Still eating sand, wax crayons, playdoh at 4...do I need to worry?

[ilovespinach]

Nursery have just spoken to me about ds1 and how he is eating crayons, sand, play doh etc all the time. He is now no longer allowed to play in the sand pit. They have stopped him from playing with crayons but he is still managing to get them and hide under the table and eat them. Bizzarly (sp) he has a very limited diet so I can't think why he eats these other things that aren't food when he would never eat regular stuff like crisps or apples etc...

Do I need to worry about this behaviour. I know that it's not usual for a 4 year old to do this. He also does at home - I threw the crayons away and we are very strict with the playdoh.....

I am also worried that he also puts his hands over his ears a lot and complains that things are too loud...

I used to eat play doh (tastes of vanilla it's quite nice) sand is horrible to eat but he might want the salt from it. Can't rationalize the crayons though!
I didn't worry until your last paragraph about the noises, I take it that he does this when you don't think things are too loud I think that I would go to the doctors just to be sure.

Sounds like a sensory problem to me-I think a visit to Gp is probably the best thing

It could be along the lines of 'pica'... if his diet is very restricted then cravings for non-foods can be a response to an acute lack of iron. Ringing in the ears is another symptom. The GP would definitely be a sensible step. In the meantime, keep a food diary so that the doctor can see what he eats, try to get him to broaden his palate, give him fortified milk drinks, cereals and other iron/vitamin C rich foods and also introduce a childrens daily multivitamin with iron.

I used to eat Vaseline, pencil rubbers, wax crayons, and bits of flock from underneath the mattress.

I still like Vaseline. Am in my fifties.

thanks for the replies....

I have been trying for over 2 years to broaden his range of foods to the point where we saw a child psychologist who said to just give him what he wants (pasta pesto everýday). I did buy a multi vit but I can't get him to take it.

The loud noises are things like workmen and singing (eg when we sung happy birthday at his party but I thiught that was because he didn't want the attention....)

Will book a drs appointment.