Advice Please
I know I've been asking for advice a lot lately but we need some ideas and I knew I could count on my faithful readers to help me come up with something.
My 2 1/2 year old is chewing on everything. He is a very oral child, literally! LOL. He first started sucking on his pillow at night. Then it turned into chewing and he literally chewed up half the pillow! After it sewing it several times and him chewing it up again we took that pillow away and now he's working on another one.
He chewed BJ headphone cord in 1/2, started chewing on his clothes, LOVES gum and last night he was watching the kids play a game on the computer and started chewing on the mouse pad! Mike was there and said "here chew on my finger instead", just joking around, and he started chewing on his finger!
The funny thing is he doesn't suck his thumb and hasn't had a pacifier since he was 4 months old.
He gets it from me. I sucked my thumb for years, chewed my nails until they were raw until I was 19 and if you give me a pen you might as well forget it because the end will gone before you know it! (Drives Michael nuts! He hid pens from me when were first married so he could use some pens that weren't chewed on! LOL)
I do better now. I do realize now that is part of my weight problem. When I stopped biting my fingernails, I started eating instead.
My dad is the way same. I remember he used to go around chewing on rubber piano tubing all the time, non-stop. (My folks used to make player pianos and piano parts).
Anyway, I know it's genetic. Any suggestions of what I could give him to chew on but that he won't choke. I hate to give him a pacifier at 2 1/2. I got a teething ring today but I don't think it's going to go over very well. It's kind of hard and he likes things that are soft and pliable.
I think this is more than just teething for him because he's been doing it for 6 or 8 months now.
I would appreciate ANY advice you could give me!
Tawra
www.LivingOnADime.com
My 2 1/2 year old is chewing on everything. He is a very oral child, literally! LOL. He first started sucking on his pillow at night. Then it turned into chewing and he literally chewed up half the pillow! After it sewing it several times and him chewing it up again we took that pillow away and now he's working on another one.
He chewed BJ headphone cord in 1/2, started chewing on his clothes, LOVES gum and last night he was watching the kids play a game on the computer and started chewing on the mouse pad! Mike was there and said "here chew on my finger instead", just joking around, and he started chewing on his finger!
The funny thing is he doesn't suck his thumb and hasn't had a pacifier since he was 4 months old.
He gets it from me. I sucked my thumb for years, chewed my nails until they were raw until I was 19 and if you give me a pen you might as well forget it because the end will gone before you know it! (Drives Michael nuts! He hid pens from me when were first married so he could use some pens that weren't chewed on! LOL)
I do better now. I do realize now that is part of my weight problem. When I stopped biting my fingernails, I started eating instead.
My dad is the way same. I remember he used to go around chewing on rubber piano tubing all the time, non-stop. (My folks used to make player pianos and piano parts).
Anyway, I know it's genetic. Any suggestions of what I could give him to chew on but that he won't choke. I hate to give him a pacifier at 2 1/2. I got a teething ring today but I don't think it's going to go over very well. It's kind of hard and he likes things that are soft and pliable.
I think this is more than just teething for him because he's been doing it for 6 or 8 months now.
I would appreciate ANY advice you could give me!
Tawra
www.LivingOnADime.com
posted by Tawra Jean at 12:21 PM
4 Comments:
I know that right now you don't have any insurance, but I would ask a doctor about this. It sounds like he could get into 'trouble' chewing on something that is not safe..like if he choked in the night on some of the pillow stuffing...I wish I had some better advice for you. In all honesty I have not run into anything like this before. My oldest son went through a phase where he chewed the front of his shirt, he did it in school while he was studying. It did not last long when I fussed at him for messing up his nice shirts. He then went on to chewing pens etc...I am happy to report he is a normal man, working as a RN in a big hospital. He still chews his pens.
Roxie
I also have a chewer. I am NOT trying to alarm you, just that this child also had overall sensory integration problems, so we had to deal with the chewing as part of his Occupational Therapy treatment (for those unfamiliar with the term, OT does not refer to job training, it speaks to the way people spend their time). We would just have to give him something acceptable to chew on, such as rubber/surgical tubing, etc. Far better than chewing his finger raw. If he is chewing clothes, yes, it looks gross, but just have him wear an old T shirt during that behavior and be ready to do lots of distracting when at church, etc., where ruining "good" clothes is a problem.
By the way, in response to Roxie's post, I never had any problem with my son chewing in his sleep. Naturally, make sure he doesn't have something that is an actual hazard in his bed, but otherwise I wouldn't be too concerned about that aspect of things. Just my opinion.
Christy
Just a suggestion,
I am sure it is something other toddlers also do but "just in case", I would have his blood Iron checked just to rule out PICA as the cause of his chewing.
My daughter has a similar problem but they call it Tongue Thrusting... her tongue is in sucking motion ALL THE TIME... it's a habit, it's gross to some. She'll chew on anything she can get her hands on, including her clothes and hair.
It's normal to chew the end of the pen (or I hope so since I do all the time too...LOL) but when it's excessive, there's a problem. Do some research, ask around. I read that you don't have insurance but if you could find doctor 'friends', even online, they could direct you to some sound advice.
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