Why does my baby keep putting her hands in her mouth?

Does she know she's doing it?

That was our question, because she'd started interlacing her fingers and it looked far too deliberate for someone who'd been alive a few weeks.

The honest answer is partly. Early on it's more reflex than plan. But the sensation of one hand touching the other is information, and she's using it.

What's actually happening

She's building a map of her own body, and it starts at the middle. Bringing both hands together at the centre of her chest is called working at the midline, and it's a genuine developmental step rather than fidgeting.

Hands to mouth comes early too, and it does two jobs. It's exploration — her mouth is the most sensitive part of her, so it's the best tool she has for finding out what a hand is. And it's self-soothing, which is why she does more of it when she's unsettled.

That second part caught us out. We kept reading hands in the mouth as hunger and offering a feed. Sometimes it was. Often she was just comforting herself. Papa kept thinking we were underfeeding her for a while. He relaxed when he asked the pediatrician and she said Ari is just exploring the world now.

How it progresses

Accidental contact first. Then bringing them together on purpose. Then looking at them — which is a lovely thing to watch, because she'll stare at her own hand like it's arrived from somewhere else.

Then reaching, then grabbing, then getting it to her mouth reliably. Each of those builds on the last.

Corrected age applies. Ours was born at 33 weeks, so all of this ran later than the charts suggested and was exactly on time for her.

Left her hands out rather than covered by sleeves or a swaddle during awake time. She can't explore what she can't reach.

Held her upright some of the time so her hands were in her field of view, rather than always flat on her back.

And once she was reaching, gave her something light and easy to hold — a soft ring or a muslin. Nothing complicated.

What's worth mentioning at a check, rather than in a panic: a hand that stays tightly fisted well past a few months, or consistently only using one side.