PICA

[Jennifer B]

Hi Everyone!
Just wanted to share the latest challenge we are attacking....my son's
pica. We met with his school's consultant and got some ideas to keep
his mouth busy instead of mouthing just about anything but mostly
rocks and the finest sand granules you can imagine. He likes to roll
items around in his mouth. Right now I am using a trade/swap
method...rocks for candy. We have a box of candy that has all
different textures and sensory experiences...like gummies, nerds, life
savers, and taffy. Also I'm giving free access to the candy so when
he gets an urge to put something in his mouth hopefully he will turn
to the candy. Its working well but now being on day 3 of this, I'm
getting uncomfortable with the amount of candy he's eating. At home
and at school we are doing this and it is very necessary to avoid
safety issues with the rocks. He gets his teeth brushed constantly but
I am worried he will eat less healthy stuff. The consultant did say
it isn't forever but just to learn more about textures he's going
after and since candy is highly motivating, he will more likely avoid
the inappropriate items. Hopefully this will lead into swapping out
candy for healthier stuff and even blow toys and stuff. We are doing
blood work also to see if he has some sort of deficiency.

So any of you dealing with this or have dealt with it. I need some
encouragement.

[Kellie]

Oh honey I feel your pain. I also have a son who battles Pica. It is
always been a struggle for us. The trade/swap didn't work for us. But
I wish you the best of luck.My son eats leaves - all kinds even poison
ivy. He also likes to eat paper. I can usually get him just to lick it
and he'll discard it in a box. I have talked to the doctor about all
the ink - it scares me. But there are times that he just has to eat
it. At very stressful times he will also eat sheet rock. I had to put
up bead board all thru the house. It's part of who Chad is. I have
caught him with tacks in his mouth , dice, heads from g.i. joe men
( his brother's) just about anything that he can roll around in his
mouth. This has gotten a lot better as he has gotten older. Oh and he
loved to have a mouth full of bottle caps..Sending hugs to you from
one mom to another..

[Kerri Robison]

This totally sounds like my 4 year old.  We took away all the small things in the house he could put in his mouth and put them in a box until he doesn't do it any more.  He does manage to get rocks and other tiny things outside here and there.  But we are able to trade for them.  I found out he likes freeze dried fruit.  It's diced up and sweet.  The freeze dried strawberries are great b/c they are all different sized and still have the seeds on them, so it's a different texture.  He really enjoys them.  He also likes watermelon.  I think b/c it's so juicy and wet.  It can be messy, but I get him to clean it up with a paper towel.  We did do candy for a little bit, but it got out of hand.

[Amy Blodgett]

My psych just recommended Chewy Tubes for my son:

http://www.chewytubes.com/chewytubes/what_are_chewytubes.htm

Good luck. I know how frustrating this is!

Amy