So weather you kid has SPD or not, chances are they have chewed on something in your house and you can not seem to get them to stop. Now if your child does have SPD, chances are they chew on everything all of the time. Ah the joys of motherhood. So I have compiled my favorite ways to become a momma ninja and show that kiddo who’s boss!
Over my years many months of therapies I have gathered a little incite on why our kiddos are doing this. Your kiddo can have high or low sensitivity in their mouth. When your kiddo has low sensitivity they don’t feel things happening in there the same way we do. My daughter had a speech delay because she wasn’t feeling her tongue and teeth as much as she should. She couldn’t move her mouth fluently to make words. When she tried it didn’t come out the right way, we wouldn’t understand her, causing her to get discouraged and give up. When your kids has high sensitivity in their mouth they may feel everything ten million times more intense than we ever could. A cold sore could feel like a gaping hole in her mouth. A mildly warm bottle could feel like magma. Depending on the day your child could be super bothered by these issues or not seem to notice at all. Thats the beauty of SPD, it has a lot riding on environmental factors. To be honest with you there are some days that I can do all of the therapies, and remember every single tiny detail and my child still freaks out. Once you play around with different therapies and ideas you and your child WILL figure out what works for ya’ll. I am not promising to have all of the answers, hell there are some days that I am like “I will do anything you want. Do you not like this shirt? Is it my face? I can change my face if you want just pleas stop screaming at me”. Yea no one ever said motherhood was always pretty.
Pacifier/Binky/SheShe- So my daughter is getting to be too old to wear around her favorite “SheShe”, it doesn’t bother me honestly, it’s just not very socially acceptable. I know that there’s also potential to mess up your kids teeth with these things. I got super desperate and honestly a little crazy after I caught my son eating his amber teething necklace like a candy necklace. I ran into the nearest Walgreens and was shocked to find pacifiers that ranged from 24-35 months (which my son is in that range). So if your little is young enough to get away with a pacifier that try to make sure it is in the right age range. I also have a few great alternatives. The first one is a “Chewy Chams” necklace. Basically its a necklace that you can put different shaped rubber , animals on and your kid can chew on them as they please. This is defiantly a more socially acceptable way to let your child still have their favorite comfort thing. A cheaper alternative that I have tried, and loved, is taking a reusable straw and simply tying thin ribbon through it to make a necklace. I love this idea, it has worked super duper well for me every way i’ve tried it. Unfortunately, Autuam has lost all of hers and I never got to snap a pic. I have cut the straws into links, kinda like noodles, and made a pattern with them just tied like a regular necklace. I have also bent the straw in half, so the tip has a lot of the rubber stuff so its tougher to chew, and simply tied at the top and once again to make a necklace. There are so many ways you could do this. I have also tied different color/texture/length ribbons all through the “beads”, that was Autaums favorite. You can find these straws at Wal-Mart in the isle that has like kids plates and water bottles for about $4. I will post links to all of these below.
https://www.therapyshoppe.com/category/P2585-chewy-charms-chewable-necklace-autism-sensory-products
So if you don’t know, i’m an old fashioned mom. So when I was growing up I remember we had a giant Lab who kept chewing my moms shoes and the couch. My dad taught her a lesson by rubbing hot sauce or jalapeno on it. I am for sure not telling you to do that to your kids, that crosses the border between punishment and cruelty, but vinegar is perfectly on the side of punishment. Autaum has chewed on her crib from before I could remember, she has chewed into the wood. So all you have to do is take a little bit on a rag and rub it on to the part where your kid chews. This way your not punishing your child doing something they probably can’t control but at the same time letting your child know that that’s not ok.
So what do you do when your kid has already chewed giant holes into the wood of her bed? Simple. All you need is 1 yard of any color/pattern you chose fleece, scissors, and about a hour. You can buy a yard of fleece at Wal-Mart for about $3. So what you do is you cut a strip of the fabric as long as whatever it is you want to cover. Make sure that you cut it wide enough that you will be able to tie it. So if it takes 2 inches to cover the pole add another inch or two to be able to tie it around.
So where I stopped cutting is how wide the bed pole is around.
Then you cut strips all the way down, make sure that they are about half a inch apart.
Next you simply tie the strip around the bed pole. Its that simple. This does take forever and a day, but it costs $3. Heres what it looks like all done.
So here’s a toddler bed.
Here’s a crib.
When it gets gross you can whipe clean with a soapy rag and a little water. This way lasts for about 2 months, depending on what your little ones are like. When it gets super gross, or you baby decides to play in their own poo, you simply cut it off and throw away. You will have to keep redoing this every couple months, but you get way faster at it and you only have to buy the material once.
If there is not a crafty bone in your body or your just super lazy you can also buy a crib bumper and just tie it around the top of the crib. These kind of bumpers work best.
**SIDE NOTE**
When Andy was a baby, he had no care for his face or well being. He would throw such a fit sometimes that he would be standing up jumping and thrashing around all at once. I always worried about him hitting his face on the hard wood. I bought pipe insulation at our local hardware store and put it over the bar and then tied the material around it. A pool noodle works good too but their only available like 2 months out of the year.
My last and final tip is a bunch of ways to keep track of your passy/binky/sheshe. All parents have been there when their child cannot find their comfort passy. You will literally start moving furniture trying to find the stupid thing. Here are great things to attach them too:
Cookie Cutter
Stuffed Animal
Good ‘Ol Fashioned Pacifier Holder
Or Even, A Dog Toy
No joke we bought that for the dog not realizing elephants were her favorite animal. Realistically you can attach it to almost anything, you could even sew it to their favorite blanket. Thank you so much guys for reading. Feel free to comment with some of your favorite ways to handle a chewer!
HippyLife 