Anyone else's DD eating board books?

Anytime we leave books out for the kids to play with, our DD will shred them by eating the darn thing. I want to have my kids enjoy books both with myself and DH but I want them to also be able to enjoy them independently.

Do you have any input as what we should do other than keeping the books away from the kids? We have tried plastic, harder ones but she seeks out the board ones instead.

I joke and say she is part beaver... I'm not laughing about it anymore though as I hate to see books ruined!

Thanks for any input!

 

Alyssa does the same thing!! I dont know what to do about it though??

 

My girls both did this as well. It does eventually stop. If you notice them putting a lot of stuff in their mouth in general then it's probably because they are teething and it doesn't matter what they put in their mouth, they will do it because it feels good and a bit out of habit. I often found entire corners missing from their board books. It freaked me out at first and worried me (is it unhealthy for them to eat cardboard or whatever it's made out of?) but the only thing I could do was that evertime I saw them puttting it in their mouth, I pulled it out and said, "No mouth. Books are for reading, not for eating." I must have said this about 400 times over a couple of months but eventually it stopped. I also would give them an appropriate teething toy when I saw them eating the books and say, "Here. This is for the mouth, no books." It really did stop finally when they were maybe about 16 months or so (don't remember exactly when) but just being repetitive and consistent and they eventually understood.

 

QUOTE(double-or-nothing @ Apr 3 2008, 11:51 AM) [snapback]702810[/snapback]
My girls both did this as well. It does eventually stop. If you notice them putting a lot of stuff in their mouth in general then it's probably because they are teething and it doesn't matter what they put in their mouth, they will do it because it feels good and a bit out of habit. I often found entire corners missing from their board books. It freaked me out at first and worried me (is it unhealthy for them to eat cardboard or whatever it's made out of?) but the only thing I could do was that evertime I saw them puttting it in their mouth, I pulled it out and said, "No mouth. Books are for reading, not for eating." I must have said this about 400 times over a couple of months but eventually it stopped. I also would give them an appropriate teething toy when I saw them eating the books and say, "Here. This is for the mouth, no books." It really did stop finally when they were maybe about 16 months or so (don't remember exactly when) but just being repetitive and consistent and they eventually understood.


Yup, I had book eaters too! They stopped a couple of months ago and now only occasionally do it. I did a lot of what Melanie did, and there was a month or so where the books actually "went away" because I just couldn't deal! I despaired of ever having children that would just sit with me and look at books. I too love books and was/am really eager to share that love with them.

Now they love to be read to as I mentioned, they're much better about not eating them!

Flap books on the other hand, IMHO, if you have any of those, hide them until they can lift the flaps themselves and not try to rip them off!! We were given a few and they are a pain!

 

Same problem here.
All of our board books are destroyed due to the chewing. Some have no covers left, etc.
I have no solution, just hope it ends soon!!

 

Maybe hold off on the board books for just a little bit and try the plastic or cloth ones?
Helen

 

My DD does the same thing and it drives me crazy. I noticed that when she is teething she tends to do it a lot more. So when she starts to chew, I take the books away.

 

My boys did it too. Brody did it for EVERYTHING that he could come across - he's VERY oral (I literally had no drywall where both of them could reach around the windows.)

Books were only out to read, and not around any other time. With Brody being so oral (he'll be 4 this month) I've just recently brought out the books to leave out. He's not allowed to take any books with him to bed until recently as well.

Try to suggest something else for them to chew on while reading books, like some hard (but soft) plastic toys or teethers. If you go to a therapist or even ask your dr, there are some special oral chewers that aren't "teethers". My son would use it, then pitch it and go back for the book - more fiber that way

 

Right there with ya! And gosh forbid should they find any paper books around. Ripping and tearing are a favorite passtime.