Things in Kids Mouths

I’m constantly amazed at what my children put in their mouths. And their ears. And their nose.  My 2 year old daughter likes to put her big sisters Shopkins in her mouth. Granted some of them look like ice cream people, but really. And she keeps doing it. It’s not like they’re flavored. Why?

When my older two were little they would chew on their cribs. Not just a little.  In some parts they went through the varnish and down to the wood. I remember one time I went in and one of them had brown flecks of wood stain all over her mouth.

I don’t understand what makes kids want to do this, other than when they’re teething. It can’t taste good. It’s not like they’re hungry when they’re doing it.

The same girl who tried eating her crib also fed her brother raw pork fat once. I had trimmed a roast but hadn’t put the fat directly into the garbage, so it was on the cutting board. Apparently my son told his sister he was hungry, and being the resourceful 5 year old she is, she grabbed him some food. When I saw him and asked what he was eating, he said meat. GAG.

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A stray raisin that I missed when I swept the floor is fair game if I can’t snatch it out of their hand. My son actually asked if what he was holding was an old raisin, and when I said I think so, he popped it in his mouth. I have to tell at least one child per day to take something out of their mouth. Food, toys, rocks; really the possibilities are endless.

One of my older girls also went through a phase of chewing on her hair. I wouldn’t have cared really, except the section she chewed on would get all matted and if she had just finished eating her hair would get extra gross.

However, the all-time winner in this game of what-terrible-thing-can-I-put-in-my-mouth is my son, who decided he was going to eat our Christmas lights. Christmas lights you say? Yes, glass Christmas lights.

Some good friends of ours have Christmas lights on their patio for when they sit out at night, and I liked the idea so much I wanted to recreate it at our house. So I got some of our old Christmas lights and hooks to hang them up. Unfortunately, two strands didn’t completely light up, and they sat outside on a table waiting for me to come back and fix them.

Along comes my son. He’s playing with his twin sister nicely in the backyard, but I happen to glance outside and it looks like he has something in his mouth. Now, I can’t tell you why my brain went to the lights, but somehow I just KNEW what this crazy kid of mine had done. Sure enough, I ran outside and asked him to open his mouth. He ran away from me like all good kids who are trouble do. I get him and tell him to spit it out. Out comes 2 pieces of glass and then he hands me the chomped on light bulb. Whyyyyyyyy?

Luckily, he wasn’t hurt and somehow it didn’t cut his mouth, but I’m constantly wondering how humans have survived so long with the amount of potentially dangerous things they do to themselves as children.

Hopefully things will start calming down, but I have a feeling my Shopkin chewing daughter will follow in the footsteps of the hair chewing daughter. Plus it seems my son is a human goat, so it might be a long while yet.

Is there something I can even do for all this chewing? A friend of mine told me about necklaces that I could get that are specifically made for kids that like to chew on stuff, so those might be an option. Has anyone ever heard of something like that or tried it?

Jennifer at Sweet DiscordJennifer is a stay at home mom with two sets of twins. She copes with having four kids ages 5 and 3 with wine, desserts and cooking. But at the end of the day she wouldn’t trade her crazy life for anything. You can read more from Jennifer at Sweet Discord.

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23 Comments on What’s In Your Mouth?

  1. I’ve never tried anything to keep them from chewing, but my oldest son is the worst with this! I am still telling him at ten years old to take the Lego out of his mouth! He was also my pacifier kid so maybe that has something to do with it? But yeah kids are crazy. ????

  2. I thought with a four year old I didn’t have to worry about this anymore. Then, last week, she put a small toy in her mouth and it got trapped. I had to do the heimlich and luckily she’s ok but it was the scariest moment of my life.

    • OH MAN! That is SO scary!! Glad it came out…and yes, I thought by age 4 my kids would stop putting things in there mouth..but here we are at 5.5 and I’m still wondering when this phase will end.

  3. I don’t know much about kids because I don’t have one. But I know my mom and my aunts will buy toys that were meant for kids who chew everything. Maybe this might help. Also remember that is their way of exploring the world.

  4. I have three children. The first two never put anything in their mouths…somehow something happened with my third and she puts EVERYTHING in her mouth. Everything…it is miserable. I am constantly picking stuff out of her mouth…Why?!

  5. I can’t even imagine. I was lucky with my 3 that none of them were much into putting things into their mouths. A necklace sounds like an awesome idea…if you can’t find one you should come up with one and sell it to others. 🙂

  6. Oh my! I learned in my studies that toddlers learn more through their mouth as that is one of more sensitive areas of their bodies. So everything goes into the mouth to be judged. Still…

  7. My sons used to pick up anything and everything to put in their mouths. It was a workout just running behind them and making sure they didn’t ingest anything dangerous for them.

  8. wow, what a nightmare. a light bulb, I think I’d freak out. Thankfully the only thing my two ever put into their mouths were their own fingers or their feet.

  9. These stories remind me of my brother when was little. He loved to put anything in his mouth or that of the dog’s mouth. If you heard, “dere,” you ran because you knew something of yours was about to be eaten.

  10. Kids can be confusing sometimes especially with the habits that they develop. I think one of the reasons they put things in their mouth is their curiosity.

  11. It’s definitely something that is a battle! I am not sure when it really stops. Curiosity is definitely getting the best of them.

  12. My kids are a lot older now but when they were younger we had this same problem. Smaller things that resembled food were always the worst. I have no advice besides just telling them not to do it. Hope they break of it soon!

  13. Oh God, I’m so happy that your son didn’t get hurt. My son is 1 and he’s been picking up stray bits to put in his mouth. I found him chewing on some of his cereal puffs, which would be fine, but I haven’t given him any. He must’ve found some in his chair or some where. It frightens me that I didn’t know where he got it from and I have that many crumbs laying around and didn’t know.

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  14. Those necklaces are truly a lifesaver. My son was a chewer when he was little and thats the only thing that kept him from going after grosser options, lol!

  15. Oh man. Christmas lights!! And I thought mine was bad eating the crumbs from her car seat every car ride. As for necklaces check out Glitter and Spice who makes lots of teething necklaces and accessories as well as Mama Gems is another favorite. Great for either you to wear or your kids depending on their ages.

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