Why infants or babies start putting hands or toys in their mouth at 6 to 7 months of age?

That's the way children associate themselves with objects. First the mouth, then the mouth again. They are trying to "relate" to an object or thing. Just like the hands go into the mouth and so on.

To "familiarize" themselves to this new and exciting world they've come into. Actually, it's innate to say the least. It can't be stopped. It's learned and innate. The bottle, the pacifier just about everything goes straight to mouth. It goes back to the days of cavemen. Actually, scientists are claiming that "kissing" goes back to the "nurturing" stimuli that women learned by feeding their young via mouth from first chewing certain food(s) and then placing the half dissolved particles of food in the babies mouths to eat. It's all innate, really. The mouth is basically where most "stimuli" reside, therefore, into the mouth it goes.

What better way to get to know something then by sticking it in your mouth? The taste, texture and even smell (mouth is close to the nose) are all absorbed by one simple action.

That is part of the stages to do with their sensors, They explore with their mouths and they will eventually settle into the next stage. Just make sure they explore with safe toys.

During the first 18months of age, babies explore the world by using their senses...mostly their mouths.  Sigmund Freud described this as the oral phase of development, one of 5 psychosexual developmental... keep reading →