Your toddler is driving you crazy! Why do they seem to lick everything or put it in their mouths? Whether it’s paint, glue, or a table, you can expect your little one to lick it! You don’t even want to think about how unsanitary their favourite toy or doll is. Is this normal behaviour? How can you get your toddler to stop licking everything?

It can drive parents crazy when toddlers start putting stuff in their mouths. At times, it’s like they’re doing it automatically. But don’t worry; nearly all toddlers go through this phase.

But before we look at adjusting to this behaviour, let’s look at why toddlers do it in the first place.

Why does my toddler lick everything?

First, it’s perfectly normal for your toddler to put things in their mouth. It means that they’re curious about what it is and using all the resources available to them. They’re using their eyes to see it and their hands to touch it. It makes logical, albeit gross, sense that the next step is putting it in their mouths to taste it.

This is coupled with the fact that toddlers lack impulse control. The thought will pop into their head, and then they’ll do it, not considering any self-control.

There really isn’t a solution for this. Not everything in parenting is “fixable.” The difference between babies and toddlers is that they don’t necessarily repeat this behaviour with the same object. If they don’t like the taste, you can rest assured they probably won’t do it again. Any parent that has trouble feeding their child things they don’t like will probably agree with this!

What can I do when they lick something?

Whilst this behaviour is not necessarily fixable, you can take steps to prevent them from encountering anything dangerous in the first place. Keep any cleaning chemicals, hot drinks, and alcohol behind locked drawers or out of reach from your little one, as well as sharp objects.

An important thing to remember is not to scold your child or yell at them. Like we said before, toddlers have no real impulse control, so it’s not constructive to tell them off about something they don’t really have control over.

What you can do is simply remind them that only food goes in their mouths. At this age, a toddler should be able to tell the difference between food and non-food objects. Still, that lack of impulse control means they’ll still be licking and putting things in their mouths. Look at it as your little one being curious about their world and the surrounding objects.

Eventually, and it’s different for all children, they won’t need their mouths to explore the world and their senses. You probably won’t notice for a while until you pick up on the fact they haven’t put anything in their mouths in a long time.

Once it stops becoming regular behaviour, you’ll find that it’ll happen from time to time, but that’s okay! You’ve helped them through this perfectly natural phase of their development. So, relax in the comfort that this happens to most children, and it’s nothing to worry about.

Why does my toddler lick everything?

Unii shares how to tackle this potentially dangerous behaviour. Take our Toddler Health & Development Journey for more sound advice.