I have a little boy that is 4 and a half years old. He was 6 weeks premature and has had a few issues associated with that. He has tongue thrust and is taking speach lessons. He is still putting everything in his mouth. His teacher told me yesturday that he has been untieing his shoe and chewing on the shoe string. Is this normal and if not should I call his pediatrician?
You may consider a zinc deficiency - which often causes impaired senses of taste and smell, especially in children. Just google "zinc deficiency" and see if it makes sense.
Some kids are just like that. I have three kids, and the oldest and youngest never put things in their mouths. My middle one put EVERYTHING in her mouth until she was at least 6. She still touches everything when we're out places, which drives me insane. I am a bit of a germiphobe. I just try to remind her that things have germs on them, and not to touch or put anything in her mouth that is not necessary.
It could be that he has some sensory issues. My nearly 5 year old chews on things from time to time. An Occupational Therapist or your pediatrician (with a special questionnaire about his habits) should be able to help you. The speech therapist might be able to get you a chewy tube made of rubber that he could chew on instead to get the feedback he made be needing. It is definitely better to chew on that than anything else!
My son (6 1/2) was very oral as a baby and he has the same issue as one of the other people indicated - sucking on his shirt. He still sucks his thumb occasionally at night as well if he is really tired. When he had a comfort item (even as old as 5) he would suck on this as well. Some kids are just oral. It brings them a sense of comfort especially if they are a little nervous about their surroundings. Othertimes it might be out of boredom.
When I talk to some of the mothers I found that there are other children out there who are equally as oral at my son's age. I may be mistaken but I think tongue thrusting may be a different issue in itself - unless it is different for preemies. I found out when I was in my thirties that I had this habit. Tongue thrusting is bad because it significantly messes up the teeth and can lead to an open bite or cross bites. Open bites are really hard for orthodontists to treat. Maybe it is different for preemies since developmentally tongue thrusting is something babies do in utero. However, in researching it for myself in other cases it can be somewhat genetic in nature. Speech therapy is used in children who thrust their tongues even without speech issues.
Have you ever worked with the Parents as Teachers people before? My son was born 10 weeks premature and we're working on developing his speech and they have been a great resource! Good luck!
My oldest is 5 almost 6 years old. She has chewed holes in her shirts as well as her pillow cases that my Aunt made for her. One is so bad that I can not get the wrinkles out of it from where she not only chews it but also sucks on it. She was not a premie. She has always been bad about putting things in her mouth. However my 2 year old was never into putting as much in his mouth is now putting more into it then he ever did as a baby.
I would not worry too much about it. He will grow out of it. I know that my daughter is better. It seems now that she is in school she is too busy to chew or suck on her shirt. However now she has started chewing/ sucking on her hair. I want to cut it shorter than it is but my hubby says no. It seems like they all have to have at least one bad habit. Hers was the binki that she gave up when her brother turned a month old. Her brother's is that he will not go to sleep unless someone is laying in bed next to him. I guess after potty training that will be the next thing that I work on.
Good luck.
I would certainly talk to your pediatrician about it but what I don't understand is why the speech therapist isn't suggesting ideas to you? After all, this is their job. Have you talked to her about it? Perhaps they aren't aware of the degree to which he is doing it? For example: My son's speech therapists have been awesome to the degree that THEY were the one's who diagnosed him with fluid on the ears NOT the 5 pediatricians I had taken him too. In my last meeting with them I told them about the eating problems I was having with him (gag reflexes and desires for only preprocessed food) and they had no idea this was going on and gave me exercises to work on with him and ways to encourage new food. Perhaps talking with ST would give them a better heads up on the problem and they could suggest some homework to work on.
