How do you retrieve debris from their mouths? (not a joke!)

[deborah_r]

Kai is constantly putting the most nasty things he can find in his mouth. He will not open his mouth for me (I honestly don't know how many teeth the boy has) and I am forced to stick my finger in there and fish around until I find it. When he bites me and I say "Ow!" he laughs. Would a tongue depresser do the trick?

Should I just leave him alone and figure he either spit it out or swallow it eventually? It's usually cat hair, carpet threads or a chunk of board book.

[lfp2n]

I'm having difficulty too. If its something big or unknown, I basically have her in a headlock and put my finger in the side (where theres no teeth) and sweep it forward out of the front. I think you have to be careful not to push things further back over their tongue. Still I find I'm leaving more and more things in -I hope cardboard isn't too toxic I've noticed many board books with nibbles out.

Lucy (DD 3/03)

[votre_ami03]

Finger sweep here too. I usually poke my finger in one side or the other & then sweep down between the lips & gum line. I don't want to force any chokables down his throat. Nolan is really bad about this too, the lil' stinkers.

I was a SIDS freak, now I am constantly worried about choking. *sigh*


Christy, mommy to Nolan 7/22/03

[amp]

Deborah, as usual, Kai seems to be doing just what Jake is doing! I've found that sometimes I can let him 'chew and swallow' whatever piece of paper he's eaten (goat), but other times he seems to be having trouble with it and I have to fish it out of there with my finger. And yes, he does bite me. But I think I'd just poke him with a tongue depressor, so I think I'll have to skip that one. The other day I actually kept him up from a nap for like 15 more minutes to make sure his mouth was clear of the debris he had just consumed so that he wouldn't choke when I put him down! Sheesh!

[MartiesMom2B]

Deborah:

I have to pinch Martie's nose so that her mouth will open for me to get the debris and then I do a sideways finger sweep.

Sonia
Proud Mommy to Martie 4/6/03

[lizajane]

trying pinching the hollow of his cheeks together, like as if to make him make a fish face. might pop his mouth open.

schuyler tried desperately to eat mulch all day at the park today.

[JElaineB]

DS is a lot better at not putting stuff in his mouth now, but I have had success with the "squeeze the cheeks" method. I also taught him to stick out his tongue, so after a while when I squeezed his cheeks he would stick out his tongue and the stuff was usually on the tip of his tongue. If not, I have definitely stuck my fingers in his mouth to fish out things plenty of times! I try to see the item before sticking my fingers in, I'm worried about shoving something down his throat and him choking if I do a totally blind sweep.

Jennifer
mom to Jacob 9/27/02

[ChicagoMama]

This is more of a long-term solution - but I work with Shelby pretty often on saying "ah!" and opening her mouth wide. I make it into a game. I read this somewhere - that if you practice or make a game out of opening their mouths they are more likely to open for you if you really do need to look in / get in their mouths quickly. I do it while we are brushing teeth, and the couple of times I have wanted to look in her mouth since we have done that, she has done it instantly. I also think this may work for you because Shelby doesn't let me do ANYTHING else even remotely close to that - I can't wipe her face, clip her nails, brush her hair, etc, etc without some level of a fight. (Hmmm -Maybe I should turn everything else into a game, too? Physician, heal thyself I suppose.)
Becky

Mama to DDs Shelby 09/19/02 and Sydney 10/16/03

[jd11365]

Brilliant idea!

I do the squeeze the cheeks myself, but the nose...brilliant! They have no choice but to open their mouths!


Jamie
Mommy to Kayla
May '03