Hello everyone!
My happy and smart 6yr old son has started chewing on his shirt collars. He doesnt seem stressed out or overly anxious. He's happy at school and home. He tends to do it more when he is concentrating at school or on the computer. His teacher has noticed but the other kids dont pay any attention to it.
So far, we've been matter of factly bringing it to his attention. Today I warned him that he needs to start stopping it on his own. I've threatened to put something foul tasting on his collars like that stuff you use for nail biters.
How would you wise mommas handle this??
Thanks everyone for your great advice. I thought I would let you know the results since the shirt-chewing has decreased by at least 80%.
After my "threat" of putting something awful tasting on his shirt, he came home from school with a dry and unchewed shirt. He's done it a little over the weekend. When I asked him why he chewed on it, he said "I'm thirsty", "it makes my loose tooth feel better" and "I dont know". The nailbiter stuff on the collar is still an option and still pretty effective. Out of the blue, he asked if I was going to put it on all of his shirts or just the t-shirts. He's working on an "escape plan"
In a few words - you all were absolutely right! Smart women!
I used to care for my nephew and he sucked his shirts constantly too. I finally got to the point that if I saw it wet he had to take it off. It only took a few times before he got cold and wanted to leave is shirt on. I never shamed him, just told him if he was gonna destory his shirt like that then he did not need to wear one.
C., I wouldn't make a big deal out of it, really. My 6 year old started chewing on the ends of her hair! I would, of course, ask her to remove the end of the braid from her mouth and with great humor and sarcasm suggest we saute' and serve them for dinner since she enjoyed "eating" them so much! I would comment that "...we only put food into our mouths, if you are hungry let's get you something to eat, you are too old and too wise for me to have to remind you of this." Another time, and the thing that I believe clinched it, was a shoulder-to-shoulder surf on the web for microorganisms we come in contact with. I looked for and found the ugliest, nastiest looking ones and told her "These living bugs most likely attach to the ends of our hair between washings...can you imagine anyone eating this thing? Or it crawling around in your mouth? I cannot imagine anyone as smart as you would knowingly choose to eat this!" Needless to say, it worked and she felt as if the decision to stop was all hers. One day, maybe when she's twenty, I'll tell her from where those nasty criters actually hail, but for now, they were a great drama-free strategy for ending a nasty habit. Good luck!
Hi C.,
My son (who is now 8) has sensory integration problems, and he was a BIG shirt chewer! It started about kindergarten, and we were finally able to stop it about 6 months ago. We talked to him about it, and got him his own pack of gum. I told him that everytime he caught himself chewing on his shirt, he should go get a piece of gum, and chew it instead. Within a month of doing this, he was able to break his own habit. I hope that helps!
Try and ignore it. If you see him, don't say a word and gently remove the shirt from his mouth.
I think all kids go through quirks. I have had the sleeve chewer and nail biter to the nail picker. I just distracted as the more I said something the worse it got. By ignoring it, handing him something to do when he starts and distracting him will help. I think it becomes a big kids soother, not saying he is stressed just a normal thing and then becomes something they don't think about doing and just do it.
Hang in there, just ignore it if you can and it will stop.
Yeah, I don't get it, but I'll tell you, it sure seems to be a VERY common thing to do...we have several children that do it and I see others all over the place do it to.
You just have to employ the same deterants you use for other undesirable behavior and possibly give them something else for the mouth to chew on.
Hi. I've had a child that does this too. Have him carry a drink bottle of water around with him, He just dehydrated and needs a drink. Tell him to take a sip of water every time he thinks about it. Kids tend to start this habit in the winter because the cold leaches their body of moister. We as parents and teachers think because it's not hot they don't need to drink as much, or give them warm drinks instead, but the opposite is true. It may take awhile for him to break the habit, just keep gently reminding him to drink more water.
you might have him checked for an iron deficiency... i used to be a chronic ice chewer... then go my iron checked with my first pregnancy, was deficient.. worked on diet and vitamins and don't have a taste for chewing ice any more.
some people chew things like pens, coins, ice, fabric... etc. its called "pika" or something like that (I probably misspelled that)
Ask him why he does it. My daughter was moving her head in a strange way. She said she liked the way it sounded when her hair brushed against her shirt. We found other things she liked the sound of that she could do instead of jerking her head.
At my daughters school when they are doing work that they really need to concentrate on, they give them gum to chew. They say it helps with concentration and helps the brain to focus on the task at hand. I would suggest giving him gum so that he doesn't chew on his clothes.
I have a nephew that chewed his sleves for about two years then he just stopped one day like it was a phase. My sister-in-law was frustraighted as it was ruining his clothes. She started buying collered shirts with cuffs instead of T-Shirts and that seemed to slow down the damages.
My son does this. His is caused by loosing some of his teeth and having more grow in. All I do is hand him a tooth brush and it takes away from him putting bad things in his mouth that dont belong. His big thing was his figers, not anymore! :) Good luck!
Hey C.,
As a former Kinder teacher and a mom of a 13 yr. old boy I can tell you this is pretty common. :) More than likely he picked it up from another kid. I can also tell you what we did, we told our son that it was something that toddlers did because they didn't know better, and that if it continued he would be responsible for earning money to buy new shirts because he had ruined the ones we bought him. He was 8 when he did this to his shirts...and I realize 6 is MUCH younger but maybe giving him responsibility for his own clothes would help?
Good luck C.!
My nephew is 12 years old. And has had this problem ever since his parents took away his binkies. They gave him a specific blanket that he could suck on and only on this one item. He has worn through about 3 blankets, but it has saved his clothes.
We have a 2yo who does this. For him, it's mostly related to speech and oral stim issues. We remove the shirt from his mouth. He does not do it on t-shirts collars, but then chews the bottom. It's getting better. It's also better when he's getting speech therapy. I like the chewing gum idea. I'll have to keep that in mind, although I'm sure I'd want to start that addiction, at least it's a socially acceptable one! :)
4 of my kids have done this so far, right about this age. The thing that fixed if for all of them, was I ended up putting their shirt on their plate for lunch or dinner and said if you like eating your shirt so much have it for dinner. Now of course, they didn't like that. So we talked about reasons they did it, sometimes it was nerves, stress, hunger, thirsty. One child didn't even seem to realize she was doing it. We found alternate methods for them to use. But they never chewed on their shirts again after it showed up on their plate.
Good Luck
IGNORE IT! My oldest son did it for about 2 years between about 4th to 6th grade, and the more we called attention to it, the more it went on. Eventually they stop on their own...but be warned they will ruin the sleeves and collars of their clothes, so mine wore T-shirts and we just threw them out when the collars stretched or got holes....Just a phase.
