Pica, more common that you think
Some bloggers have sitemeters. Some bloggers check their sitemeters to see who is searching what subject, if they are brave.
Occasionally I am brave and check. What follows are three pieces upon subjects that three people researched via google. This is the first topic.
Pica
A common definition of 'pica' is where someone eats non foodstuffs. The most common familiar example of this phenomenon was of pregnant women eating coal.
To read more click “here.”
May 3rd, 2008 at 1:09 pm
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Genevieve
May 3rd, 2008 at 1:24 pm
Pica.. I have a child that chews everything and a cat that eats carpet. Great post by the way!
May 3rd, 2008 at 2:17 pm
We definitely focus on the dangers. My son will eat leaves, paint chips, glue, mulch, gravel, bits of “food” from under the car seat, rubber bands, crayons — the list goes on and on. We have to work constantly to keep him from picking up and mouthing objects. It is like being perpetually the mother of a three year old.
Or more accurately, a puppy. Because he genuinely will *chew* on furniture, routinely eats the cuffs off his shirt sleeves, chews plastic toys into mangled horrors, and has chewed his comfort blankets down to rags that appear to have been mostly disintegrated in acid.
Yeah, he licks people, walls, doorknobs – but it is the constant chewing that is more of a problem here. Some of it is just chewing, some is actually eating nonfood items. And believe me, he’s not the only one we know with this issue, although it is infrequently mentioned by anyone but OTs, and isn’t particularly prominent in the diagnostic questions.
May 4th, 2008 at 6:27 am
I found with the eldest the Pica went away with the dairy.
The youngest is much better but we’ve been trying to break the habit… sorta… we’re not being hyperviligant but if we catch him it gets taken away.
He LOVES steel. And how he hasn’t managed to put a hole in his tongue from the stapler, pencil sharpener or the hole punch.. I have no clue. Prefers the extra large paperclips, nuts/bolts/screws etc.
S.
May 5th, 2008 at 8:22 pm
My daughter sounds a lot like your son…high pain threshold, seems unaware of her surroundings much of the time, and licks/eats everything. Play-doh, walls and rocks are big favourites! Just wanted to say that I appreciated this post. Pica is something we deal with every day but never really talk about because most people just don’t understand. I’m glad to have found some folks who do. Thanks.
Amy