Recently our younger son ( 5 rys) has started chewing on the hems of his shirts & his BB (his blanket). My question is: how to get the chewed look out of the clothes? At first, I thought just washing & drying them would take it out but no such luck. I tried ironing a couple of them yesterday when they were wet & am waiting for them to come outa the wash to see if that helped.
I'm not that worried about chewing the BB but am about the shirts Next year in K,he has to wear a uniform that includes embroidered polos that cost about $20 a piece & I don't want them ruined if he starts doing this in school.
Just some backgound: I'm not overly worried about figuring out why he does this or stopping this behavior as mostly he does it while snuggled on the couch watching TV. He doesn't seem to be nervous or have any new teeth coming in or any loose ones so that doesn't seem to be why. I just think it's kinda become a comfot thing.
So, anyone have any ideas how to get the wrinkly, chewed look out of his shirts?
Not repairable...sorry. I think there is an enzyme in saliva, and the fabric just starts to break down with the chewing.
The best advice I have is to find people with older kids at the school and try to get hand me downs from them, to help reduce the cost of replacement uniforms.
There are 6yr molars and many of the kids start shoving their hands or clothes into their mouths around 5-6yrs old because of them. The chewers seem to pick up more of the colds that go around so you don't want this to continue for the schoolyear. Instead why not hand him a bowl of celery (which burn more calories to chew than they contain) and watch his TV viewing behavior. You keep the remote and hit pause, mute or power each time he reverts to chewing cloth. Hopefully he'll soon stop chewing cloth or you will soon tire of toddler TV time... either way less TV isn't a bad thing :) It wouldn't hurt to start replacing fabric softener with vinegar in the rinse cycle... it will reduce the detergent residues on the fabrics until he's graduated to food only. Another natural consequence is to donate his damaged clothes to charity now before you'd be handing off pricey uniform shirts. He'll surely miss a favorite shirt but getting an identical replacement polo isn't much of a consequence at all. As the proud owner of 12 "gathered" burp cloths I can assure you no amount of MaMa effort can reverse damage from chewing :<
You can't. I went through this stage with both my boys. The best thing to do is give them something else to chew and ask them not to chew the clothes because it ruins them. After the unfixable wrinkles comes the holes. A small soft plastic toy, like a bath toy, works well or even a baby's teething ring. My girlfriends ped suggested puppy chew toys if the child is anti-babytoy. At our preschool there was a boy who wore one on a lanyard around his neck. I thought that was weird until I started to throw away my sons clothes then it seemed smart. Good luck!
Give him something else to chew. If he is doing it during he day or at school, I recommend a bead on a necklace. That is what my sister-in-law did. My nephew chewed out of stress due to his cerebral palsey. She found a medium sized bead on a leather strap for him to suck on.
So relieved my son is not the only one who "chews". He's ruined mulitple shirts. I'm looking forward to what others have to say on the subject.
My son sometimes chews the neck of his t-shirts. It ruins the shirt. You can't get the wrinkles out because the material is stretched. And after a couple of time of chewing the same shirt, it will get holes in it.
You do either need to give him something else to chew on, or try to break him of the habit. Good luck!
How badly is he chewing the items? I would think putting them in the washing machine and dryer would reinstate the fabric but is he gnawing it to threads?
Usually water and heat or steam work the best for wrinkles. You could try spray starching the area before you iron as well.
The chewing is due to stress. I wouldnt worry about the cost of the clothing, I would be concerned about the cause of the stress....
If he chews while at home watching TV, give him a chew rag and tell him he can nibble on that because you can't afford to buy him new clothes if he ruins them. If he eats his clothes he'll have to go to school wearing the rag.
