Baby mouthing on toys, also known as mouthing behaviour, is one of the primary ways babies investigate the world. This is a natural part of infant learning and exploring, and a baby’s mouth remains at the center of the tactile system used for exploration during the first 2-3 years of life. Mouthing on oral development toys, such as teethers, provides infants with a range of benefits that are important for their overall development.

Introducing babies to oral development toys at 3 or 4 months, or even earlier, parents provide their little ones with:

- a healthy form of discovery and cognition of sensory qualities like texture, taste and shape;

- a wonderful tool of physical development that helps strengthen jaw, cheek and tongue muscles and gradually improves oral-motor skills;

- successful preparation for manipulating food in the mouth, which means normalizing response to various textures and gaining better control over swallow reflexes;

- natural way of building stronger immunity: mouthing and teething activities make the immune system better recognize bacteria and viruses in the environment and prepare to fight off germs that might get in.

Teething toys become a great option for kids’ calming and self-regulation because:

- they help to relieve gum pain, increasing before a tooth erupts;

- this is a wonderful way to replace a soother when time comes to wean therefrom.

Oral development toys for babies come in a range of different materials and styles, and there are more innovative designs than ever. A great variety of teething rings, toothbrushes, teething blankets and mitts, cooling teethers, and what not! However, choosing the best teething and mouthing toys, look for those made of natural rubber or wood and keep in mind that they should be age-appropriate, lightweight and easy for a baby to manipulate, but large enough to avoid a choking hazard⁠. Mouthing toys should be durable for the use when the baby’s teeth come in and safe to bite and chew on.

From sensory exploration to emotional and cognitive aspects, mouthing toys ensure rich experiences and facilitate babies’ skills development.