How to keep a 4-year-old from putting things in her mouth

Amy seems to have this increasing urge to put things in her mouth. She never did it that much as a toddler (after 15-18 months, at least), but now she is always chewing on something.

We try to restrict it to her loveys, but I keep finding her sticking toys and things in her mouth. We have a lot of conversations about how toys with small parts are not for little kids because they could put things in their mouths and choke -- but the lesson she seems to take from this is that SHE won't choke because she's 4.5, and therefore it's OK to put stuff in her mouth.

I take things away when I see her mouthing them (just this morning it was a couple of those little beads from the pop-bead jewelry kit), but it doesn't seem to be getting through. I'm actually worried that she could choke (or, God forbid, swallow a lithium battery or something really dangerous).

Any suggestions for how to get her to take this seriously, short of removing all "Not safe for children under 3" toys from the house?

 

My oldest didn't do this but you might want to ask her ped... I remember hearing something about kids doing this and it possibly being linked to a certain vitamin def. Just a thought ardon: I can only imagine how frustrating that must be!

 

My daughter had an Iron deficiency and used to put everything in her mouth. In the playground she was at the side putting sticks and dirt in there. Yes she was younger so it was overlooked. If you do buy iron over-the-counter, remember to not take it with milk products so it is a bit of organizing so they are dairy free for a few hours. Plus give with orange juice or prune juice or something vitamin C. Oh yeah and it constipates....

 

I haven't noticed this with my girls. I will sometimes catch Sarah chewing on things absent mindedly, but not actual things in the mouth. The only thing that popped in my mind was to give her gum to chew on as an alternative. the above comments are really interesting. I have never heard of iron deficiency causing children to want to chew on things. Could be worth checking into if you can't get her to stop.

 

I remember my older kids going through phases where they would put things in their mouths even at older ages. I don't know if there is much you can do other than keep reminding her. It might be worth mentioning it to your doctor, though, just in case it could be a deficiency of some sort. I don't blame you for being concerned! I have a real fear of one of the kids choking on something!

 

If it's not Pica, I would take away the toys you catch in her mouth. But make sure that she knows that they're being taken away for a long time because they went in her mouth. On the other side, it could be that she earns a toy back for each day that she doesn't put anything inappropriate in her mouth. I just hope that it doesn't bother Sarah to lose her toys as well for something that isn't her fault.

 

Kayci does this and nutritionally she's fine. I think some kids are just more oral than others. I take away things that end up in her mouth and then a few days later they end up back in the rotation. If it belongs to one of the other kids, I give it back to them in front of her. That doesn't always work since they usually put it down and she gets it back! But I don't want to take away their stuff because of something she did. She does go through phases of it.

 

Our DS would put things in his mouth so I always reminded him that you only put things in your mouth if you're going to eat them. When he put something in his mouth that was not food, I would quickly ask him if he's going to eat it. Of course he replied, "no," so I again would tell him then it does NOT go in his mouth. After a few warnings, he did it again. This time I told him, "Ok, it's in your mouth so you must eat it." He quickly removed it from his mouth, but I told him, "No...you must eat it." He then had a surprised look on his face (with some concern)and slowly put it back in his mouth. We sat their for a little while and I told him again that he must eat it. Of course he could not eat the object (nor would I actually let him), but I wanted to get my message across. Once I felt he understood, I told him to remove it and to NEVER put anything in his mouth unless he was going to eat it and next time...he would have to. Since then...he has not.

*The object he put in his mouth was not something that he could choke on. It was something much larger.*

 

My 11yr old is the only one of my 5 that has been BAD about putting things in his mouth. To this day I will still catch him with crazy things in his mouth. when he was 5 he came to me and asked me if he was going to die. I asked him why he was asking me a question like that and he said that he had swallowed a charm from my charm bracelet (a football charm) we had to have xrays done and I had to buy a potty chair for my 5yr old to poop in it was AWFUL but it was essential for us to know this thing was out of him (it was a cheap charm bracelet that he had gotten from the dollar store for me and we were afraid of lead.) I have not found a way to keep him from doing this except just to stay on top of it - if I catch him with a small item I always say "don't put that in your mouth" he gets SO annoyed but it helps! There are things I do not allow in my house like those small rubber balls from the gum ball machine, but in reality they will always be able to find something to chew on. I have even offered him a piece of sugar free gum in the place of quarter or rubberband or eraser :wacko: . I told him one time that I was going to buy him a baby pacifier - that backfired so I don't recommend that route! Another thing I do is if I take something away from him for having it in his mouth, I never give it back.

As much as Dawson likes to have something in his mouth, he just had braces put on his teeth and they are driving him (and me)CRAZY! he cannot leave them alone. I had to buy clear nail polish that tastes NASTY and paint his nails --now that WORKS! -it is called Mavala Stop and our orthodontist sells it!

 

I'm just curious..the people that said their older children put things in their mouth do they have some kind of sensory disorder? My Dd had ADHD and has always been bad at sticking things in her mouth. She constantley has her hands in her mouth. She also swallowed a penny when she was younger and had to have an xray as well. I've always wondered if the oral fixation thing was some how linked to the ADHD.

 

Alden:

My DD (age 4 and a few months) still puts things in her mouth and it drives me crazy! Not just toys with small parts (which would be trouble enough), but also things outside -- sticks, feathers, etc. And, she is still obsessed with pacis (even though hers is long gone) and points out every baby with one.

My DS on the other hand, does not have this issue.

I don't have answers, but I can tell you that you are not the only one out there with a 4 year old who still seems to have an oral attachment.

I'll be watching this thread.

Meg

 

to be honest Ian had an oral fixation like that up until around November of last year, when he got impetigo around his mouth and nose from chewing on his fingernails - he also got nasty, pus filled cuticles from it as well that had to be squeezed out, bathed in betadine and covered in band-aids for a week as well as a week of abx for the impetigo...ever since then he hasn't chewed ANYTHING! every once in a while I'll catch him with his toes in his mouth chewing his toenails and I'll ask him if he needs a clip and he'll let me clip them then...

 

Wow, I hope Amy doesn't wind up with impetigo! I have warned her that she could get a rash on her face from constantly having this nasty wet lovey squashed up against her skin. (She had a friend at daycare who had a rash for a year or more because she was a chronic thumb-sucker, so she understands how that can happen.) But it doesn't seem to make any difference.

Just yesterday she put some serious tooth marks in a little rubber ball that was part of their Cariboo game. If she didn't have all her teeth already, I'd think she was teething.

I guess I should mention it to the ped at their next check-up. I'm fairly certain she doesn't have sensory issues, but it's quite possible that she could have an iron deficiency, since I'm not sure she eats anything with iron in it.