![]() Chewing and sucking helps to self soothe so it is a strategy that children and adults use to help to calm themselves down if they are experiencing sensory overload. They, therefore, use the oral sensory seeking to help with self-regulation. Their brains become overwhelmed by the amount of information that they have to process. Sensory overload occurs when the child or adult has experienced too much sensory input from their environment. Chewing is also seen in children with autism and sensory issues. The child is experiencing sensory overloadĬhildren with sensory processing difficultiescan put things in their mouth or chew when they are overloaded too. It can also be an indicator that they do not have another strategy to use to help themselves calm down. It can be a useful sign that your toddler or young child is upset, tired or overwhelmed. Some children continue to use this strategy even when they are older. It is a strategy that babies use to help self soothe and regulate. The child is using the oral sensory seeking input to self-regulate or self-sootheĪs we said above, sucking is very calming. ![]() We give some suggestions of appropriate activities below. These children need more time to develop past this stage than their typically developing peers. Their behaviour is essentially reflecting the developmental age rather than their actual age. This is why they are still putting things in their mouth as it is normal for this developmental stage. They are still working in the sensorimotor stage of development. So, despite on paper being older as they have had their birthday, their brains are still processing information at a much younger age level. Older children with developmental delays may continue to use their mouths to explore objects like an 18 month old does as this reflects their developmental age. The child has developmental delaysĪs noted above, children use their mouths to explore objects and their world. Here we will discuss some reasons that older children might continue with oral sensory seeking past this age. The frequency can also increase when children are teething, again completely normal behaviour. We just want to again emphasise that it is really normal for children under the age of two to mouth items. I will consider why they are still putting non food objects into their mouth and share some ideas on how to help.Ĭommon reasons a child might still be putting things in their mouths past the age of two In this article, I will to explore why some children continue with oral sensory seeking past this age. This behaviour typically reduces from eighteen months but it can continue until two years of age. The mouth acts like a second pair of eyes, giving the brain extra information about the objects in the world. It helps them to learn more about an object, such as how big is it, how hard or soft is it, and its shape. This helps their sensory motor development. ![]() It is very normal for children to put everything into their mouth between the ages of 18-24 months. ![]() Sucking is also an important survival reflex, which is essential for feeding.Īs they get older, infants then use their mouth to explore the world. It explains why dummies or pacifiers work so well to help calm down an upset baby. This self-soothing can also be called self-regulation. They use sucking to help to calm themselves and self soothe. Oral sensory seeking behaviour, or mouthing items, is a normal behaviour in babies and infants. Oral seeking is part of normal development
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