Do you notice that your child seeks out intense flavors, temperatures, or smells? Or does your child chew on various things, from pencil to clothing or Lego bricks?
Need for oral stimuli
Do you recognize your child in the above? Then your child has a more than average need for sensory stimuli. Your child seems to be undersensitive to tactile stimuli in the mouth area. Of course, this does not mean that your child has a stimulus processing problem . But it may mean that your child needs more oral stimuli and therefore seeks them out. This is called a stimulus seeker.
Chewing to calm and concentrate
Children chewing on shirts, cords, pens and pencils is common. After all, chewing is a calming activity. Chewing provides a lot of satisfaction and exercise. Which in turn calms your child’s nervous system. But it also provides movement, and movement is like gasoline for the brain. In that case, chewing can help your child concentrate better. For example, my 6-year-old son experiences that chewing on his bite chain allows him to think better. Sometimes it is a phase where your child can grow out, you can offer your child alternatives such as chewing gum or chewing jewelry.
Read more about why children chew
Chewing need not always phase-related
In many cases, the need for tactile stimuli is stronger and there is no phase behaviour. So it is certainly possible that your child’s need to chew continues into his teenage years.
Chew jewelry is a safe alternative
To save holes in clothes, gnawed nails, pens and Lego blocks, it is better to offer your child a safe alternative. In short, if you have a child who chews on unsuitable products, look for a chewing chain. These have been specially developed to safely and discreetly provide children with chewing needs with oral stimuli.