Stopping a toddler playing with his belly button
Our toddler has recently, since moving into T-shirts rather than romper suits, discovered his belly button.
He now spends quite a lot of time with his hands up his shirt, or when settling for bed, with his hands in his sleeping bag playing with it.
Unfortunately this has started to lead to it becoming a bit red and irritated so we'd like to try and discourage him if we can. We're also trying to keep his fingernails as short as we can.
Any suggestions?
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My granddaughter does this only when she's going to sleep. We tried really hard to get her to take a pacifier but as she was breastfed she didn't want anything to do with it or a bottle. I don't think it's a problem she just soothing herself...
Just let him play with his belly button. He is just enjoying his body and he wont really harm/destroy it. What do you think could happen in worst case?
This habit will stop sooner or later. Just don’t make a problem out of it. Keeping the fingernails short is a good idea anyway.
Real problem?
Nobody (not even a child) would harm himself without reason. Excitement? Stress? Any illness or invisible injury (inguinal or umbilical hernia etc.) that causes this behaviour? You should go and ask a paediatrician.
Band-aid (a big one) — maybe?
Every time he does it, ask him to remove his hand (I am sure you have tried this, but be very very consistent).
If he is in school tell them what you are doing, so they can do the same thing.
My daughter picked her belly button until it bled and we use band aids. Pretty sure it won't cause body image issues. Everyone seems to be insane on this topic. It's one thing to discover it but if it's irritated and raw from that yes you should stop them from messing with it.
but leaving them to do anything they want doesnt always work. My little brother stopped doing it after a while (we didnt mentioned it to him a lot), but he has again started.It is hard to stop because they are children. Even adults cant stop a bad habit that soon. You just gotta be patient and remind him that what he is doing isnt good and causes damage and harm to his o her body.
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