same thing and suggest you listen to it OP, as I think you’ll find it really reassuring and also fascinating.

The evidence is babies need to do this and over sanitising is detrimental.
Its also well documented that children who grow up in a household with pets have a better gut microbiome and immunity.

There’s also fascinating information on weaning stages, exposure and allergies.

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/zoe-science-nutrition/id1611216298?i=1000665444076

We can all understand you fears. But it's normal and doesn't do them any harm. My now 20 year old DS would put anything in his mouth (still does 😂). When he was about 2 he picked up a random mushroom during a forest walk and put that in his mouth. That was scary. He unscrewed the end of the door handle and put the small brass ball in his mouth. Kind of like a brass gobstopper. He would pick up anything off the floor and eat it. That was useful when he was about 18 months and had to take some tablets for a minor skin condition. For love nor money was he going to just take them from me. Put one on the floor - in the mouth job done.

I'm making light of because 20 years later it is funny. Having a new baby is the most worrying time of your life. But she will be fine. Just be vigilant knowing you have one that does that and no harm will come to her.

My DD licked a shop window when she was 2. She was fine!

My 13 month olds favourite thing to do is sit on the bottom step and lick the banister. I think she was a hamster in a previous life.