How to stop a child from eating plastic

[kaffinito]

Ok, I'm at sea with this one. When DS9 was younger he ate rocks, sticks, etc. He stopped when I started giving him a multi vitamin.

My recent problem is that DN4 eats plastic. That means the edges of cups, zipper teeth on his coat, anything he can grab that is made out of plastic. Will the multivitamin trick work for him too or is there another issue here I'm unaware of?

He has CP, has all of his teeth (all of the ones he should have), and does his chewing on the zipper teeth when in the car (and out of my reach) or on those rare occasions I have to turn my back on him .

So any suggestions for how to get him to stop?

TIA (again)
Karen

 

[LMC]

Does he ingest these items or just chew and spit them out? If he is ingesting them, has he been evaluated for PICA? If he is chewing but not swallowing, it may be a sensory issue. Either way, you should see his doctor about it so it can be treated.

 

[bookwormde]

Sometimes it is a nutritional issue (vitamins), sometimes it is a sensory issue, sometimes it is a combination. There are lots of safe chewing items in the OT/PT catalogs for kids who need this stimulation.

Having a sensory profile done would be a good idea.

Bookwormde

 

[kaffinito]

He's not swallowing the plastic so as soon as I get the custody papers I'll get him evaluated for sensory issues. I suspect those anyway judging from his response to stimulations such as wind or the shower.

Thanks! In the meantime I'll look for those chewing items.

 

[LockShockBarrel]

Could it be as simple as an oral fixation?

 

[kaffinito]

Could it be as simple as an oral fixation?

I thought of that, but it's only plastic.

DS 9 ate rocks, dirt, insects, anything he could put in his mouth. DN4 just seems to like to chew - but he doesn't swallow, and it's only plastic items.

Although an oral fixation would explain his eating twice his body weight every day.

 

[LockShockBarrel]

I only bring it up because I used to do that a lot when I was a kid, from like
2nd grade to 9th grade. I would bite the corners off paper and chew it like gum, and all my pen caps were chewed on, but I never swallowed it, it was just to chew on.

 

[kaffinito]

Me too which is why I think you might be right.

 

[LockShockBarrel]

I should mention that I don't have any of problems people have been talking about with this, which isn't to say I don't have issues LOL. The only thing I have that would even approach the types of syndromes/disorders/etc you guys talk about is I do have ADHD. I never did the running around like a madwoman thing, but I would and still do fidget and wiggle my feet and can't keep a train of though going if I see something more interesting. So maybe that's where my paper and plastic chewing stemmed from, just having something to fiddle with. The more I thought about it, I thought I should at least give a little warning. When I chewed on stuff like pencaps, I used to cut my tongue and mouth on them all the time and you know how easily those little cuts can get infected, just something to watch for! I also figure we needed some cake.