I'm Constantly Worried by My 11Mo Baby Putting EVERYTHING in Her Mouth...

Don't worry so much. I am on child #3 and they all do this. My youngest is 6 months old today and about a month ago I was changing her diaper and inside she had pooped a UPC code, you know the sticker that goes on items that they scan in the store for price. So, along the way she had ate it. Another friend had a baby that pooped a made in china sticker. My middle daughter once ate a rolly polly bug and my oldest ate so much fuzz off the floor she could have probably made a blanket.

Lisa

I totally understand how you are feeling. My daughter is the same way. She is starting to grow out of it, thank goodness. She's 21 months. One benefit of it is that I think it has given her an extremely strong immune system. She has only been sick a few times in her life and they were only slight colds.
It has taken a while, but I have gotten her to either hand me some of the items before they go in her mouth or tell her to "show me" and she will open her mouth and stick out her tongue. Occassionally, she won't comply or eats what it is before I get to her. She even eats the pointy seeds from the tree out front that people track in and don't clean up.
Just try to keep it as baby proof as you can and try to teach her to let you have whatever it is. Distraction and diversion are good tactics as well. Good luck!

She is at a good age to teach the word, "No." A six month old can understand it. It doesn't matter what you work on. Put an object she can't have in view. Wait til she goes over to it. Quietly say, "No," and using only your pointer finger so it does not hurt, give the back of her hand a thwap. Keep your voice the same tone (you are training her to respond to your no - so keep it at a low tone). Repeat as long as she reaches out and touches it. Don't say anything if she reaches out for it. This way you can teach her not to put things in her mouth and to respond to no and not to worry over her safety. She will be learning self control and self monitoring - trust me, kids are super smart.

Just like everyone else says, don't worry about it! My daughter is 2 1/2 and STILL puts things in her mouth and it STILL freaks me out. The other day we were at a store and she found a piece of candy on the floor and ate it, I almost died. My son is almost 12 months and of course, everything goes into his mouth. This doesn't take care of the gross stuff, but if I were you, I would take an infant/child CPR class. I took a 3 hour course that was given by my local children's hospital and they taught CPR and choking techniques. I know that if one of my kids is choking I will probably panic but I feel better knowing that I will be able to help them if they need it.

Yes, I can totally relate. At first I was totally terrified about every little thing he put in his mouth. My 1st never put anything in his mouth and my 2nd is my little hoover vacuum.
It is absolutely insane what he puts in his mouth. Up until last week (when he finally started walking) I couldn't even really take him outside. He would pick up rolly pollies, leaves, grass, rocks, and dirt clods. Yes, whole dirt clods. My husband and I had to flush his mouth out because he started gagging on all the dirt in his mouth. The weird thing was that he didn't just want to 'explore' it, he was actually eating it!! My mom never believed me until she watched him one day, and she said she was shocked. He was actually eating everything on the ground!!
Initially, I tried to tackle and hold him down and pull everything out. Now, as long as its not a plant of some type I let it go (excluding joking hazards). In fact that hard thing inow is handling the other Moms that are looking at me like "aren't you going to take that away' or me having to respond to their statements like "oh baby don't put that in your mouth"...Sometimes I roll with it and attempt to make an effort to pulling it out...by the 10th time I say "ya this is why I've given up on it and just let him go at it".

I think the funniest thing in the world is that when he won't eat any of his food that we give him that is placed on his tray up at the table with us...But as soon as I put the tray on the floor, he's all over it and devouring it like he's starving...I've jokingly called him the dog I never had..

He bites anything and everything, eats everything off the ground...And now he's barking (imitation of course) Kids I swear they sure make you laugh don;t they :) BTW now that he's walking the putting things in his mouth seem to be waning ;)

Oh my goodness, I remember that! My babies were little vacuums! But they turned out just fine. :) Still it was stressful trying keep up with them. I feel for you. I don't remember that stage lasting too long, although at the time it seemed like forever!

I am a first time mother as well and my daughter did/still does the same thing, she is 15 months now. She used to eat magazines, books, string and the other day she took a bite out of a candle. I was super worried about it at first but I think its part of being a baby. She never got sick or had any problems, shes perfectly healthy! Your little girl will be fine, dont stress wait till she starts climbing onto the couch then worry lol!

First of all, be patient! You are trying to train her to do something new. Here are a couple of ideas: My advice is to keep the floor as clean as possible, she may even like to help you sweep and throw stuff out. My daughter loves to throw things in the trash now. It took a couple of months of No to prevent her from taking stuff OUT of the trash, and lots of praise when she threw things IN but now she enjoys cleaning up. I also tried to swap something like a teething ring, or safe toy when I saw her pick up junk off the floor and again, tell her, "No, we don't eat things off the floor, here, chew on this." My daughter has passed this phase for the most part, unless she is trying to push my buttons, so there is hope! Again, be patient, remember that babies are exploring their world, and need a lot of repetition. They have short memories!

Totally normal. This too will pass. Hate to tell you - if you are worried now, what will you do when you have a second baby? Take the oldest child's toys away? Of course not. You do what you can. But the world is not perfect. Kids have been putting stuff in their mouth from the beginning of time and the majority survive!!! I think we too often have expectations that can not be met. It's impossible to watch someone 100% of the time. Sounds like you are doing great!

I don't think you have anything to worry about. She is just exploring her world using her mouth. It's all part of the developmental learning process. Just make sure that she only has access to things that are safe for her to put in her mouth. Eventually this will fade away.

This phase is a nightmare. Especially since deadly objects with no logic show up out of nowhere. Thumbtack in the playroom? We have no bulletin board or thumbtacks anywhere in the house??!!! Who needs to vacuum when the baby loves eating dust bunnies and hair? Anyway, you have to sort of let go and not worry. Luckily, you're almost out of the woods. My third and last finally quit doing this all of a sudden recently, and she's 1 year old. My other two quit suddenly around the same time. Hang in there!

I used to worry but then I read this article: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/27/health/27brod.html
'In studies of what is called the hygiene hypothesis, researchers are concluding that organisms like the millions of bacteria, viruses and especially worms that enter the body along with “dirt” spur the development of a healthy immune system.'

So its all good. I am very lax about that sort of stuff. I feel it goes hand in hand with exploration and learning and my baby is VERY healthy. She's maybe been sick 2x in 2 years...

Don't stress! It will pass!

stick a pacifier in her mouth when you aren't watching her with 100% devotion. I don't think she'll get addicted to it (hopefully ;-) that's what I do when my 9 month old goes outside!

Yes you have to watch them 100% of the time. We baby proofed our house but my one year old still managed to find a penny, it must have fell out of my husbands pocket. As soon as i went to get it out of his mouth he swallowed! Choked for a minute then choked and hour later so we had to go get x-rays then finally it came out the other end 3 days later! They can find anything!!