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Cam is now 10.5 months old. I have been noticing for a few months now that she loves to chew on metal. She will bypass all toys, anything remotely okay to chew on, and go straight for the metal. I'd be okay with this if she didn't already have 6 chompers. To be honest, really sometimes wresting the metal from her isn't worth the battle, because she can throw one ugly fit.
Have any of you had children that liked chewing on metal? I did tons of babysitting, and was a nanny, I have never seen a kid go for the metal the way Cam does. :(
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Tx has a good point about the coolness feeling good on the gums.
I will throw out the possibility of sensory because as I look back on my daughter's symptoms, chewing on things was a big issue. Does Cam do anything else that concerns you?
My first thought was, "Because she has no fillings!" :D
The coolness is a consideration. Does she do this ALL the time, or at certain times? And like Parenting said, does she do anything else that you notice as different or 'odd'? Sometimes keeping a mini-journal can help find any patterns to behaviors. Something like every a.m. after having o.j. for breakfast she chews on metal.
And what kind of metal? Silverware? Metal table legs? Keys? Is a particular shape of metal more appealing than another?
If you want to talk with your ped about it you'll need specific info, like when, what, where, how often, to what extent, etc. I think ped's hear SO much about the odd things kids do that unless you have specific info for something your child is doing that is troubling you then they don't hear what you're saying. If you go in and say, "Every day for 3 hours a day Cam chews on spoons exclusively and won't do anything else" your ped has info to which he/she can respond, vs. "Cam chews on metal" which is too vague. (My 2yo threw fits. "All 2 yo's throw fits" was the response. If I'd known about the journaling and documenting I would have said, "My 2 yo throws fits for little or no apparent reason, becomes self-injurious, and the fits last for a minimum of an hour and a half, during which time I am unable to calm him, and they happen four to eight times per day." This is indicative of a problem behavior, not typical 2 yo tantrums.)
Thank for the replies, ladies. :)
I thought about teething, but she's been doing it consistently for at least two months now. Parenting-over-40....she will repeatedly pat her face (mainly when she's tired), and she is constantly bouncing up and down.
I don't want to be "that mom" who is constantly looking for problems in my kid, but with the level of her drug exposure, it would shock me if she came away from it unscathed, kwim? :confused:
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I'm no MD......but I did some investigating online about this. I found a couple of articles stating that *sometimes* kids/babies who chew on metal have a copper or zinc deficiency and a simple blood test conducted by a pediatrician could find this out. And.....I also saw where some kids who do a lot of mouthing of objects (and your baby is at the age where this is common, as you probably already know).......CAN also have problems with YEAST! Yes, yeast....which is something I was surprised about!!! (hmmmmmmm)
To solve any mysteries about it......I'd ask the pediatrician and also ask for a blood test just to rule out anything, KWIM?
Good luck....and keep us posted. I'm just wondering what it might be too.....
Sincerely,
Linny
I'll definitely keep everyone updated. :)
Cam's metal fixation is all encompassing. If she can find it, it will go in her mouth. For example, at My Gym (play place around here, chain I think...) she was put in a hammock with some other babies. As soon as she saw a metal clip on one of the ropes, she was all over it, trying to figure out how to contort her body to get it in her mouth. Yesterday, I clipped her nails, with a pair of baby clippers that are mostly plastic, except the clipper part. If she sits fairly well and lets me do it, without trying to poke the clippers, I tell her she can chew it when I am done. I give them to her, and she flips it so she can get the metal, that is not very mouth friendly, into her mouth. I figured that might cure her of the want to chew on them. Nope.
The fabulous mother I am, I forgot she had them, went about washing her diapers, when she crawls into the bathroom with me...and she is STILL chewing on them 20 or so minutes later. I had to pry them out of her hands, and distract her with something else shiny and new. Sigh. I may give her a spoon, and see if she carries it around with her...just to test how long she would go if I left her alone.
It almost sounds like she started chomping metal more because of teething and the coolness, hardness of it and then it just became an obsession. Drug exposure does seem to have that OCD/sensory component to it. I'd try to maybe feeze one of those teething toys and offer that to her to get her onto something more appropriate. A good children's multi vitamin wouldn't be a bad idea in case she's deficient. If it's possibly yeast related, a sugar-free diet really helps to keep that in check. Curcumin, grape fruit seed extract, and garlic are awesome yeast fighters as well.
Just be aware that grapefuit seed extract will kill your septic system, if you aren't on city sewer.
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Barksum
Just be aware that grapefuit seed extract will kill your septic system, if you aren't on city sewer.
WHAT????.....That's a new one on me...and we used to have our own plumbing business complete with sewer cleaning service too........
Sincerely,
Linny
I put a bunch of her "chewies" in the freezer tonight. Little Miss is getting no metal tomorrow. :evilgrin: