licking things....

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-25-2003
licking things....
7
Tue, 03-07-2006 - 7:20pm

OK I haven't posted in ages and now two from me in one day.

How, in the name of all that is Good and Holy, can I get my son to stop licking things? He does it very rarely now, but still seems compelled every now and again to have a good old lick of something smooth; the newly washed car, the half melted ice on the ground from the snow about two weeks ago (Eeeeeewwwwww). He *knows* he isn't supposed to lick things, but seems compelled, and can't seem to stop himself. And like an addict; he justifies it to himself and to me: "I wasn't licking it, Mom, I was tasting it with my tongue".

Has anyone dealt with this with an older child? It was easier to explain when he was 3 or 4, but he will be 8 in July, and well... you get the picture.

-Paula

-Paula

visit my blog at www.onesickmother.com
iVillage Member
Registered: 09-12-2004
Wed, 03-08-2006 - 8:53am

Have you read the book "Pretending to be Normal" -- I wish I could remember the author's full name, but Holliday or Hollaway was plart of it. It's about a woman whose daughter was dxed with AS and then she herself, then went on a road of self discovery that she also has AS.

Anyway, she vividly describes some of her childhood experiences with swallowing things and textures of things in her mouth. I can personally remember eating begonias in my grandmother's garden, and I even had a preference for the non-opened blossoms because they were sour sweet. I think it is just a very big sensory thing. I don't have any adice, but I highly recommend this book. It may bive you some insight into what your DS is experiencing and provide a way to relate to it so that you can help him control the impulse.

Oh, well, at least it is becoming less frequent and since you didn't mention any trips to the hospital e-room, hopefully it's more embarrassing than anything else.

Kelly

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-19-2005
Wed, 03-08-2006 - 12:45pm

Hi Paula,

I don't really have any BTDT advice, just brainstorming here, but is there something edible you could give him to lick that would give him the same feeling? Lollipops are not the greatest idea, I guess, but something along those lines? Or something like a snow cone or slushie? I don't know.

We are having a similar problem with DS grinding his teeth and if I catch him doing it I try to give him something crunchy to munch on. I had hoped to solve this problem with gum, but he hates gum. The problem for us is that he does it unconsciously and so much it is hard to always be there.

Always something, isn't it?!

Katherine

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-31-2003
Wed, 03-08-2006 - 2:28pm

Hey, at least it's the "newly washed" car, right? LOL!

I'm kind of in the same boat, only for us, it's spitting. David has always been a "too much spit" kind of kid. When he was very little, he used to make raspberry sounds, and there would always be spit flying everwhere. But now that he's 8, he has suddenly started just spitting on the ground. Not in defiance, in a swaggering tough-guy way---he just feels too much saliva in his mouth, and before he knows it, he's spitting on the carpet. My first instinct is to shout, "What the heck are you thinking?! That's disgusting! You clean up that mess right now!!" Well, that is no help, and it just makes him feel all stressed out. I understand now that he doesn't realize he's doing it, or that at the moment, he just doesn't think about it. So, I'm trying to let him know that it's not okay to spit in the house (or out in public), but in a way that isn't shaming or punitive. We'll see how that goes. Yesterday, I picked a book up off the floor and it had a slimely blob of spit on it. He couldn't understand why I was upset.

So, I realize that's no help. Just wanted you to know I understand, though.

Evelyn

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-25-2003
Wed, 03-08-2006 - 9:30pm

Kelly,

I read the book a few years ago, but I don't remember that juumping out at me particularly, but it rings a bell now that you mention it. I will pull out the book and see if it sparks any inspiration. Thanks for the reference.

I do know that it is a sensory thing, and very difficult for him to control, but between that, and his "science experiments", I have called Poision Control way more than is usual. I keep the three different Poison Control numbers to hand, and alternate which one I call, in order to avoid being flagged on any system as a negligent Mom!

I think my record is four calls in two less than weeks.

-Paula

-Paula

visit my blog at www.onesickmother.com
iVillage Member
Registered: 06-25-2003
Wed, 03-08-2006 - 9:36pm

Evelyn,

I hear you. It is a fine line between humbling them, and trying to constructivly redirect -It is hard to do at the best of times, but when grossed out; well nigh impossible.

I should thank God for small mercies: he got over the "licking Mom's face" thing relatively quickly. That was bad, -not only for the 'ick' factor, but because I am extremely tactile defensive -especially around my face. I would still be rubbing at it a half-hour later!

-Paula

-Paula

visit my blog at www.onesickmother.com
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Thu, 03-09-2006 - 7:04pm

Ya got me on this one Paula. I have absolutely no ideas other than what you are doing.

I bet when you were a girl your dreams of being a wife and mom didn't include looking for advice on a kid who licked things. Ever see the movie "Parenthood"? Steve martin's kid kept putting a bucket on his head and running into walls. Real parenting can be so interesting at times.

Renee

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-31-2003
Thu, 03-09-2006 - 7:48pm

Paula,

This discussion reminds me that when David was three (pre-dx), I used to lay down with him to help him fall asleep, and he went through a phase where he HAD to either touch the hairs on my arm or my eyebrows with his finger. He would reach over and rub my arm/eyebrows just at the right pressure to be annoying. I could tell that he liked the way it felt on his fingers, but I couldn't figure out why he wouldn't take NO for an answer. If I moved away, he'd literaly take my arm and try to contort it into a position where he could rub it, or he'd climb all over me to get at my freaking eyebrows. Ugh, it's all coming back to me! I used to get so mad! Bedtimes have always been tense for us because of this type of thing. Also, during that phase, he broke his arm (fell off chair, believe it or not), and after a couple of weeks, that cast started to smell AWFUL, but he'd still reach it across me to try and touch my eyebrows. I swear, if I had jumped into a lake to get away from him, he'd have followed me.

I'm so glad he doesn't do that anymore! LOL! I'm also glad that I finally have a clue why he was doing it, and that he wasn't just being purposefully annoying.

Evelyn