DD Biting Herself

[CheeseCrackersAndWine]

Hi,

My DD is just over 21 months and has many delays. She isn't very mobile (can't crawl or walk) has zero speech (although has had glue ear for most her life but now has grommets) no non-verbal communication really other than crying/laughing/kicking her legs when excited type of thing, is still on thick purees as won't tolerate solid or lumpy food at all, won't self feed or even attempt it, likes to be constantly on you whether it's being carried & hanging round your neck or sitting on your knee, has had chest infections, ear infections, flu, tonsillitis in the past and suffers from reflux & constipation which are medicated daily on a long term basis.

Anyway, I think that covers all her issues just for a bit of info. My question is, she has recently taken to biting herself on the hand/wrist/lower arm to the point it's red, sore looking and has teeth marks. Anyone any ideas why she would be doing this and how I can attempt to get her to stop?

Does she have speech and language therapist support? They can help with more than talking. An occupational therapy assessment might help with the biting which can often be sensory related. You can get sensory chewies to redirect the biting.

Yes, she has a SLT for eating & drinking and communication. We haven't seen OT since the early days when they said there wasn't really anything additional they could offer her that we didn't have already so I will see if I can talk to someone about seeing them. She had lots of chews but seems to prefer her arm

It's quite hard to replicate the feel of arm chewing. I would use lansinoh on the sore bits as it's safe for breastfeeding babies so will be safe for her to ingest. I've got one of these wrist chew from Sense Toys which has a lovely feel and might be worth a try for your dd.

Thank you Polter that arm chew looks really good so I will definitely invest in a couple of those and pick up some lansinoh.

My DS does this. His bites lots of things, clothes, my cushions the arm of the sofa (!) but I noticed he tends to bite his arm/wrist more when anxious.

With him its probably sensory (hes very sensory seeking) but there may be a little bit of self harm in there too, related to his levels of anxiety.

When I catch him doing it I tend to give him his dummy as this stops him biting and soothes him at the same time. Does your LO have a dummy? I have a chewy necklace for him bit he tends to ignore it in favour of my soft furnishings and his arm!

Hi monochromeunicorn

Thanks for the reply. She doesn't have a dummy - she has always refused one. She has a Sophie Giraffe which she loves to chew on so I have tried giving her that when she starts but in all honestly it's hard to find a replacement/distract her from it.

She definitely has other sensory issues, her physio often describes her as unique in her development. She is very cautious at touching things, it will be with her finger only rather than her whole hand and she pulls away/drops things very quickly unless it's something she is well acquainted with. However, she loves her swing (the higher the better), the trampoline, being thrown in the air etc.

She is also very clingy, which could be anxiety I think? She has to be touching me (or someone with in her small circle of acceptable people!) almost all the time and will moan/cry if I even make towards a door without taking her with me.

How old is your DS if you don't mind me asking?

He's 3.5 so older than your DD but has autism and language/ developmental delay, he's approx 18-24 months in most areas.

He sounds a lot like my DD from the snippets you have posted here. We have no diagnosis for anything as yet but autism was heavily hinted at when we last saw her community paediatrician. Did/does your son have physical delays with sitting/crawling/walking etc?

My dd aged 6 was diagnosed with ASD a year ago. Her development was very delayed and she didn't walk until she was 27 months old. To start with, I put a lot of her behaviours down to frustration at not being very mobile when in fact it was because she didn't like being around people particularly other children her own age.

She also bites her knuckles and sides of her hands, school have introduced a chewy sensory toy that she will bite on at school, but at home she refuses to use it.