ADVICE NEEDED

[jollypig]

My soon to be 15 yr old is generally sensible but Ive just found out she is eating bits of the bath sponge !! when we realized what was going on an confronted her on it her response is "i didn't know i couldn't eat it " . obviously we have told her to only put food /drink in her mouth but has anyone come across this before ? at times its like having a baby again .

[JeanneA]

Hi yes I have with my son Glen when he was your daughter's age. I had to take everything away and put on high shelves or lock things away. glen used to bite bits out of sponges, so they to be hidden. I would get them out when needed for a bath etc. You need to distract or remove that the only way and don't keep going on about your daughter doing it, the more you mention it the more she will want to do it. :-) p.s. it is probably just a phase, glen's was so I wouldn't worry too much. Removing things was always the answer for me.

[Sally44]

Can she tell you why she eats it?

 

If any professionals are involved, I would mention it to them. I don't know if it could be part of a wider [maybe sensory] issue? Or if no-one is involved, a visit to the GP to tell them and see if they think it needs investigating further. Does she eat anything else that is strange such as very spicy or hot food.

 

I have heard of it before. There was a woman who had eaten her way through a number of sofas by eating the cushion fillings!

[LancsLad]

Jollypig, the first thing that came to mind is I have heard of kids who eat all sorts of things before such as carpets and clothing there are good reasons for this. The reality is that all things start off life as a natural products sourced from the planet. A lot of sponges might start life off as oil but some for example might be derived from bio material such as corn starch as an example.

 

I have been told that carpet eating is linked if I can remeber correctly to 'gluten' intollerence and that it is seen by the individuals concerned as a natural food source and as a supplement in a way. I am not 100% sure on this and like I say it was a gut reaction to your post.

 

I am sure that there is no real danger in this and the stuff will pass through her system fine. The strange thing is I have had dogs who love to eat sponges too and see them very much as a food source, as such I am convinced there is an element in this speculation of mine which might carry some truth. Your daughter might not be aware of this though, it might be a subconcious action to some extent.

 

I do not think there is a massive problem here. I think a lot of our behaviours are far more easily understood if we simply look at ourselves as animals and this is about eating at a basic level and so I suspect it must be about nourishment as opposed to comforting behaviour.

 

Just a few thoughts.

[oxgirl]

I have experience of this, yes. When I was young I used to eat paper and stones, yes, stones! I also used to chew sponges, and suck the bath water from them, I liked the texture and the feel of them in my mouth, I think. There is a condition called Pica, where children eat non-food items, all sorts of things, but they're unsure of the reasons for this. I have no idea why I used to eat stones, I used to pick them up from the playground and would also pick up discarded pieces of chewing gum and chew them (yuk!), I used to like the taste of paper and all my books had the corners of the pages nibbled away. I would eat dog and cat biscuits and also cat meat, maybe it was an experimenting thing!

 

In the first instance, I would replace her sponge with a flannel so she can't chew it. I wouldn't get angry with her about it, but would just explain how unhealthy it is for her. Maybe give her some chewy sweets to chew while she's in the bath instead? I knew of a little boy who used to eat sand and he ended up having to have an operation to remove it from his intestine. His mother was told that it could kill him if the sharp grains of sand penetrated his intestine. If your daughter just nibbles sponges I shouldn't think it will do her any harm, you could replace it with a 'live' sponge, which I'm sure wouldn't hurt her, but best to calmly check with her whether she's nibbling on anything else as well.

 

~ Mel ~

[LancsLad]

Mel a real eye opener for me and thank you for your honesty. I came to the forum to be more informed and I have never heard of 'Pica' untill today,

 

thanks.

[jollypig]

hi all , thanks for the replies as far as i know its just the sponge she has eaten, i don't tend to get mad at her because it doesn't do any good, i will buy flannels from now on i don't want to give her sweets as she is epileptic and is having a lot of seizures at the moment.

she is under a lot of stress at the moment so maybe thats got a lot to do with it hopefully it wont happen again.

she is just so sensible usually that this has thrown me a bit.

[Sazale]

Hi jolly pig. Is she eating it or biting bits off to chew? My dd 13 chews just about anything she can fit in her mouth apart from food! Food she breaks up with her tongue! She does a lot of sensory seeking behaviours and will chew things more if she is anxious. She sometimes forgets to take them out of her mouth and then ends up swallowing them! We have to monitor her like a toddler with things and check her mouth before bed!

Edited April 26, 2012 by Sazale

[asdinit]

What about something like chewigem or chewy pencil tops. They are both designed for oral stimulation - have a look at this website, they have quite a few different products:

http://www.sensorytoywarehouse.com/search.asp?strKeywords=chew&submit=%BB

 

This is the specific link for chewigem which may suit your daughter due to her age:

http://www.sensorytoywarehouse.com/product.asp?strParents=&CAT_ID=0&P_ID=1757&strPageHistory=search&numSearchStartRecord=1