All people have bad habits. This does not mean alcohol and cigarettes, but something like tapping fingers on the table, clattering teeth or scratching your face during a conversation. Of course, this is not a bad indicator, because many do it unknowingly.
Bad habits
If adults have bad habits, then children too. Therefore, it is important to carefully monitor your child in order to notice a disastrous change in the behavior of the child, especially the smallest ones. With age, children try to study their body, it starts from 5 months. The kid examines his hands, bringing them to his face, raises his legs up, touches them.
In addition to studying his body, the child is trying to taste everything: his fingers, blanket, and toys. This behavior is considered absolutely normal, because the baby only knows the world. And he himself does not even understand how the next little thing was in his mouth, because the child pulls them at the level of instincts.
Kids quickly learn all the surrounding objects, try to touch, twist something, and in addition, imitate adult manifestations of facial expressions, for example, smiling or sticking out their tongues, as well as squealing and screaming at the voice of mom and dad.
Such actions of the child serve as a kind of stage in the development of his motor and mental abilities. When the baby performs absolutely normal actions, it is only necessary to ensure that he does not get hurt or pull something dirty in his mouth. But there are such acts that once committed, the child unconsciously repeats them again and can do harm to himself because it is a habit. There are a lot of them. But this article will discuss why the child picks the navel, what are the reasons for this and what this action can lead to. We will also tell you what to do to parents.
The child picks the navel. Physiological reasons
Overly restless mothers, having suspected that their child is not right, can immediately take him to a child psychologist, which will only frighten the child. This, of course, is a way out of this situation. But before taking extreme measures, you should try to find out the cause yourself. And many manage to do it.
In fact, the reason why the child constantly picks the navel should be obvious. In order to find out, just watch the baby. There are only two explanations for such non-standard behavior of children, which lie in physiological and psychological factors.
The first are associated with any concern of the baby in the navel - he feels discomfort in this area of the abdomen. Therefore, it often touches her. If the reason is physiological, then its external manifestation is possible, so parents should carefully examine this part of the body. Around the navel, redness or a rash that may itch may occur. Also in this part there are scratches that bring pain and discomfort to the baby.
Therefore, if the child picks the navel, the first thing to do is to conduct a thorough examination of the abdomen for rashes, abrasions and cuts, as well as any other abnormal changes.
Another alarming sign should be the unusual behavior of the baby - refusal to eat, fever, tearfulness and lethargy. The combination of these symptoms with picking the navel may indicate the presence of a disease.
As soon as the listed symptoms arose or spots appeared on the tummy, redness, and worse discharge, you immediately need to take the child to the doctor.
Hernia
One of the common diseases in young children is considered a hernia. It can form due to non-standard natural data - a large umbilical ring or weak abdominal muscles. It is not difficult to notice it, the hernia protrudes as it were over the skin. But sometimes it has the property of being drawn inward. The child does not understand that this is an abnormal state of his navel, and tries to play with a hernia, pressing on it so that it hides under the skin and looks back. This process does not bring pain to the baby, so it seems interesting to him, but parents should understand that this requires mandatory medical intervention, so that in the future there will be no complications with the health of the child.
If any pimple or tubercle is found on the abdomen of a child, it is necessary to show the surgeon. He will quickly identify what it is and prescribe a treatment or surgery. The main thing is to seek help in time. If the child picks the navel for physiological reasons, then with the removal of the same hernia, the habit will soon be forgotten.
Emotions
But it happens that not everything is so simple to identify! And touching the navel became a bad habit. You need to find out the psychological factor behind this action.
Picking the navel can be associated with the manifestation of some emotions:
- Anxiety.
- Malice
- Aggressive behavior.
- Nervous overexcitation.
- Resentment.
- Sadness.
- And banal boredom.
All of these emotions are rather negative than positive. And the root cause of their manifestation can be hidden not only in the mental state of the baby, but also in the home environment in which he is constantly located. If parents often quarrel with each other or break down on the child, then his reaction with touching the navel can be defensive behavior or fear. In addition to parents, negative-minded relatives - brothers, sisters, grandmothers, as well as any persons in contact with him who can frighten the child can cause unusual behavior of the baby.
Family relationship
From infancy, children feel a negative atmosphere in the family, where everything is stable and good externally - they have an apartment, a car, they go to rest, and psychologically they have only quarrels and scandals. The kid is still unable to speak, therefore he cannot open his feelings about conflicts to adults, therefore, he has to do it differently. For this reason, the child picks the navel.
If everything is normal in the family and there is no negative, then other children or their parents can have a bad effect on the baby, with whom the child is forced to spend time on the playground or in the kindergarten. The child is still too small to resist others. Therefore, he throws out his feelings on the navel. Perhaps this helps him to distract and calm down.
Self-aggression
Why is a child picking his belly button? One of the worst reasons for this is self-aggression. It happens. The child makes this action specifically for the occurrence of pain. Besides the fact that he touches the navel, the baby deliberately pinches himself, scratches, sometimes until the appearance of blood.
When parents notice such a child’s behavior, they should take him to a psychologist. One cannot do without a doctor in this situation, because this is a sign of the onset of a serious psychological illness, and if measures are not taken in time, then it can go into the irreversible stage.
Picking the navel itself can lead to injury and the development of an infection or disease.
Parents should understand that the child does not just do this, but with the aim of removing negativity and reassuring. And if you shout at the baby, then he will be scared even more, and the situation will only worsen.
What not to do?
If the child picks the navel, what should I do? What actions should not be taken? You can not scream at the child, try to seal the navel, smear it, and even worse - beat the baby on the hands. This will not help.
Making fun of a bad habit of a child or comparing it with other children can affect the formation of an inferiority complex in him, which will spoil his future life.
To ask the child to promise not to do this again is also not the best option. Because children are rarely responsible for their words.
Punishment is also not the best measure to combat a bad habit. Most likely, the child will pick his belly button to annoy his parents. It is necessary to reasonably approach the solution of the problem.
Recommendations
How to wean a child picking a navel?
In order to cope with the baby's habit, you need:
- Find the reason for this behavior.
- Spend more time with your child.
- Ask the children how they spend the day, what fascinating happened.
- If a bad habit manifests itself when the parents scream at the child, then you need to find another way to calm down.
- Come up with as many entertainments as possible so that children do not get bored. It is best to take them to a puppet theater, to attractions and more.
- Find friends for a child or help him meet his peers. Lack of communication also adversely affects the psyche.
- It is not necessary to punish the child for such a habit, but it is better to observe him and find a calm solution.
- Do not forbid children to show emotions in the form of tears or screaming. Of course, if they do not cross the border. This is a way of expressing emotions, getting rid of negativity, calming.
- The surest option is to wean a child from picking his belly button - find him an interesting lesson - drawing, playing with friends, write in the section.
- If the kid likes to draw, then these abilities can be developed. This hobby helps to depict all negative emotions on paper.
- Children very often have bad dreams that reveal their hidden fears. You can ask the child to talk about what he saw, then you can understand what is bothering him. And before going to bed, it is better to tell him good tales or stories.
- In the event that picking the navel is a kind of ritual, then you need to replace it with a more useful one.
- Too spoiled children cannot control their emotions and behavior, then bad habits arise. To solve this problem, it is worth making a routine of the day to be followed, this helps to discipline the baby.
1 year old baby and 2 year old baby and bad habit
Often, mothers ask what to do if a child picks a navel a year? After all, at this age it is difficult to explain to him that this cannot be done. At this age, the baby learns his body, so you just need to distract him with interesting toys, and very soon he will forget about the harmful occupation.
At any age, a addiction may arise, for example, if a child at 2 years old picks his navel, then you need to find out if there are any physical and psychological prerequisites for this. If you solve these problems, the baby will grow up happy and healthy.
Conclusion
Most parents are unaware that their children’s unusual behavior is due to a lack of love and attention. Therefore, the best solution to such a delicate problem is to devote more time to the baby.