Your baby is eating dirt on the floor? It is good for them!

Last week, I wrote a post about the reason why babies putt everything in their mouths. I was talking about that with a friend who asked me “Do you know the theory that babies put things in their mouth on purpose (not consciously obviously), to help build their immune system?” …no, I didn’t know that.

Many years ago, I was raised in a country environment, as a youngster I was eating dirt, playing in the mud and climbing trees. My mum always believed that this was good for us, thats they way it was in those days, but now we are surrounded by advertising that tells us to “Clean and disinfect everything to protect your family”, “kills 99,99% of germs” ect… Does your baby actually need that or should we let them play in the mud and let them eat “dirty things”…

We all believe that sight, hearing, touch and scent are stronger tools for a baby to discover their environment than putting things in their mouth. So maybe this strange and quite disgusting action could be more than just curiosity?

The theory is that babies are responding to natural instinct by putting objects from their surroundings in their mouths. This way, the internal body gets to know the environment that the baby is living in and is exposed to millions of bacteria and viruses. Normally as adults, our bodies recognise and fight these germs, but for your new baby, it is another story. Their immune system is underdeveloped and needs some training to be able to be as efficient as yours. So by being exposed to all these germs, their immune system will identify, attack and learn to eliminate them. It will take on average 5 to 7 years for their immune system to develop fully. Fever, running nose and coughs are all signs of your baby fighting bacteria and virus.

All these bacteria, viruses and worms are good for your baby! They actually develop an healthy immune system. When I first read “worms”, I had a weird smile on my face. But many studies have demonstrated that worms can actually “helps to redirect an immune system that has gone awry and resulted in autoimmune disorders, allergies and asthma.” Mary Ruebush (a microbiology and immunology instructor) wrote a book : “Why Dirt Is Good”. She said : “Children raised in an ultra-clean environment are not being exposed to organisms that help them develop appropriate immune regulatory circuits".

Lately, Type 1 diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, asthma, multiple sclerosis and other allergies have risen in developed countries and the eradication of worms in these areas of the world could possibly be a reason for it. Worms (harmless for well-nourished people) have a really strong impact on regulating the immune system response.So there we go, protecting our children from every germs possible is maybe not as good as what big advertising agencies would like us to believe…

What should you do then? Encourage them to eat what they found on the ground? It's not be as black and white as that because some rules are still really important, such as washing your hands before eating, after changing a diaper, after being to the bathroom ect… But let’s let them play outside in the mud (thank you for the laundry you will say!)and let’s not panic when your 6 month old put his daddy’s shoe in his mouth! You can keep your baby safe by helping their immune system to develop by  exposing them to the world, clean or dirty!

What do you think? We would to hear your opinion on that subject. Thank you to read this post, I hope you enjoyed it!

Why do they touch everything and put everything in their mouth? IT DRIVES ME CRAZY!!

1 year and half…she touches EVERYTHING and I can hear myself saying: “no! Don’t touch that, DANGER!” ALL…. DAY…. LONG! And she does it again, 5 minutes later… Is she defiant? Does she like to hear me saying NO? I know she is interested in everything, that it must be amazing to see the world with her eyes…but it is exhausting!

 

It makes me wonder why Babies of few months old put everything in their mouth. Until they walk, everything that is left on the floor will be tested and tasted…. We are not just talking about toys only, but crumbs, dust and even worse, poop! Checking on them all the time to make sure they are not chocking on anything is not the worst of it…. because when they start to walk it’s another challenge altogether! They touch EVERYTHING!! All the time, again and again, dangerous or not…

The reason behind this is of course the curiosity. Imagine being in your babies’ shoes for few minutes. How amazing the world must be! Everything is new, tasting funny, making strange noise or feeling wonderful under your little fingers.

Babies are sensory little humans who will understand and discover the world by their 5 senses: touching, feeling, hearing, seeing, tasting.

For example, their mouth has more nerve endings per square millimetre than any other part of their body, so that could explain why they always want to taste everything! Until they are two, they will explore the world this way, they are more interested in what their toys can do and because they are teething they will enjoy chewing soft objects.

Usually by the age of three, most of them stop putting things in their mouth. Toddlers will enjoy discovering odours, sounds, texture etc…they will touch everything and it is our job to make sure that their environment is  safe and secure. For the 3-4 year olds, the energy level is so high in their little body that they need to touch everything to redistribute it, this is when the physical activities become important to their development.

 

What about food and drinks? Did you notice the strange mixes your baby is experimenting with? And why are they playing with their food so much? Same reason, curiosity! I know lunchtime can be really messy….

Dr. Matthews, paediatric neurologist, CMC Vellore says, “The child is driven by the inner urge to develop. He needs to touch, feel, explore because that is the message he is getting from his brain. The brain is directing the child to constantly find out more about the things around him because that is how he will learn and develop. He needs to know the taste, texture and other properties of everything in his environment. Hence he is unable to “obey” us because the instructions we are giving him are in conflict with his inner directives. He has a tremendous need for sensorial exploration. Dropping an object teaches him about gravity, touching different objects teaches him textures and gives him an understanding of different materials, banging vessels and spoons teaches him about sounds, even the stones and beads he wants to put in his mouth are to explore the object more intensely!”

So when do you know when your child is crossing the boundaries? You do not want to tell them NO when they finally just want to discover the world…Does it mean we should let them do whatever they want in order to encourage them to understand their environment? They can sometimes be so dangerous in their exploration that it drives you crazy!

When I am deciding to work with a new family, I like to talk with the parents about education. For me as a nanny, I believe I am playing an important role in their child's development and that I should be on the same page as the parents for the sake of the child. I often explain that I believe that kids have to fall to understand … And few studies actually revealed that kids who are overprotected are losing their natural instinct for safety and do not develop their own judgment. It is important to let them play in a safe place but they need to fall sometimes in order to understand the concept of height pain and consequence.

So what can you do? First I think it is important to understand and encourage the role of curiosity in your child’s development and therefore they should not be punished because they touch everything or are messy. It can be fun to understand what attracted your child to this object and maybe explore it with them and talk about it. Does it make a funny noise? Does it taste funny?

But don’t get me wrong, of course they touch things sometimes in order to be defiant! If you want my opinion, I don’t believe we should let them do whatever they want, they need to know boundaries and are usually much more comfortable when they understand them. Yes, fine, maybe be a little less stressed about what they can touch and let them explore a bit more, encouraging their curiosity is a good thing and a good idea is to rearrange your home to put all the fragile or dangerous items out of reach. This way, you can relax and let your baby explore in a safe environment. It is actually one of the best gift s you can give to your child. Safe freedom to explore!!

 

So these are some ideas (that you probably already apply at home) :

-All the dangerous liquid such as cleaning products, medicine ect…out of reach or in a cupboard that is locked.

 

-Little fences, barrier, to stop the crazy crawler and toddler to fall down the stairs or in the swimming pool.

-If you have older kids, be careful with toys that could contains little parts. You can explain your older one why it is so important to clean the playroom in order to give a safe environment to his little brother or sister. Maybe you could have 2 different boxes to store their toys: the big boy-girl one and the baby one.

-The kitchen is a dangerous playground, safety locks that stick on cupboards are pretty handy in this area. Let your kids make noise by slapping a pot with a wooden spoon on, encouraging thier curiosity in the kitchen the good way!

 

-All the tv, dvd, sound system ect… should be on shelves that are well fix to the wall or the floor. There are so many accidents from TV or shelves falling onto curious kids!

-And of course: seal off open plug points!!

With a safe environment, you child will be free to explore and understand the world around them. It is their job after all and we all did that to be able to grow into the adults we are today. Yes, they are noisy and yes they are messy! But do you know what? Enjoy this curiosity! It is so natural and so healthy! Children’s are tools for exploring!

What strategies are you using to keep your kids safe at home? And what do you do to encourage them exploring the world? Share with us your ideas!!

References:

-http://www.naturalchild.org/guest/missy_willis.html

- http://disciplineandchildren.com/child-behavior-when-your-child-touches-everything.html

-http://www.babycentre.co.uk/x6721/why-does-my-baby-put-everything-in-her-mouth