4 Year-old and an Oral Fixation???

my daughter has a huge oral fixation also her happens to be associated with her sensory intergration dysfunction. but because of that we where able to see a speech therapist which helped us a ton. some of the things that have helped is getting her to be aware of whats in her mouth so we use diffrent baby teether with lemonade powder or pixie stick sugar on them an let her chew on them to fell the diffrent tasts and textures. when we finished with this then we got her some chewy tubes so she always had something around her neck to chew on. She is now 9 and a HUGE gum chewer. You are truly wanting some help I would try to contact a speech therapist just to get some more Ideas on how to help him. Good Luck

If he were really small it would be his baby way of exploring the world. But at his age, you might want to think about whether there are other things involved.

It would be worth asking the pediatrician about -- asking if your son's need to chew might reflect stress, if chewing is a self-soothing action, etc. You could think about your son's other actions and why he seems so unaware and automatic about the chewing. It probably is just his own self-soothing mechanism like some kids suck their thumbs or others rub the edge of a favorite blanket; unfortunately, this particular form of self-soothing can choke him, so I'd ask a professional how to deal with it and direct him to something else. It's wise of you not to yell at him and not make a huge deal of it -- keep it up -- but I'd also see if there are techniques for redirecting him, or even finding him some items it's permitted for him to chew on.

My friend's son sees an occupational therapist (not sayiing your son needs one) and the OT has items that are available now for kids who really need to chew and are safe for them to chew. However, I wouldn't go that route without having an OT or a pediatrician approve it first. Breaking the habit would beat having him chew something, even something approved as his one "chewy" as my friend calls it, but the chewy is another option.

Did you get any answers that helped your situation? My son is exactly the same and I know he doesn't.do it on purpose but it sure is frustrating!

My 3 yr girl does this constantly. She has been this way since she was little..little. It is scary what she puts in her mouth. Coins, screws, sticks. She went to a in home childcare when she was 18mo..and learned to suck her thumb there. (she never had before then--don't know if it is a learned trait or an age thing) We work on her not sucking thumb by just asking her to take it out when she has it in.
I have read its a self soothing issue--the thumb sucking. The constant sticking other things in her mouth drive me crazy. I am interested to see if other mama's have any other insights.

My 16 year old daughter does this and has since she was little, loves straws... chews pen caps, etc... I thought it would go away, but it hasn't... I didn't do anything about it, I would just say get that out of your mouth... After reading some responses maybe I should have asked pedi-doctor about it long time ago... I thought it was like biting nails and she would stop, I use to do that...

You are not a lone, my 4 year old son chews on things a lot. Mostly his shirts and blanket and sometimes his mouth. It becomes habit and we start getting him to break the habit and it comes back. I think he mostly does it when he is excited or something is bothering him. We very firmly tell him to stop and because he doesn't like to get in trouble and knows we are serious when we tell him it has to stop he usually stops after several times of getting in "trouble".

my son did that at 4 and then again at 6 it was usually his shirt and it was usually when he was bored or watching tv. Or if he had something around him he would start gnawing on it. All you can do is say please stop chewing on that or please take that out of your mouth. Its a stage.