Advise please

[Neverworkwithchildrenoranimals]

Hello everyone, I'm new to all this so please bear with me. My 11 month has been going to a childminder 2 days a week for a couple of months now. A mother and daughter. I have been very happy with them so far. I get a daily report in her diary. Yesterday we were told that our LO likes to chew and suck the cardboard books as well as other things and that it's not only ruining their resources they are worried she might ingest something she shouldn't. They've asked me to discourage her from sucking on things at home.
She is a very inquisitive baby who likes to explore everything. She is also walking. If there's something I don't want her to have I put it up high out of her reach. Anything she could chew up like a book we get it down when we can sit and read it with her. don't know how I can stop her from putting things in her mouth when she's out of my care.
Any suggestions on what to do?

Chewing and sucking is how babies explore their environment and you can't stop it

All the CM needs to do is give her plastic or other things that won't disintegrate

I think that's an absurd request. Isn't it a recognised stage of a child's development to put things in their mouth?

Thank you for the replies. Well I didn't think my LO was doing anything unusual either. Just got to decide what to say to the childminder :-)

I'm sort of on the fence here! Yes of course babies explore objects with their mouths, and it is sensible to take precautions to avoid them ingesting anything harmful (moving things out of reach). At the same time, it's not always practicable to remove everything, so if a baby picked up and went to put something unsuitable in his/her mouth (such as a stone or pinecone) I would be pretty quick to discourage him/her, pulling faces and saying things like "No that's dirty" and taking it from them. I think it's important not to just remove all danger, but to teach children to recognise what is and isn't a good idea. Similarly, I don't think that's too young to start to learn that books are not for chewing, just as toys are not for throwing (usually), friends are not for biting etc etc. I think children are often capable of understanding more than we think.

Get one of these? www.dudeiwantthat.com/omg/fools/the-baby-muzzle-7313.jpg I'm only joking. It is a ridiculous request. Tell them to supervise the use of equipment and provide things she/he can chew if she/he wishes.

It's a stage all babies go through & as a cm it's something I've had to deal with countless times, you need to be extra vigilant and remove bits of jigsaw or cardboard books from little hands before they reach their mouths, I have to remove certain toys when we're going through this, marbles, lego etc in case they choke, but other toys just get chewed and cleaned over & over again. It's all part of teaching children to handle risk themselves. To stop a child putting things in their mouth, is stopping normal development and I'd be wary of a cm who can't cope with this tbh.

I'm with minder jinx on this. Although it is a stage that all babies go through, you can't take everything unsuitable for chewing away. Every time she goes to put a book in her mouth, say, no we don't chew books, we read them and then sit and read the book with her. If she goes to chew it again take it away and find her something else to chew.

I agree with saying no to chewing on books or other potentially dangerous things.
Do you let her chew books?

I look after a 2.5 year old who chews everything/ puts things in her mouth.
She also likes to taste everything and I mean everything! Yes it's a way of exploring, but there is a point at which it does become unacceptable and something's are just not acceptable to put in your mouth, like wee covered fingers!
She will start school nursery and chewing resources will be unacceptable.

It's a fine line at what age it becomes appropriate to say no to all sucking a chewing. But most children stop naturally.

Hi MPB, No I don't let her chew books. I get them down when I can supervise and take them away if she starts chewing at them.

Hi my name is cath and am a childminder, l would say that your working well together for your child's development. So far what you're doing is good start l would also say to your child as she but anything in her mouth to say (oh dear we don't but that in our mouth we but are food and drink in) language goes a long way in a child's world no matter how old they are.

Hi my name is cath and am a childminder, l would say that your working well together for your child's development. So far what you're doing is good start l would also say to your child as she but anything in her mouth to say (oh dear we don't but that in our mouth we but are food and drink in) language goes a long way in a child's world no matter how old they are.