Seeking Moms Help in Stoping My Daughter from Chewing on Her Tongue/habit.

Our 8 y/o used to bite her nails when she's nervous or bored, so we started buying xylitol sugar free gum. It helps prevent cavities and ear infections and has been used in Europe for over 30 yrs. It's basically fruit sugar. Safe for those with diabetes as well. We give her a bottle of gum and whenever she feels like chewing, she'll pop one in her mouth. Most of the time, we find xylitol gum at a Korean market b/c most of the American brands at the supermarket has the ingredient, aspartame, which can cause strokes. In any case, the gum chewing really helped and she no longer bites her nails. You can also find xylitol gum/candy online. We also buy gum and sparx candy at www.luckyvitamin.com, since shipping is $6 (flat rate). Hope this helps your daughter! Good luck!

L. -
I don't have experience w/ this specific habit, but when my son was grinding his teeth during the day, his pediatrician said that we should ignore it. Apparently by paying attention to this habit, we were encouraging him to continue with it. He wasn't causing any real damage, though. He did stop the grinding, though I don't know if he just grew out of doing it or if our not saying anything helped. If I were in your shoes, I would get an opinion from another dentist and/or ped orthodontist. Good luck! K.

I like the advice in the other posts, so I am just going to add one thing:

Don't blame yourself! I suspect this isn't related in any substantial way to not having a pacifier as an infant. If it was, she should have outgrown it at the same age binky kids outgrow their binky's. Different children simply end up discovering different habits. It may soothe them, stimulate them, who knows. But I don't think "blame" belongs in the equation. If the experts, like your dentist, are not worried, then I wouldn't worry, either. Shoot, we have enough to beat ourselves up over as it is!

My best friend is 24 and as long as I have known her (since we were 6), she has always chewed her tongue. It didn't cause her any harm. She had braces like most kids, but no incredible teeth problems. Her parents used to tell her to stop, but she would just do it without even realizing. She still does it and until someone says something about it, she doesn't even notice she is doing it.
I think if you want her to stop, you will just have to constantly remind her. Unless she is doing it to get a reaction from you, then ignore it and maybe once she see's you not care, she will stop.

bribe her to stop with a pet such as a hamster, guinea pig or rat. My daughter sucked her thumb till she was 8 and this worked for us.... she loves pets, so she gave up the habit for the pet.