How to get a child to stop putting non-food items in their mouth
Children who compulsively chew on and swallow non-food items like glue sticks, chalk, and toys often do so because standard sensory chew tools or deterrents like bitter nail polish fail to satisfy their underlying sensory or nutritional cravings. When these intense urges go unmet, children become irritable and sneak items constantly, leaving parents and teachers struggling to keep them safe despite trying every redirection method available.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Using gross-tasting nail polish on fingers
- 2Providing sensory chew toys
- 3Ignoring the behavior or attempting to not bring attention to it
- 4Redirecting the child to other activities
- 5Taking away toys that are put in the mouth and calmly explaining the rule
- 6Constantly correcting the behavior
- 7Confiscating and locking away supplies like glue sticks
- 8Trying to find edible alternatives or safe substitutes like chewies
- 9Switching to liquid glue applied with sponges and brushes
- 10Referring the student to school psychologists, BCBAs, pediatricians, or administration
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“The problem is, he pounds down gluesticks like water. I’m 99.9% sure he has pica, and will go for the chalk and paper as well.”source ↗
“It’s the fourth week in the classroom and I’ve had to confiscate five glue sticks with huge bites taken out of them, and god knows how many he has snuck without me knowing.”source ↗
“When he doesn’t get his craving satisfied, he gets very irritable and I feel like there are safe alternatives out there.”source ↗
“We have tried everything to get our 3 (almost 4) year old to stop.”source ↗
“On top of that every single toy she grabs she immediately puts in her mouth.”source ↗
“I feel like we've tried everything.”source ↗
“We bought the gross tasting nail polish for her fingers and it would only work for about an hour max.”source ↗
“We bought sensory toys that she could chew on, but it didn't change her wanting to still put everything else in her mouth”source ↗
Where this came up
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