My son is eating his shirt non-stop

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My son used to chew collars and fronts of tops too. He grew out of it when he was about 5 or 6 I think. I remember sending him to school in P1 with a new jumper and he came home with a big hole chewed in the middle of it. That was the worst of it, looking back, and it got better from then on. His tops alluded to have a faded patch in the middle where he'd chewed or sucked them.

He's still a chewer though - mostly pencils and this thread reminds me that I was going to get those chewy dog tag things for him starting high school in August.

Mine did that before he started the chewing!

I just looked the dog tags up. I am going to get them too! Both my sons are chewers. The older one has Sensory Processing Disorder and he still chews legos, pencils, you name it. But, I gave up giving him pencil top chewies because he loses everything, and both would refuse to wear a chewy necklace because 'it's for girls' (as they would say). But, dog tags they would wear. Especially the younger one would love wearing dog tags.

I heard that's a symptom of nutritional deficiencies.. iron, maybe?

Not always. It depends on why they do it. If it is because of a nutritional deficiency it is called Pica, I think. It can be solely a sensory issue where they need the sensory input. That is why my son does it.

How about magnesium deficiencies?
Here's an article:
http://whattofeedyourkids.blogspot.ca/2 ... y-and.html

It suggests to give your child an Epsom salt bath daily to reduce sensory integration disorders.

Oh, the chewing!
We've got one. Costs a fortune in shirts and chewies. At his worst times he can easily destroy a shirt in a day. I stock up on cheap shirts for when he goes through these phases. Mostly these days he uses a chewy but they are expensive too and not indestructible... I asked the OT if the chewies came any harder than the one he has and she said any harder would break his teeth. Oh, ok
I think it's sensory too, that feedback through the jaw, you can see how much he is enjoying it, like a dog with a good bone
Pawpaw ointment works wonders on the rash.

In our case, there is a baseline amount of chewing he does for general self-regulation and then there is stress-related chewing that increases when too many demands are placed on him. Reducing his stress, reduces the stress-related chewing. But yeah, he definitely enjoys his baseline chewing, too.

Oh No! LOL OMG Do these kids read from the same manual?

Oh, cool! I just started doing that because we got some that smelled nice and he liked the smell. I was hoping it wasn't bad for him somehow.

It's interesting reading about all these little nudists running around. Mine is 4 and although he keeps his clothes on at school, as soon as he's in for the night, off come the clothes. I wouldn't mind, except that he likes to climb on me and sometimes that puts his junk in uncomfortably close proximity to my face.

Ha ha! I do insist on underwear. I do not trust his personal hygiene habits .

Sounds like my boys. We had to brush the oldest to get clothes on him, and would let him pull them off (except underwear) as soon as he got home. The others didn't have an excuse. They just liked to be naked (or as near as I would allow).

He does have an IEP. I have had such a hard time dealing with the CSE team at the school, though, and I really doubt they would allow gum chewing under any circumstances. I wish. They gave me a lot of push back over a fidget toy because they say they are distracting for other children.

Oh my goodness my kid does this non-stop.

They are being unreasonable. I didn't have to butt heads about gum, b/c I knew my son would swallow it anyway, but fidgets and chewies do not impact other kids at all. It is a more than reasonable accommodation.

My son was so stressed out in first grade he was chewing on his shirt all the time at school. His teacher was clueless and just kept nagging him to stop. I had no problem getting a chewie from the district OT. My son, started feeling self-conscious about the chewy, started managing stress differently, and then saved his chewing for home, which worked out for us. A chewie is reasonable, and frankly so is gum,if he does not want to stand out. Maybe bring up that you think school is creating the stress in his mind (It probably is) and he needs to counteract it in a better way. Then ask them if they want to buy your son new shirts every week.

I'll try. The school psychologist hates me because I made such a big stink about getting my other child services they were trying to deny him. But, maybe that will work in my favor...