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10 Top Tips for Children Who Chew: A Guide for Parents

Why do some children chew excessively?

Chewing is a totally natural and normal behaviour for children, especially during their early years. We all know babies and young toddlers put everything in their mouths, from toys and shoes to cat food, sand and even snails….I always found the eating of sand in particular grossed me out!!
Although it is a natural behaviour we expect to see in very young kids and is a part of exploring the world around them, for many children, especially those with additional needs, chewing can continue well into the older years. Some children develop excessive chewing habits which are causing damage to clothes, objects or have developed into self-injurious behaviour such as biting their hands. In this blog post, we will explore 10 top tips to help parents dealing with excessive chewing.

1. Understanding the Root Cause:

Child with Downs Syndrome in a field wearing a brown doughnut Chew Necklace with doughnuts lanyard

First off, it’s essential to understand why your child is chewing excessively. It could be due to teething, anxiety, concentration, sensory processing issues, self-regulation, or even boredom. For some children, the cause will vary depending on the situation.

Figuring out what chewing achieves for your kiddo is an essential first step in finding the right strategies.

Take a look at my video ‘Why do people chew?‘ for some ideas!

2. Providing Safe Chew Toys:

Invest in safe, high quality chew necklaces for your child. Chewable necklaces are a fantastic tool for redirecting your child’s chewing behaviour away from inappropriate objects, like lego, clothing and ipads! It’s also helpful to ensure their safety and help prevent damage to teeth and gums as well as reduce the likelihood of ingesting something dangerous.
Chew necklaces can also help prevent damage to expensive school clothing and other objects. I’ve heard of so many children going through expensive logo school jumpers at a speedy rate!

Here at Oojamabobs we offer a wide range of chew necklaces in different shapes, sizes, colours and textures.
If you’re new to chewy jewellery and don’t know where to start, check out our Bundle Packs! These contain several chewable necklaces in different shapes, one firm, one medium firm and one soft, with 2 different lanyard lengths. All at a reduced price! This is a great way to find what type of necklace suits your child, at an affordable price.

Chewy jewellery necklace standard selection Bundle pack

3. Offer Chewable Foods:

Chewing provides excellent proprioceptive feedback (check out this blog by Neurodivergent Insights to read more about proprioception and how it helps us regulate our emotions). Certain foods provide much more resistance than others, meaning the jaw has to work harder to break them down. This intense, strong pressure in the jaw provides deep stimulation of the proprioceptive system, which has a hugely calming impact on the chewer. This is one of the many reasons our kids may have a strong need to chew; it helps them to feel calm!
Offering really crunchy and chewy foods is a fabulous way to help provide your kids with a way to safely meet this need.