pica

Post Reply New Topic

My son had that.

When he was a baby, he would eat lemons with rinds, garnishes off the plate, hot salsa, all kinds of things with very strong tastes, etc, without seeming to be able to taste them. He would basically try to eat anything that wasn't nailed down. But he didn't eat anything small, like rice or spaghetti, because he couldn't feel it in his mouth. He also overstuffed his mouth and barely chewed, swallowing lots of things whole. He also drools still- way beyond the age of teething, etc.

His OT said that it was the low tone in his mouth that made him not be able to feel or taste as well as other people, so his brain was seeking sensations. After getting OT for a few months, he started getting surges of sensations. Now he is actually kind of a picky eater, which is just fine with me because now he realizes what he is eating a little more. Chewing gum also helped.

He hasn't eaten anything inedible lately (that I know of), but he still has a problem with drooling. He is 3 1/2.

Wow. My son used to eat some of the odd things plaster, chalk, and the like. We found out at his 4 yr check-up that his iron was low. We have brought it up to a healthy level finally. But it took us just over 2 years. He still will eat stuff off the ground though. Although I put things in the grossest understanding for him and he seems to have finally stopped. (It's only been a month though).

If other things don't occupy her with the strip cutting you could try giving her junk mail that needs to be shredded anyhow and turn it into a positive and let her cut it into little strips. That way it is ok for her to cut plus then the junk mail is shredded anyhow.

Just a thought.

It is interesting for me that the "food" in question is paper!

Until I was 16 I used to eat very few items, and even those, under so many restrictions. My father, specially, used to hate this fact, and followed times used to repeat; "how can you say you don't like this food if you never ate it?", at an angry way. By that time I didn't know how to replie correctly, but so many things over the table didn't seem like food to me, most of the food seemed, indeed, extremely repugnant, and not like food, due to its consistency. But I remember paper seemed to me like food, and although I only had to eat it in order to show how disgusting was the other food, I could eat papper without repulsivity.
Well, I'm thinking now... with a bit of salt...