Chewing? | ADHD Information

This a sensory integration issue.  You can google "sensory integration" for more info.  There may be something he can chew on besides his shirt--maybe sugarless gum, for example.My daughter does this as well...she chews on her shirt sleeves,  and her nails.  I've never chewed on clothing, but since I was very young, I've always bit my nails and the skin around them, and picked at my lip.   (God this sounds disgusting when I see it in writing! sorry to offend!)  Do any of you parents who have ADD engage in similar behaviors?  I have not been able to get my daughter to stop.  The sleeve chewing decreased on meds, but the nail biting has continued/increased. Cr12345mr,  I never knew this was a sensory integration issue.  Is it seeking out sensory experiences?Yes! When they give this up then it's something else!  Something is always in motion.  Then it becomes a habit.  We had the shirt when he was younger. Our son picks his lip - AHHHHHHH The meds give him a dry mouth and then he picks his split lip.  He loves sores as well but this is just so disgusting!!!!!! my 7yo dd was constantly chewing her shirt or had her fingers in her mouth too.  I have noticed though, that since starting meds these things ended.  But now we have the lip picking.  Just like happyrocks son, her meds give her a dry mouth & then her lips get dry & voila....she starts picking!

My son chews on the neckline of his shirts, he is 9. I always thought it was his sensory intergration. It probably is a nervous habit! And we get the wet ring around the area where he chews!!

My 5.5 ds does this constantly. If hes not chewing on his clothes, hes biting his finger nails...so disgusting  While we do homework or look over his words, I am always telling him "get your fingers out of your mouth" or "leave your shirt alone" I think its a nervous habit...I hate it!Hi! I just had to let you know our experiance, our son is 9 years old he has ADHD and chewed on everything. In school it was very difficult, he would chew pencils, erasers, everything and anything he could put in his mouth. We took him to a occupational therapist she said he had sensory seeking behavior.  The school now gives him long body breaks, and he chews on sugarless gum, also hard beef jerky, or anything that works his jaws. The change in him is amazing. Try mabey taking your child to a OT they sure do help. Don't worry, just try to remind him to chew on gum or something you picked, but if he still chews on other things don't punish him he can't help it.  Our son didn't relize half the time that he had something in his mouth.nickybug39056.8190277778My oldest has moved on from sucking his shirt (eeeeeewwww, really yucky) to twirling his hair ... which although it can drive his teacher nuts isn't so gross to me.  We keep it short, otherwise he gets like cow's licks everywhere of sticking up hair .... dolphinjen, yes, some children need to chew and suck--it's a developmental thing.  I don't think they should be punished, I think we can replace bad habits with more acceptable ones.  DD is still sucking her fingers at age 7, and her sister (no issues) is also still sucking her thumb.  I've tried to get them to stop, but haven't been successful!   They'll stop, eventually.....I did......

my daughter did that for awhile then stopped thank goodness.  She also chewed her hair all summer, at the pool the life guard yelled at her for gum chewing until she realized it was her hair not gum then apologized.  I would keep making your son change his shirt and if he is 8 teach him how to do laundry and have him wash his own shirts.  The more inconvienced the child is the behavior may lesson.

   When my child kept picking her nose I made her wash her hands so much they needed lotion but she stopped.

 

 

My 6 year old ADHD son also chews on his collars -----------and even on the seatbelt in the car.  I dont know why he does this either ---- but also he started another weird thing ---- for example if he touches his hair/head with one hand he has to with the other.  He does the same thing for other things he touches, couches, tables, etc.

   

My son is 5 and he chews on his sleeves and use to bite the skin of the tip of his fingers.  He still chew on his clothes but stopped the biting of his skinMy daughter sucked her thumb until 9 or 10 then stopped on her own. My son use pacifier until 5, then gave it to me and said he was done. We all have nail-biting problem. Does nail-biting count? Don't make any big deal about this, it will go away as long as you don't give it stigma. Appropriate substitutes as mentioned above are great.

My son also chews his fingers, skin around nail and nail! He has bandages on his finger tips. This I believe is due to anxiety at times and has now become a habit.

He tells me it is his sensory!!

[QUOTE=nickybug]Hi! I just had to let you know our experiance, our son is 9 years old he has ADHD and chewed on everything. In school it was very difficult, he would chew pencils, erasers, everything and anything he could put in his mouth. We took him to a occupational therapist she said he had sensory seeking behavior.  The school now gives him long body breaks, and he chews on sugarless gum, also hard beef jerky, or anything that works his jaws. The change in him is amazing. Try mabey taking your child to a OT they sure do help. Don't worry, just try to remind him to chew on gum or something you picked, but if he still chews on other things don't punish him he can't help it.  Our son didn't relize half the time that he had something in his mouth.[/QUOTE]

Your story is similar like mine. mine dd 10, chew the same things plus she started to chew crumbs, paper, everything. I tried to gave her gum but she would just swallowed it and started chewing erasers...

Her dr told me that my dd is nervous and wanted to gave her meds for calming .

My son not only pulls his lower lip to bleed but also chews it. It is always swollen and I just gave up in telling him. There is no way he stops. He also chews most of his toys. His playcars lost all their tires because he takes them off just to chew them.My son used chew on his pencil and his shirt sleeves only in school. It was all anxiety based. I know this to be true for my son because once he was recieving effective treatment, the chewing stopped. Luvmykids0239057.2752777778I have heard of medication to calm a child down, but please be careful. My son's specialist put him on medicaton to help him, well he went straight off the wall.  It seemed as though he had nothing in him at all.  This is just our experiance I am not telling anyone what to do.  The Occupational Therapist gave our son a weighted vest to wear, he feels the sensory needs of his body better.  I understand a child chewing constantly is very annoying, and disgusting, but we have to remember it is not their fault.  It may be stress, but it could be something with their bodies.My son is 6 now...  and currently on Adderall XR.  I noticed that when he was on Focalin XR..  he would chew and pick his fingers to the numb.. all the time. No matter how much i preached on how bad a habit it was ..  he would still do it ...  and never even noticed he was.  He would chew his shirt some too.. but not as much as the fingers.  I noticed a trend with the shirt..  if he had done something or got a bad report from school that he knew I would see or find out about..  his shirt collar or sleeve would be soaked when I picked him up.  But now that he is on Addrall XR...  his chewing has slowed down...  and now looks more like just a nervous habit (ex-he chews his nails when he is nervous right before a basketball game etc...) My 7yr old also chews on everything. There were times the school would have to give him a different shirt for him to wear cause his was so wet. He still does it.  I even found that he chewed our vaccum cord in several different places (that could have been very dangerous) his clothes, paper, toys anything.  He also doesn't chew his finger nails but he picks at them and pulls them down way low until they bleed or his fingers get sore. He just today was complaining about them being sore. When I see him picking at them I tell him to stop and he says he can't and he doesn't now why he does it.  I think it's just a nervous tick. So now when I see him doing it I take his hand in mine and hold his hand for a while and usually when I let go he doesn't go back to doing it at that moment he moves on to something else.

Does anyone's child like to chew on things such as clothes?  My son is 8 and he likes to chew on the collars of his shirts to the point where they're soaking wet!  Yuck!

My oldest (16, no adhd) did this until he was about 13!!!  Chewed the cuffs right off of a few hooded sweatshirts!!  My youngest (8, adhd) does not.

Chase had a pacifier til he was 3 and 1/2, but I made him leave it in his bed after age 1.  When he was moved to a big bed at age 2, he would go upstairs to his bed, and get a "fix" several times a day. I didn't care as long as he did not run all over the house with it in his mouth. 

After he no longer had the pacifier, I would notice him a lot with a toy either in his mouth or near it while he watched tv or played...I always just assumed it was leftover from his pacifier habit.  I haven't noticed this in the last couple years.

My older son, age 13, no issues that I know of, chews on his cuticles all the time...he used to bite his nails, and we cured that one summer, now lately (last 6 months or so) he started this...I am always telling him "Stop chewing!"

My daughter chewed her hair constantly until I cut it. She picks her nose all the time and I have tried everything I can think of and absolutely nothing works. She also bites her nails and chews on toys and her clothing occationally.CHEWING ON STUFF IS  A SENSORY SEEKING BEHAVIOR. SENSORY ISSUES NOT ALL DR.'S GET YET. OT WILL HELP, DANIEL JUST NOW IS OUT OF THIS AND WAY BETTER. SI THERAPY IS GREAT THEY TEACH WHAT TO DO SKILLS THAT ARE MISSED. WE ALL COULD USE IT IF YOU ASK ME. THE OT SAYS HE NEEDS HARD WORKING THINGS FOR HIS MODULATION.