Pica is an eating disorder typically defined as the persistent eating of nonnutritive substances for a period of at least 1 month at an age in which this behavior is developmentally inappropriate (eg, >18-24 mo). The definition occasionally is broadened to include the mouthing of nonnutritive substances. Individuals presenting with pica have been reported to mouth and/or ingest a wide variety of nonfood substances, including, but not limited to, clay, dirt, sand, stones, pebbles, hair, feces, lead, laundry starch, vinyl gloves, plastic, pencil erasers, ice, fingernails, paper, paint chips, coal, chalk, wood, plaster, light bulbs, needles, string, and burnt matches.
When emmy was probably no more than 3-4 months old we noticed she had started chewing on her crib rails, not a big deal right she's just teething? As time went on we noticed she was doing more than just chewing on it, she was EATING it, literally, eating it. This freaked us out, WHY in the world wold she EAT the wood on her crib?! We asked doctor after doctor and none of them seemed concerned with it........ we didnt pay much attention to it after that, then as she got older we noticed she would eat dirt, rocks, plastic, ice, paper, chalk and some of the other nonnutritive substances.
Exactly, the more we learn the more confusing it gets.
ReplyDeleteSam has chewed through the wood on his bed too...it is crazy. He is our 4th so I can say his chewing obsessions are outside of "norm". We have this same pic of him eating dirt as he used to happily chow down on it - the odd thing is he would vomit a few hours after eating dirt or sand from our yard (but not from the park or another persons yard)- we have a walnut tree and suspect there are trace tree nut proteins in our dirt....bizarre beyond bizarre.
Sam's wood obsession had improved greatly right after his transfusion so I do think his is related to his iron. But actually it doesn't have to be just iron- that is just the common culprit, it could be nutrition in general...not that it is bad- just "off", you know? It is bizarre...
Just like the commercial for that cereal where the little boy suggests giving it to "Mikey" because he'll eat anything, there are some canine companions that WILL eat just about anything, whether it is food, treats, or something that they find in the yard. In fact, this problem can sometimes cause an otherwise normal dog to ingest items in the house that are absolutely not suited for anyone, either two or four legged animals to eat. http://www.health-tourism.com/angioplasty-surgery/germany/
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