Do you suck your hands all day? Do you have to wash your hands every time? 👶🏻🖐🏻

Do you like to suck your hands? Do you have to wash your hands every time? 👶🏻🖐🏻

The baby raises his hand to suck himself, sucks his finger, sucks his fist, or some days sucks almost all day...

Many times, the first thing your parents think about is

* "Will your hands be dirty?"

* "Do you have to wash your hands every time?"

* "Let your hands suck like this get sick?"

These concerns are very common, especially for novice parents who want to take the best care of their children.

But the good news is that hand suction is a natural development for infants, and in most children, it is not necessary to wash their hands every time they put their hands in their mouths.

The more important thing is to keep your hands properly clean, not to try to keep them sterile all the time.

Why do babies like to suck their hands?

During the age of two to four months, babies begin to discover that "this hand is ours."

As muscle control improves, the cub begins to raise his hand to his face, hold his mouth, and bring his or her hand to his mouth. This is a developmental milestone.

Sucking hands helps the baby.

🩵 Learn your own body.

🩵 Practice eye, hand and mouth coordination.

🩵 explores surfaces and senses through the mouth, a sensitive organ in infancy.

🩵 comfort yourself when you feel sleepy, tired, excited, or are adjusting to the environment.

🩵 Prepare before the tooth period begins, even if the tooth has not yet germinated.

Therefore, hand sucking does not always mean that you are hungry. If you are just fed full milk, gain weight, and are in a normal mood, hand sucking is more often an age behavior than hunger.

You suck your hands often. Does that mean dirty?

No.

Having a child put his hand in his mouth does not always mean that his hands are dirty.

If the child is indoors, playing on clean ground, and has not yet touched dirt, the child's hand does not need to be cleaned every time it is lifted into the mouth.

On the other hand, if the hand is stained with dust, soil, food, dry saliva, milk stains, or just a lot of people are holding the baby's hand, it should be cleaned before the baby sucks the hand again.

The thing to care about is reasonable cleanliness, not sterility.

Do you have to wash your hands every time you suck your hands?

The answer is not necessary.

For babies who are healthy and in a typical environment, there is no need to rush to wash or wipe their hands every time the baby puts them in their mouth.

Because in real life, children cannot be in a sterile environment at any time, and every attempt to wipe or wash their hands can cause problems, e.g.

* Dry hand skin

* Skin irritated

* The skin loses its natural shield.

So the goal of care is not "sterile hands," but "properly clean hands."

When should your hands be cleaned?

Clean when recommended

✅ every day.

✅. After coming home,

✅ There are many people holding your hand.

✅ The back of the hand is stained with milk, saliva, food or visible dirt.

✅. The back grabs the floor, toys, or items that may contain dust and stains.

If you are at home normally, your hands are clean, and you do not touch dirt, you do not need to wipe every time you suck your hands.

How to Clean the Right Baby Hands

1. Wash the adult's hands before touching the child.

2.Use clean or warm water, gently wash your hands, or use a soft cloth, moisten clean water, wipe.

3. Wipe all over the palm, back of the hand and nooks of the finger because it is a spot where sweat, milk stains and dirt accumulate.

4. Dry lining, especially finger nooks, to reduce moisture and irritation.

If the hands are not very dirty, soap is not needed every time. Using clean water is sufficient in many situations.

Don't forget to take care of "nails."

A baby's nails may look very small, but it's an area where dirt can accumulate.

Always cutting nails short will help.

* Reduce the accumulation of dirt under the nails.

* Reduce your chances of scratching your face and eyes.

* Make hands cleaner easier

Nails should be cut with scissors or nail clippers for children, and done with care.

What not to do

❌ Use alcohol to wipe the baby's hands regularly.

Alcohol can cause dry, irritating skin, and cubs often put their hands in their mouths immediately after wiping.

❌ Use wet tissue with alcohol or disinfectant often.

If required, children's products that are non-alcoholic and gentle to the skin should be selected.

❌ wear gloves all the time to keep the baby sucking hands.

Touching things by hand is an important part of learning and development. Putting on gloves all the time may reduce your child's chances of exploring your surroundings through touch.

Belief VS Truth

❌ You suck your hands = hungry.

✅ Not always. If the baby is just breastfed and still in a good mood, hand sucking is often an age development.

❌ have to wash your hands every time you suck your hands.

✅ If your hands are normally clean, you don't need to wash every time.

❌ The more disinfectant, the better.

✅ Proper care of cleanliness is enough. Using disinfectants too often can irritate the skin.

❌ Forbidden baby sucking hands

✅ Sucking hands in infancy is a normal behavior, and a natural part of learning.

FAQ

You suck your hands and saliva a lot. Is it because your teeth are going up?

It may be, but not everyone. Many children around 2-4 months of age begin to salivate more with the development of the salivary glands, even if the teeth have not yet risen.

If you suck your hands after vaccination, can you?

Yes, if the hands are clean and the baby has no specific taboo from the doctor, hand suction does not diminish the active vaccine.

If you're outside all day, do you have to wipe your hands more often?

The hands should be cleaned after touching public items, or before the baby sucks the hands. If it is inconvenient to use water, wet tissues can be used for children who are temporarily non-alcoholic, and then washed with water when the opportunity arises.

When should I take you to the doctor?

Should consult a pediatrician if found

* Hands have a red, swollen or lymphatic rash.

* The skin is broken until it bleeds.

* The child sucks his hand until the wound occurs repeatedly.

* Fever with mouth ulcer, rash, or other abnormal symptoms

Summary

Hand sucking is a natural development of the baby and a way for the baby to learn the body and its surroundings.

What parents should do is not rush to wash their hands every time they put them in their mouths, but to keep their hands clean in daily life, cut their nails short, clean when their hands are stained, and avoid unnecessary disinfectant use.

Because the goal of raising children is not to make everything sterile, but to create a clean, safe and learning-appropriate environment at all ages. 🤍

# Children suck hands # Infant development # Baby # Newborn baby # Baby# Raising a child # Raising a positive child # New parents # New mothers # Mother and child knowledge # Child development # BabyDevelopment # NewbornCare # ParentingTips # BabyCare # phbus