Four year old putting EVERYTHING in her mouth!! Ack!

[Hokulele]

DD will be four this month and the past few weeks has developed a weird habit of putting everything in her mouth. She never was much of a chewer when she was a baby so I didn't really have to be overly cautious with her around chokeables etc. Now she's making up for it, though.

In a typical day she puts a good 20 to 30 things in her mouth - things I really would rather she didn't. They can be the tops of pens, anything random. Yesterday I pulled a piece of plastic wrapping from some toy out of her mouth. I don't mind the non-chokeables, but what I'm talking about is the miscellaneous items that she could choke on.

And she's always putting her mouth on things. We were in a store this morning and I turned around to see her rubbing her mouth up and down on the store TRASH CAN.

WHERE is this coming from and HOW do I stop it!

[Storm Bride]

I don't know. DS2 is similar, and it's annoying as heck. Mind you, he adds little extras, such as describing what it's like to eat an ant while its legs are still moving. Ugh.

I have no suggestions, just sympathy. Good luck.

[Hokulele]

Ugh - an ANT?!

I meant to add in my original post that another favorite is old food - or food-like items. Earlier today DD found a couple sticky things on the floor, where something must have dripped and not been cleaned up. She rubbed it until it came up and then ate it.

EEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeew!

[Storm Bride]

Originally Posted by Hokulele

Ugh - an ANT?!

Yes. When I told my sister about it, she said, "that's not big deal - bugs are a good source of protein". So, ds2 now habitually yells "protein" when he sees a bug, and pounces. *sigh*

If he must, he must...but I wish he wouldn't tell me...

I've seen ds2 do what you describe, too. He's also tried to lick a dried drip from the bottom of the fridge. Yech.

[tanyalynn]

For my kids, it's a sign of zinc deficiency. Iron can be an issue for some as well, I hear, but that hasn't been us. I've seen it onset abruptly for my son after physical stresses, the most recent was when he got a ton of fire ant bites. For my daughter it's been an ongoing issue for a long time.

My understanding is that a blood test looking at red blood cells would detect zinc issues, and iron and ferritin are easy to measure with bloodwork.

[MeditationMama]

My daughter is 5 and puts buttons, paper, and all sorts of little things in her mouth too. I keep stressing to her that she is an example for her little brother and I'd rather she kept strings and things out of her mouth. She does not eat off the floor or eat bugs thank God. Not sure what I'd do there, but very interesting about the zinc and iron. What is ferriton? All my biology chemistry has left me! lol

[MeditationMama]

Originally Posted by Hokulele

She never was much of a chewer when she was a baby so I didn't really have to be overly cautious with her around chokeables etc. Now she's making up for it, though.

Ditto

[tanyalynn]

Originally Posted by MeditationMama

My daughter is 5 and puts buttons, paper, and all sorts of little things in her mouth too. I keep stressing to her that she is an example for her little brother and I'd rather she kept strings and things out of her mouth. She does not eat off the floor or eat bugs thank God. Not sure what I'd do there, but very interesting about the zinc and iron. What is ferriton? All my biology chemistry has left me! lol

Ferritin is a different measure of iron, it should show iron stores, before you actually become anemic. Generally ferritin would go low before iron, and would be a more sensitive indicator. FWIW, a while back my ferritin was maybe in the bottom 20% of the range, still inside, but my doctor felt it was worth supplementing for a while given that I had fatigue. It didn't help, but it's good to know that people can have symptoms somewhat before they go out of the reference range.

I don't know if the range for zinc is similar, but subclinical zinc deficiencies are fairly common. It's lost in processed foods easily and there aren't a lot of really high zinc foods--oysters are one, but I haven't acquired that taste.

[Whistler]

Interesting... I saw this phase come and go. I reminded DD that only food goes in our mouths and that germy stuff could make her sick. She stopped right away. I didn't mean to use a fear tactic, just telling her the facts. Pennies especially grossed me out!

[lucyem]

It seemed to me that it was a stage of development my oldest DS did not go through until he was about 3 1/2 to 4ish. He was never into putting anything in his mouth until that age. Then all of a sudden everything went in. I ended up on the phone with the doctors office more then once when things went down.

[pampered_mom]

Ds seems to be doing something similar lately too...I just chalked it up to a stage he was going through. It's really more like he's chewing on things (the insultated tote for his kleen kanteen, the cloth napkin at the dinner table, the string on the cotton produce bag he totes all his most precious things in, etc). Sometimes it seems to happen when he's feeling overwhelmed and sometimes it seems like one of those absent minded kind of things...like something you'd do while far off in thought.

I often remind him that we don't want to do that - it's kind of gross when you want someone else to help you with/take something from you that you've just chewed on, it can wear out/destroy the things we most cherish meaning I can't fix them, etc. Sometimes it seems like it works and other times it seems like not so much. I've just been going with it figuring "this too shall pass".

ETA: I was talking with my sis about it - she teaches 4K for the local school district and says it's very common with the kids in her class. I lean much more towards developmental phase more than anything.

[ruthmg]

My 4 y/o DS has always been a mouther. I call him an "oral" learner (as opposed to a visual one.) It's like he has to taste it and feel it with his mouth to learn about something.

I have him repeat "We only put food and drink in our mouths." It doesn't really stick, though.

[titania8]

this has made me feel so much better!! my 3.5 yo has been mouthing everything lately, i really thought something was wrong! very interesting about the deficiencies. i think i'll get him some vitamins and see if anything changes.

[jrpbrown1]

Aha! You stole my thread title! My nearly 4yo dd is doing this, too. I am glad to hear others are mouthing things too and that it is likely just a phase.

[BCFD]

My 4.5 has taken up the habit of biting her TOEnails lately. UGGH!!! It's not like we don't keep them clipped, so I think it's just a nervous habit she has going. I catch her doing it a couple times a week. Weird. She will still put things in her mouth, but not all the way in. Like, if she is playing with one of her Littlest Pet Shop toys I'll see her sitting there just holding it up to her lips or maybe just holding it between her teeth.

Have you considered Pica? That might be a little on the extreme end, but it's worth reading about.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pica_(disorder)

[mommy amber]

Ds seems to be doing something similar lately too...I just chalked it up to a stage he was going through. It's really more like he's chewing on things (the insultated tote for his kleen kanteen, the cloth napkin at the dinner table, the string on the cotton produce bag he totes all his most precious things in, etc). Sometimes it seems to happen when he's feeling overwhelmed and sometimes it seems like one of those absent minded kind of things...like something you'd do while far off in thought.

this is dd 3yo exactly...
she also bites her finger/toe nails...
this thread made me feel a bit better...I had been considering an OT...

[UrbanSimplicity]

My dd1 did this when she was a toddler - her iron was low. Whenever she starts this now I give her a few doses of Floradix and it stops. Anecdotal, I know but that's our story