Ok..my mother seems to think that because my LO is now at the stage where he is discovering his hands and putting them into his mouth, that he is developing bad habits and that he will have "buck teeth". I have been reading that now is the stage where they ARE discovering there hands and like to look at them, investigate them, taste them etc. I also read that it soothes them to suck..I haven't given him a dummy because she seems to think its a bad habit thing as well AND that it is a nasty germy thing because it drops everywhere etc> (as you can see she is a very opinionated person) she gets mad at me because I don't take his hands out of his mouth when he sucks them because I read that they can't form bad habits this young...they are just discovering their bodies. I've tried giving him a dummy behind her back but he doesn't wanna suck it. So my question is- Do you think that it is a bad habit in the making? or should I just trust what I have been reading and go on thinking he is just discovering and exploring his own body??

Discovering their hands is a very important part of development and I think you should let him go for it! It's how they learn! Our LO constantly has his hands in his mouth at the moment.It's just a phase and I don't think it will form any bad habits. I'd be reminding your mum (politely of course, lol) that YOU are YOUR baby's mum!

we let Hannah suck on her hands to, just watch his hands because they can sometimes get red and raw looking from sucking on them (at least that happened with Hannah)

Ugh, she sounds like my Mom. An opinion for everything! lol

We let Rocco chew and suck on his hands. I do take them out every once in a while to dry them off so that he doesn't break out in a rash. I will not let him suck on his thumb when his teeth are coming in because my sister in law sucked her thumb until she was 9 and she has some messed up teeth to this day! lol

I asked the HV about this as it was bothering me, but she said its all part of his development and will lead on to him putting other things in his mouth teething and then weaning so leave him too it. The worst thing about it is that his hands seem to accumulate so much fluff between his fingers and I've started refering to him as the fluff monster!!!!

At this stage it would probably be worse for him if you stop him, because this is an important phase in his development. His hands going in his mouth is an important stage in his development. He's learning about their size, texture, where they are in relation to other things, how they move. As well as. Soothing himself. So there's a lot going on there x

Katie does this too and as others have said, it's an important part of their development.

I agree with what everyone else has said x

I'm with everyone else too. Grandma doesn't always know best!

Lx

Totally normal. Abby never took a dummy and as far as I am concerned, if she needs to suck her thumb and fingers to soothe herself, she can go right ahead. My brother and sister both sucked their thumbs until they were about 7 or 8 and they never had buck teeth. In fact, my brothers dentist told my mum off for stopping my brother sucking his thumb because his teeth were growing in the way and sucking his thumb pulled them back out!

Her hands are constantly in her mouth, as they are supposed to be.

My Mum is the other way round. We have sleepsuits with mittens on which, if Abby's finger nails are on the long side and she wont let me cut them, I will put them on otherwise she scratches her face to shreds. Mum will always, take the mitts off. I used to fight her on it, but now I just hand Abby to her when she does it and enjoy seeing mum having her face torn to shreds!!