Thursday, May 13, 2010

A new comfort friend

Connor has always had the need to put things in his mouth.  He is delayed and because of that is still in the "everything goes in the mouth" stage.  He is old enough for us to let him know that we don't put toys in our mouths but recently it has become some sort of a necessity for him.
It is now to the point that he gets very frustrated with one thing or another and either bites himself or the object he has become frustrated with.  He has also proceeded to start sucking and clamping down on just about every toy and "baby" he has.
I finally mentioned it to his occupational therapist today and she suggested a vibrating teething ringthat she uses for some of her other patients that have sensory issues.  I honestly thought it was silly.  Connor is two years old and has all of his teeth.  What good would a little teething star do for his need to put everything in his mouth.
BOY WAS I WRONG.  This thing is a life saver and the boy just adores it.  He has not let go of it and has not ripped a single thread out of his "lovey" (a new mouthing habit he recently started).
He got frustrated and upset a few moments ago because he had a piece of thread on his foot and he started to bite his shirt and I told him to breathe and bite his star.  He sat there for quite a few minutes holding the vibrating star in his mouth and soon all was fine with him.  I am sure I am starting another bad habit but now he can play with toys and not mouth them and not beat himself up so badly.
Thank you learning curve for your teething star!!!

3 comments:

katherinemary said...

Wow. I've never heard of that before! I'm glad he has found something. And Cari still puts everything in her mouth too.

April said...

sounds like she knows what she's talking about! glad you found something that helps :-)

The Turkstra's said...

You know he may not be that delayed I just noticed Hunter wanting everything in his mouth too. Soggy blankets are soo gross!