16 month old licking the floor

[DarkSol]

My 16 month old saw our cat licking the floor (don’t ask me why. I didn’t see anything on the floor) so our child decided to do it too. Now it is DC’s favourite activity. I know this is age appropriate behaviour but I would still like to discourage it. Especially after today as I got done mopping. Even though it was dry I worried about her consuming the chemicals from the cleaner. Not to mention DH absolutely hates it when she licks the floor.

Any suggestions to get DC to stop? We have toys all around but DC just seems so uninterested in them these days. We are trying to hold on till the holidays to get new ones.

Just say "no, don't lick the floor", lift her up, and give her something else to do.

It takes time but it does eventually get through! Or maybe they just get over it. Either way they stop!

Does she her a reaction doing it? I know my kids continue to do things when I've said not to because they find my reaction funny. Pulling them away or distracting them seems to work best.

Though my 13 month old is still fairly consistent in trying to smash the TV so it doesn't always work!

Awww…haha, I miss parenting little ones!

She doesn’t have a particularly strong reaction. She just ignores us and keeps doing it. We have a three strike time out policy. Usually she’s very obedient so this works with almost everything else, but with the floor licking it’s like she enters another realm or something and doesn’t seem to care until she’s on the third stroke and then she starts screaming and stomping. When she comes out of time out she plays for a bit and then goes right back to it. We have tried distractions such as playing, singing, tickling and yes of course her toys but it’s all old news to her it seems. She’s in a very cat obsessed phase at the moment so I can’t help but wonder if that has something to do with it. But our cat is old and wants to be left alone. Can’t exactly go get the old fart and distract her with him unless we want to drive him mad. 😂

16 months is way too young for using time out as a discipline.
If a child is repeatedly doing something like this, I would think that they were working on a schema, so instead of saying no licking I would provide other objects, toys, foods that were safe to lick and direct her to those instead when she starts licking the floor.

I see. I suppose I could try offering a snack and see if that works. Can you explain what you mean by a schema?

16 months isn't too young - anytime from 1 onwards is ok (though obviously they should be sitting up unaided and able to understand what you're saying otherwise it's pointless!)

Distraction is key and she'll probably have forgotten about it within a week or so 😅

link on schematic play

I didn’t want to say anything because I didn’t want the thread to turn into a time out debate but we tried avoiding time out as a consequence but we felt backed into a corner when she learned to start climbing the furniture. She almost never makes it to time out luckily. I would say she gets it once a week at the most but she’s nearly cracked her skull open a few times from climbing the couch or the diaper changer so we try to save it for the activities that are safety issues. She answers questions appropriately with “uh huh!” or “uh uh”. And she can say “I’m hungry/thirsty.” or “sleepy” when she is tired. So she seems to understand at least on a basic level.

Although with floor licking it’s clearly not an effective measure of discipline so we will try to find another way.

Trust me we are aware she is very young so we don’t try to use it as a common disciplinary action. She’s not getting time out every day.

Without descending into a debate about discipline and the use of a word obedient for a 16 month old... Licking the floor isn't a discipline issue, she's exploring the world in an age appropriate way. That you and your husband don't like it is, to coin an annoying phrase, a you issue. Just gently move her along to something new.

Agree with schema comment. One of mine used to CONSTANTLY throw food on floor then stomp on it. Only stopped when we started lots of stomping sensory play.

Kids love pretending to be animals. Could you get her a bowl of milk to lick instead. I know it’ll look mad but better than the floor and will be fun for her

Time out for a 16 month old?! Absolutely not.

Have you actually physically stopped her from doing? I’m assuming you have but it’s not clear so just checking.

My approach would be to say something along the lines of “don’t lick the floor” and physically (but gently) stop her, and then direct her to something else. Consistently, every time, so she gets the message.

It’s not about discipline.. there shouldn’t be a time out or punishment for disobedience. But if you don’t want her to do it, you need to correct her every time so she learns is not an acceptable activity.

Oh this brings back memories. My DS2 went through a floor licking phase! Personally I would ignore and wait for the phase to end.

DD never picked the floor. She did copy the cat by getting a bowl of milk and lapping it up.

Age 3 she licked the side of the conveyor belt at Iceland. Age 5 I reminded her whilst we were in Iceland how she did that. She then did it again! She found it hilarious.

@NannyR Thank you for the schema link. My DD when about 3 or 4 would dress a plastic animal in Barbie clothes and then tie them to a chair or table leg. You’d get a crocodile stuffed into a velvet ball gown tied to the armchair. A teacher friend mentioned schema, so it’s nice to find out more about it.

The licking thing is quite common I think. We lived overseas in a hot country where hygiene laws weren’t as strict as uk. Out supermarket shopping I looked round to see her walking along licking the plastic shelving (it was head height for her). It was the fresh chicken counter.