You probably know them, children who chew on hair, cords, sleeves or pencils. Even children chewing on Lego bricks or licking windows or an iron fence. You have tried to say something about it for a long time and it does not yield any results. In this article, I’ll give you some valuable tips that are a suitable alternative for your child to chew on. But first I zoom in on the development of tactile stimuli .

Chewing as a baby

If your child is a baby, it’s normal for them to suck and chew on bracelets, necklaces, chew toys, balls, and other objects. Chewing is also a way for your child to develop his oral sensory motor skills. After all, by scanning products in the mouth area, the sensory receptors in your child’s mouth are activated for the development of speech, language, proprioception (joints and muscles in the mouth) and the consumption of solid food.

As your child gets older, your child’s chewing needs decrease. Your child can cope with different textures, temperatures, tongue movements and successfully practices pronunciation of sounds and words.

Eating a variety of foods and further initiating language development is gradual and prosperous. Oral hygiene (brushing teeth and dental visits) also usually runs smoothly.

Undersensitivity to tactile stimuli

However, children with delayed (or abnormal) development of their sensory motor skills may have a disconnection in the brain. As a result, these children are very sensitive (hypersensitive or defensive) to different tastes, textures, temperatures and foods. They can also react violently to the fabric and the tightness of clothing. Some of these stimulus-sensitive children become calm by chewing . It helps them relax.

But there can also be a subsensitivity to tactile stimuli. You can recognize these children in the continuous search for oral sensory stimuli. So the kids who chew on ‘everything’. And they do this chewing to regulate stimuli, to activate themselves.

Tips for chewing needs?

The question that will come to your mind is: What can I do when my child needs chewing? What other stimuli can I offer to improve his behavior and concentration , but also to regulate his body? There are many activities, toys and foods you can give your child to create more sensory awareness.

1. Chewing jewelry and bite toys

Children who are hypersensitive to oral sensory stimuli (touch stimuli) often benefit from chewing chains . Chewigem chew jewelry is suitable for use at home and at school. They can also fidget with this. [ what should I pay attention to when buying chew jewelry] Here are a few of my favorites.

2. Blowing activities

Whistles are often too loud to use in a classroom, but you can have your child blow a whistle at home. In addition to being able to chew the flute, whistling helps to move the cheeks, lips, teeth and gums so that noise can be produced. Of course you can also offer other blowing activities such as blowing bubbles.

Using a dental inspection mirror is also a good way to get your child to use their tongue and lips, which is important for speech and language. Have them look at their tongue and lips as they make different sounds.

3. Massage mouth area

Using an electric toothbrush is also good for waking up the sensory receptors in your child’s mouth. A child with an underdeveloped sensory system can produce a lot of saliva. The electric toothbrush offers them the opportunity to massage into the mouth.

The z-vibe can be used in consultation with a speech therapist to stimulate the mouth area.

4. Tune power supply

Earlier I wrote about foods as a tip to use when chewing needs. [read more here]

Some children like extreme flavors, such as sour, sweet or hot and cold. Try various foods such as pickles, lemon juice, sour candies (sour mats). Gummi-like candies also help your child develop sensory skills in the mouth area. Gummi-like candies offer resistance during chewing and train joints and muscles in the mouth, which strengthen lips and jaw.

But harder foods also offer your child more tactile stimuli such as licorice sticks, dried fruit, nuts or carrots.

5. Use straws

The use of straws in combination with a thicker liquid also helps to stimulate the sensory receptors in the mouth. To drink through a straw, your child must use his tongue, lips and breathing well to drink the liquid through it. And did you know that the pencil cover that is open can be used as a straw!

6. Heavy work activities

Challenge your child to move and especially to move a lot by lugging heavier items. Have your child help lift groceries out of the car, clean out the fridge, move the bin of blocks, or lift the books upstairs.

7. Finding the cause

Of course, it certainly makes sense to find out why your child chews on materials, hair or toys. Sometimes chewing is a way to regulate tension or to combat boredom and understimulation. If this is the case, you can also make sure that you try to reduce the tension for your child. The situations that cause a lot of tension are well prepared and kept short. In case of understimulation, you could also challenge and activate your child through other stimuli such as visual stimuli or auditory stimuli or extra exercise.