to just let DS2 eat the fecking paper?!

[RagamuffinAndFidget]

This child is like a paper MAGNET. Seriously. I don't know where he finds it but he's always got a bit of paper sticking out of the corner of his mouth. I am getting soooo bored of hearing myself say "No DS2, we mustn't eat paper.. and where did you get this bit from?!"

It's made from trees right, so it must have some nutritional value? Shall I just leave him to it? We do BLW here so taking it away from him when he clearly wants to eat it must go against the ethos of BLW.. right?

How old is DS2?

My mum always said you get tapeworm if you eat paper. Probably untrue but it put me right off.

Lol to the last paragraph.
Tbh, I would see it he'll hand it over, if not take it off him. If it's already in his mouth, probably best just to let it go, unless you're worried about it being dirty/dangerous (that particular piece I mean - each piece of paper is different!)

Valuable source of fibre (possibly).

If it's plain paper I don't think it will hurt him. Glossy magazine paper printed with lots of ink might not be so healthy though.

My dd1 was similar as a baby. I actually went and bought her some rice paper so she could eat that (pfb alert!). You can get it in the home baking section of supermarkets, and it's made from rice so it's got to be a good weaning food, right?

Not sure how nutritious it is but understand your frustrations!!!

DD was (and sometimes still is but just chews on it) a paper eater, she started when she was about 8 months old and is now 8!!

If i caught her would take the paper from her but she would always find more, it got particularly bad when she was about 1 where she ate half of her bedroom wallpaper after tearing it off the wall!

I didn't realise she was eating it until i found pastel coloured paper in her nappy!
I had to move the cot dead centre in the middle of the room. to stop her.

She wasn't particularly fussed what kind of paper it was, would have a feast if she got hold of a newspaper or magazine.

She gradually decreased her paper intake and moved on to baby wipes, chewing and sucking on them, she still does this occaisionally so have stopped buying baby wipes.

Dont know why she does it though, so not really much help!!!

Oh, sorry, forgot to say in OP. He's seven months old.. so there isn't much scope for negotiation!

Hassled I am going to take your post, ignore the 'possibly' and use it to justify my slack parenting. Thanks!

I used to be a paper eater... and it never did me any harm!

I used to rip corners from my school jotters, so much so that my teacher would get very annoyed at me, I think she brought it up at parents evening once, but my parents were not that bothered and thought she was being petty IIRC...

but yeah I also bite my nails, used to eat bits of school erasers, etc, so I might have just been a weird child, but im fine now, and dont think my parents were ever overly worried about it,

What paper is it? Don't let him eat too much of The Sun or any used bookies slips - that won't do him any good. A balanced diet of Guardian editorials and the odd page from National Geographic should see him right.

Another former paper eater here too. Actually, I do still occationally find myself nibbling absent mindidly on a piece. Doesn't appear to have done me any harm.

Agree that The Guardian is the best, fibre-wise, being made from fair-trade organic lentils

My DD has been a paper and baby wipe magnet since she was able to grip things in her fist. I dont know where she finds the stuff. DP decided to just let her go for it and nothing came of it.... until she shat out an entire barcode right in front of the disapproving of everything I do MIL. Seriously, if I took that nappy to Tesco's I could have probably scanned it.

YANBU.
I got so fed up with DD being after paper to eat, that I stopped feeding her and just flung her the odd magazine.
She's 10 now and seems really weird OK.