Does anyone else have a clothes chewer? I am looking for chewy necklaces

salt_and_pepper

Hi i have a clothes chewer too and i know how frustrating it is. My son goes for his cuffs to the extreme of were i have had to have new cuffs put on his jumper. I have tried sweatbands, and also him having a special toy to chew with pictures from his speech therapist which just didn't work in that he was just destroying whatever i gave him- i ended up with dog toys. I have been told they get a buzz from the washing powder- but i change brands quite often. I think i'm gonna work on a reward ststem where if he doesnt eat his school jumper then he can chew on a clean flannel in the evening, a bit like when a baby teethes.

blue_monkey_2

I thought that about that t, I do not think it will work because he tends to just scoop the neck so I do not think the shapes will work quite as well.

Have you see the price of the one on sense toys? With VAT & shipping it comes to almost £24!! I think I'd rather wait and get a set of 6 necklaces from specialdirect and pay an extra £15. In theory I could stick the rest on eBay for £6 each and they will be there for other mums to be able to buy without paying the earth. I mean, they will cost 61p for postage - at the most 90p, I am shocked that they are charging £5 for postage of a bracelet and necklace that will fit in a large letter under 100g.

I found a site in the US last night that will ship to the UK at cost but I cannot find it now.

I have found this US site and they are $8 each - around £6 http://www.nationalautismresources.com/chewelry.html

I think I am going to email them and see if they will ship to me here in the UK.

blue_monkey_2

salt_and_pepper wrote: »

I have been told they get a buzz from the washing powder- but i change brands quite often.

When I was a child we used to have a twin tub (for those of you old enough to remember those!!) I used to put loads of soap powder in the water, turn it on so it made a huge froth and then I used to eat it...... it did not matter what brand of powder it was.

Heck, it doesn't look good for my son does it....?? :rotfl:

Curious_George_2

Hi,
I cant help you with the chewy side of things but i watched a programme about kids who have swallowed magnets and what it can do to their insides, it honestly scared the life out of me!
while he is in this chewy stage please take the Magnext off him!

good luck with your search! (from a childhood flannel chewer... i know, gross)

S1976

Hi,

I've never had a chewer myself, but one idea that springs to mind is, the nylon cord you get from the army shops, it's actually called paracord and contains the outer layer and 7 very strong inner threads - it's very tough. You could braid a necklace similar to what some survivors/bushcrafters use as a braclet, I would suggest soaking it after initial make as it can shrink a little. I think it would be OK to chew on lol, there are different knots you could use to create a thicker or smaller one, the only problem is here in the UK you can only get the cheap stuff that contains fluff inside from our shops - but if you need PM me and I have some of the US stuff - the 7 inner strand, and see what we can do.

DKLS

blue_monkey wrote: »

Very disappointed when we got his school photo's as he had been chewing his top and the whole of the front of his t-shirt is wet (but this was not visible in the small proof of course) and school or the photographer did nothing to hide this.

I cant help with the chewy aspect, but there a number of us on here with great photoshop skills, and one of us could easily 'Fix' the photo.

Pm me if you want me to have a go and try drying his t-shirt out.

tilly's_mum

[QUOTE=salt_and_pepper;28737587_I_have_been_told_they_get_a_buzz_from_the_washing_powder-_but_i_change_brands_quite_often._[/QUOTE]

My ASD daughter used to chew and bite holes in her clothes until I changed to the Ecover non-bio, Tesco Naturals etc washing powder and no fabric conditioner. She bites holes in new clothes too so I have to wash everything before she wears them. If I change back to Surf, Persil etc the biting and chewing starts again. Could be worth trying ecover etc for a week or so and see if it helps?

She also used to chew and bite plastic, rubber etc - we thought it was sensory but it turned out to be threadworms.

papoosue

My 8 year old is a bit of a chewer also, but not so bad recently - he always chews the top of his coat and the inside ends up poking out! For a while he was twisting all the buttons off his school polo shirts too - grrrrr. Was costing me a fortune.

Now, I'm not suggesting you do this, but a mum I know whose son did the same to his coat put washing up liquid on it to stop him chewing! It did work and she suggested I could try that but I couldn't bring myself to do it to be honest.

I'm sure someone will have some good suggestions for you. Good luck :-)

blue_monkey wrote: »

My ASD son chews his clothes. He has always done it but it has got exceptionally bad and he is eating holes in 1 or 2 tops a DAY. It is costing a fortune and at the moment all I've got is a load of tops with holes in. Luckily I found some schoo polo shirts at £1 for 3 on M&S sale so bought loads of those for school but I am now at a loss on what to do for now and how to stop it.

I am looking for chewy necklaces that I have been told about called chewlery and I've tried to order some as there seems to be just one company in the UK that sells them but they are out of stock until the end of the month so I have cancelled my order to see if I can get any elsewhere for now. I am not having much lucky. I do not think the chewy tubes will do.

He has blankets for bedtime and he is literally chewing lumps off them. He always has to have something in his mouth. Very disappointed when we got his school photo's as he had been chewing his top and the whole of the front of his t-shirt is wet (but this was not visible in the small proof of course) and school or the photographer did nothing to hide this.

Has anyone seen these or had experience of this kind of thing. Thanks.

taliangel

Hi, I am Mom to a clothes chewer, and I understand this situation only too well. I beleive the chewing to be vital to aiding my sons concentration in school so have looked everywhere for 'chewlery' in the UK. Can only find this on US websites which charge a fortune for postage. To be quite frank as the Mom of a 'sensitive' six year old lad the colours and type of 'chewlery' available would make my son stand out a little too much so I'm looking for some in his words 'sick' (nice, boy friendly, funky) jewellery for him to chew on. For the time being I have settled on a plastic rubber type teething necklace designed for Moms to wear and babies to chew on. They are quite substantial in size and are donut shaped on a silky necklace with a safe snapping clasp. I do supervise him when using this at home but am not sure how welcome it would be in school or how he would feel using it there with his sensitive nature. Just search the net for donut teethers, they come in loads of colours!!! Hope this helps a little.

dizziblonde

For photograph day - send a spare T-shirt in and ask the teacher if they wouldn't mind getting him to change into an un-chewed one just before the snap's taken? Considering I'm usually chasing down kids, sorting out collars, attempting to undo the damage playtime's done to beautifully done hairdos anyway - I'd quite happily just do a quick change before a snap's taken!

Considering lots of schools allow habitual fiddlers to have twiddle toys - couldn't see anywhere objecting to something to stop the soggy mess of neckline (which is pretty ikky and unhygenic) as long as it was a necklace with a safety catch device (kind of like the ones ID badges have to have). If it was something with a solid loop I could see the potential objections on H+S grounds would be the only thing really. Certainly I can think of at least one kid I've taught who'd have benefitted from this (and the rest of the kids on his table) as he'd chew his way through most of the classroom stationery left alone (he even chewed chunks out of the seat of his dad's car)!