About to lose it!

[SugarAndSun]

DS1 (20 months) needs more attention than I can give him right now (DS2 is 7 weeks). I know that. However, eating rocks is NOT okay! How do I stop him? I know I can keep him inside, but hespends about 75% of his day outside and loves it. I made him stay in this afternoon and it was torture for both of us. I actually wanted to hit him today to make him understand how seerious I am. He just kept laughing about it. I am so afraid he will choke and I won't be able to save him.

[BellinghamCrunchie]

Does he actually eat them? Do you see them in his diaper? Are they bigger than pea-sized?

Our DD mouths rocks, but I've not seen any in her diaper. I used to stress about it but now I just ask her to give me the rock, I clean it off and make sure its not got sharp edges, and give it back to her. She is 18 mths. Its gotten less over time. Maybe you could find "safe" rocks for your DS to mouth.

Is it possible to try to clean up most of the rocks? We have a gravel driveway so for us it wasn't possible.

[SugarAndSun]

We have rocks everywhere. Our driveway is rca right now and will soon be covered in gravel. We have recently had construction and have not yet landscaped so no hope of eliminating rocks.

[SugarAndSun]

No more advice mamas?

[Joannarachel]

How about one of those portable playgates? You could put it around a play structure and clear the rocks out of the area?

[tiffani]

I would think (and I'm not certain here -- only you know your child) that at 20 months, he's probably not going to choke on the rocks, no matter what size they are. If they're sharp, he might get a little hurt and stop doing it. And if they're tiny, they'll probably pass through, maybe? It sounds like he's doing it to get your attention, and maybe if you just sit quietly nearby without saying anything, he'll lose interest and stop doing it. (??) Every time it became clear that my kids were doing something "for attention" I'd do my best to ignore it, even if it seemed potentially dangerous, and just nonchalantly hang close, just in case -- do you know what to do if he chokes?

If you can, try to include your 20 month old in as much of what you do as you can -- I know it's hard, my kids were 23 mos. apart, but if you do your best to engage him, he'll likely lose interest in trying to get under your skin. If you can distract him from the rock eating without addressing the rock eating, he'll probably lose interest.

good luck!