Help! She’s eating everything she shouldn’t and it’s a game!

[MamaE]

Dd (16 mos) has just started eating everything she shouldn’t (crayons, dirt, sand). This is above and beyond the nibbles and mouthing she’s done for months now. This is more of a game - she looks me in the face (with a twinkle in her eye) and shovels handfuls of sand or dirt into her mouth. If I ignore it (my newest attempt), she will get right in my face and smack her lips saying “yummy!” While I enjoy her sense of humor and fun, I really don’t want her making meals out of sand, dirt, and crayons. Yesterday, she ate 1/4 of a jumbo crayola just for fun.

Things I have tried so far:

“That’s yucky. We draw with crayons (...play with sand, dirt, etc.).”

“Spit. It will make your tummy hurt.”

These first 2 worked sometimes, but once she caught on that I don’t want her to eat these things, that’s when the game began.

So, my latest - ignore her. I don’t look at her directly and pretend not to know what’s going on. This is VERY hard to do as she munches on a mouthful of black dirt. And, is dirt even safe to eat? Am I being a bad mommy ignoring this behavior? Yikes! I’m at a loss. I’m just trying to stop this behavior as quickly as I can. Do I continue ignoring? I want to end this power struggle/game.

[oohlalabags]

sorry i don't have any advice but one of 13 month old kiddos likes to eat the stuff out of door jams and window seals (sp?) ... i can't keep him out of it ... our house is old and i tried to clean all teh black gunk out but i think it's impossible ... i don't know how to keep him out of it ... he just gives me the biggest grin when i catch him ... can't wait to see if any one was some advice...

[thoesly]

Do you think there's any chance this could be something other than a behavioral issue? Pica is the abnormal craving for and eating of non-food substances. It's sometimes caused by nutritional deficiencies if the body is having trouble utilizing the nutrients in food. Since she's actually eating these things instead of just doing typical mouth-exploring or spitting them out once she gets a reaction from you, you may want to check with the pediatrician.

[Piglet68]

Do check for pica...if you can rule that out, then what I would do is simply prevent her from getting access to those things. Not let her have crayons unless I'm right there with her and ready to yank it out of her mouth the second she tries to put it in (telling her "crayons are for drawing" as you have been doing). It might be a bit tougher with sand and dirt, but if you hover with her perhaps you can prevent it.

It's not at all unusual that she thinks your reaction is funny. It's not a challenge to you. I don't know why people think of children like that (not you, just I hear this so much). Why should the child take it seriously? Personally, I think it must be pretty cool to be a little kid and discover that you can make the adults around you react with funny faces and gestures just by doing something like chewing on a crayon.

I got into this trap with one issue: DD likes to drink her bathwater. She has a scooper that she drinks out of. It grosses me right out, and I couldn't help but make yuck faces. She thought this was hilarious and of course now she does it hoping to make me react (for fun, not as a challenge). So I've had to work really hard at totally ignoring it, until she decides it's not fun anymore.

Personally, I don't have a huge problem with kids and dirt (provided you aren't near a landfill or something!). I don't think it will kill her, and if she IS doing it just b/c your reaction is fun to her, then I think ignoring it will probably be the ticket for you.

[MamaE]

Thanks everyone. I'll look into the Pica thing. That crossed my mind, but I really think it's more DD looking for a reaction due to the smile on her face and the twinkle in her eye.

Piglet, thanks for the gentle reminder that she is not challenging me. I think that is a remnant from the olden days of child-rearing (and perhaps from mainstream parenting). People do talk about children that way - a lot. Unfortunately, it's one that seems to stick and comes to my mind now and then, esp. since I do have what I would call a spirited child (high needs baby/toddler).

I think ingoring is going to be my ticket, but I have put the crayons away for a bit, until she can handle them, and I will try to steer clear of dirt and sand.

Thanks again!

[fiikske]

I usually say: "Fine for me, if you want to eat it, go ahead, you decide." I never made it a drama if she put something in her mouth that she wasn't supposed to. That usually makes it less interesting (no reaction from mommy).

DD is 17 months now, and well, she doens't eat things anymore. She does chew on every stone she can find. I'm fine with that, she's fine with that, and she never swallowed it.

Greetz,
Fiikske

[FireWithin]

Eating sand is a problem for my 16 month old. Well. . . he doesn't think it's a problem, but many adults do. I mostly don't, but it is disturbing. He put so much in his mouth yesterday that he choked/coughed a bit. Nothing dangerous, but it shows how much goes into his mouth.
We try to ignore him, but it is hard to ignore when he comes up to your face, with a wet sand moustache, and gives a silly closed-mouth grin.

He has a tendency to do this when he wants some interaction. I realized yesterday that he was doing it and then running. He wanted to play chase, while I wanted to chill on the chair and watch him play. We left the area and had a romping fun time.

DS just seems to love doing things to see a reaction from the. The thing is that I'm usually pretty laid back, and don't react much, but he is such a clown that everything turns into a game.

goodluck.