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1066038 
Technical Report 
Research into the mouthing behaviour of children up to 5 years old: Executive summary 
Norris, B; Smith, S 
2002 
Consumer and Competition Policy Directorate, Department of Trade and Industry 
London, England 
English 
This report presents the findings of an investigation into children’s mouthing behaviour, and particularly how long children mouth on dummies/soothers, fingers, toys and other objects. The work was undertaken to gain a better understanding of the mouthing behaviour of children which could, if appropriate, be taken into account when developing safety standards and policy.

Two hundred and thirty six children aged from 1 month to 5 years were divided into 12 age categories, and information on what children put in their mouths was gathered by parental observation, in the home environment, over a total of 5 hours for each child.

From these observations, estimates were made of how long children in each age group would mouth on different items over a typical day. Data are presented on estimated daily mouthing time according to what was mouthed.

When considering maximum daily mouthing times, dummies/soothers are generally mouthed the most across all age groups, with maximum daily mouthing time between 2 and 5 hours for most age groups. Maximum daily mouthing on dummy/soother shows no real pattern, with several peaks at 9-12 months, 18-21 months, 3 and 4 years, and is at its lowest at age 5. Estimated maximum daily mouthing on fingers generally increases with age, peaking at age 5. This is most probably due to the presence of a few children with thumb sucking habits in the sample.

Maximum estimated mouthing time per day on toys or other objects is generally around 1-1.5 hours each per day. Maximum daily mouthing on toys peaks at 6-9 months and then generally decreases as children get older, while maximum mouthing on other objects peaks at age 2 but generally stays at a more steady level than mouthing on other items.

The results of this study are discussed in relation to potential mechanical hazards, the implications for product safety are considered, and conclusions and recommendations are drawn.