Has your child come home from school with shirt collars that are malformed and ruined? Are your child's shirt sleeves and cuffs are widened and mangled with teeth marks? Your child may be a chewer, but you probably already knew that.

Before we delve deeper, for parents, it is important to understand the context of these chewing behaviour.

Understanding your child's unique needs is the first step to better supporting them. If you are ever concerned, consulting a healthcare professional is always recommended and will better educate you on how to best support your child's needs.

Why does your child chew?

You may still be asking though, why does my child chew on their clothing (or any item for that matter). Well usually, children chew to satisfy a need. Excessive chewing is a common behavior within the sensory processing disorder (SPD) realm.

All children require stimuli for their sensory needs. For children on the spectrum, they may require more stimulation than normal. For these children, chewing is required to help satisfy this craving,  calming them down. The key takeaway is to provide a means to curve those needs to chew.

How to support a chewer

Luckily, if you have a child who chews, regardless if they are on the spectrum, there are multiple resources and products available on the market. 

Sensory chewing necklaces are a great option for chewers. Made of BPA free, safe silicone material, the necklace design allows a child to suffice their sensory needs at any time. Sensory chew necklaces also come in different textures and are visually appealing. Our best selling line of chew necklaces come in 5 different vibrant colours.

As parents of a chewer, embracing your child's chewing tendencies and encouraging them to meet that need safely is the best way to improve the situation. Knuckle and shirt collar chewing exposes your child to germs and dental damage. Tending towards your child's chewing needs is one of the first steps to truly supporting them as they enter the world.  Instead, have your child safely chew on SensoMind chew necklaces.