Oral Fixations

[Redguard]

Does anyone here understand the child psychology behind oral fixations?

My older daughter (turning 5 next week) has, for a very long time, been obsessed with putting objects in her mouth. Some of which include some very NASTY things.

Toys - In the mouth
Coins - In the mouth
Rocks/Stones - In the mouth

If she's eating something and her hands get covered in it, she'll give her palm a wide-tongued lick.

She'll also chew on her clothing until it becomes SOAKED with saliva.

Yesterday, while driving, I looked in the rear-view mirror and caught her mid-lick while she was licking the bottom of her slipper... the SAME slipper that she'd just been wearing while we were outside in the grocery store.

Whenever I call her on these things, she reacts with a lot of guilt... which, for her, involves a lot of heavy and sorrowful crying. And when I caught her yesterday licking the bottom of her slipper I lost my cool with her (I know, I shouldn't have... but the thought of her poisoning herself or getting sick with some kind of infection because of this behaviour was just too overwhelming).

Mrs. Redguard grew up with an obsession with biting her finger nails until her finger tips look like they've been through a pencil sharpener (she still does it today) and thinks she may have passed on some kind of hereditary gene that causes this behaviour. I kinda have some doubts about that though.

I looked it up on the net and that's where I actually learned the term "oral fixation". I wasn't aware of it before. But at least now, I know that it's something at least partially common in other kids. But I don't think I spent enough time looking up the psychology behind it.

Anyone know what it's all about? I'm worried about her getting herself sick with all these germs she's putting in her mouth.

 

[Birbitt]

I don't know much about the psychology of it but I too have this problem and I'm an adult...since I am an adult I am able to understand that I need to have something in my mouth at all times and so I tend to carry around safe object for my mouth (gum, hard candy, lolipops) and so my recommendation is to do the same for your daughter...any time you find her putting something in her mouth that is icky tell her so while at the same time suggesting that she chew a piece of gum or suck on a candy or give her a pouch of cereal...anything that she can put in her mouth safely....and explain that you are not upset with her for needing something in her mouth but that you would like for her to only put good things in her mouth...hope that helps

 

[Redguard]

Thanks for the suggestion!

But be careful! I think OrangeHope might drive her car into your house for saying this:

any time you find her putting something in her mouth that is icky tell her so while at the same time suggesting that she chew a piece of gum or suck on a candy or give her a pouch of cereal...

 

[Birbitt]

How about sugar free candy or gum??? Maybe that will make it better...

 

[heart of peace]

Ah, good ol' Freud psychology. He was definitely a visionary but a bit sexually fixated [in general] on his development theories.

According to his theories, there must have been some sort of situation that led her to feel deprived during the predominately oral stage of human development (being weaned too early for example) and so she is kind of stuck in that stage as a way to help her in dealing with her sense of loss (this is off the top of my head, I don't care too much for Freud, so I haven't really kept up with his theories since I graduated).

 

[lucypevensie]

When I was a kid I think my obsession with chewing on things was related to extreme boredom. I don't think this is the case for everyone who chews on things though.

 

[Neenie1]

Another school of thought is that there could be some sort of nutritional deficiencies (I went through this with ds who also goes through times where he chews on things other than food)

I took him for check ups, and the doctors couldn't find anything.

I personally think in ds case it is a reaction to stress. I know that when he is doing it, there is usually things that are stressful going on. He also has a tendency to wet the bed at the same time the chewing starts.


Something that worked with ds (who is 6 btw) at the start of this school year, in the first week, he chewed erasers, textas etc. (only at school, not at home though) so I knew it was a reaction to being at school/new teacher/ etc. after having the Summer (6 week or so) holidays at home. We made a reward chart.

Which he nicknamed the "out of my mouth" competition. It worked really well with him and we haven't seen any "chewing/sucking" behaviours. Mind you we are currently on term break, and next week we will be praying that he doesn't chew anything. He doesn't cope well with transition times (or so we have found in the past) and this is another key time where he starts chewing things again. Ugh!!!!!!

 

[£amb]

sorry...wrong thread...