Starting biting at 4?!?

[Purplegal]

Not sure what to think about this one.. My DD has NEVER been a biter, not once to us or herself or other kids. However, she had her binky until she turned 4, just for sleeping at night, and then we took it away and that was the HARDEST THING EVER. Anyway, ever since then she has been weird with like an oral fixation! She bits or sucks on everything all the time, herself, her clothes, her stuffed animals, random things in stores (UGH) and most recently..ME. Second time now she bit me, on the neck, not hard enough to break skin but it hurt! Both times when she was upset about something.

She seems WAY too old to be starting this, and I swear sometimes I wonder if she was not ready to lose the binky but thats nuts right? Not that we would go back to it, but still....this is just strange and a little concerning.
Any thoughts? Ideas on what I can do to help her with this transition?

Thanks so much!

ETA- it has been 2 1/2 months since we took away the binky...

[momto4plus4]

My daughter has had oral fixation issues. She's 9 1/2 and start occupational therapy next week for it. She was around 3 or 4 when she started biting herself. She was a finger sucker and weaned herself from that and also we weaned from bf a little after she turned 3. I got pg 2 mths later. I just assumed the transitions were what caused the sudden biting issues.

I really don't have any advice. Just sympathy. If it continues I'd take her to the ped just to see what they say. If it is sensory, the early you get her in the better. I wish I'd gotten dd in long ago for OT.

[pbjmama]

Sounds like she had the oral fixation before but now she doesn't have an outlet. So she is trying to find a solution but it is frustrating because she probably doesn't even know what she needs. My suggestion is to help her find a solution. That doesn't necessarily mean giving the binky back although it would probably be the easiest.
You might try something like chewy tubes
http://www.affordabletherapysolution...oralmotor.aspx
you can limit them like you did the binky if you wish.

Or figure out what sensory input she likes from what she is choosing right now. Find an acceptable form of that thing - blanket, wash cloth, whatever.

FWIW, my own 4.5 yo still has a binky. I feel that he needs it. I've tried various things to wean him from it and we do have limits but he isn't ready to give it up yet. I go through phases where I wish he didn't have it but I've decided sometimes he knows his needs better than I do and this will be his decision.

[One_Girl]

My dd put a lot of things in her mouth until very recently when her 6 year molars finished growing. She never bit me though. I think she new that the reaction wouldn't be a fun thing for her because I flipped out when she hit me once at that age. She did bite a friend in preschool out of the blue when she was close to four. Her teacher asked her about it and she said she didn't know why she did it. It was a wierd thing and it only happened once. I suggest asking her why she is doing that and working with her to get her to bite other things but never a person. If she doesn't have a cognitive disorder or a lot of stress she can't handle then I would say it doesn't seem normal for her to start being violent out of the blue beyond an isolated incident or two.

[Purplegal]

Thank you for the input! That chewy tube looks awesome, I may have to try that. Thank you!