Pica Eating Disorder

Pica disorder is an eating disorder that is more commonly

seen in young children, and those with developmental

disabilities such as autism.

People suffering from Pica behavior eat inappropriate

non- editable objects that can be harmful or fatal and may

eat things such as dirt, clay, sand, paint chips, plaster,

chalk, baking soda, coffee grounds, wood, rubber etc..

Complications of Pica disorder range from just an upset tummy,

dental problems to life threatening side effects

such as intestinal obstructions, Poisoning from toxic products

and choking. Pica eating disorder is a serious disorde

r that should not be left untreated.

One of the scariest things my autistic son ever did was

because he was suffering from Pica eating disorder.

When he was a baby it was ok that he had tethers

and chew toys, as he got older they were not enough

to orally sooth him anymore and he began eating

non-editable objects.

There was a time in our life when poison control was on speed

dial, we were frequent visitors to the emergency room and

doctors office, and we wondered every day if that was the

day he was going to eat something fatal. As a parent

you can be paralyzed with fear as all the

contents in your home become safety issues.

Over half of the things my son has eaten I never

saw them as a safety concern until it was to late.

It was always the everyday items you

never thought twice about.

The most stressful thing is how unpredictable this disorder

can be. My son got up in the middle of the night while

everyone else was sleeping and began to ingest part of

the wood from the back of his entertainment center.

It was not immediate that we noticed anything was wrong

until he became very sick. He had never done this before,

we had no way of preparing for it or predicting it.

Pica made my child want to eat everything insight but not just

everything, every dangerous item insight! Hot wheels tires,

pencils, erasers, wood pieces, all things rubber, furniture,

and on and on I could go. All small things that come with BIG Choking

Hazard warnings on them or call poison control immediately!

How do you keep your child safe from

the dangers of the symptoms of Pica when you have

no idea what they might eat next? My son took the terrible twos

and made that stage of child development look like a cake walk!

We became desperate to find a treatment for Pica and almost

went insane with the fear that our son was going to die due

his appetite for destruction if we didn't do something. We first saw

his regular doctor who sent us to a speech therapists

that gave us oral sensory toys that were more

appropriate for him to chew on.

Then came the medication to curb his appetite,

that didn't last long due to the side effects. We saw a

occupational therapist who recommended rubbing his

gums a few times a day to help satisfy his oral cravings.

A dentist that told us to let him chew on tooth brushes to

help with the tooth decay and finally we tried behavior

modification. Without a doubt this treatment has

given us our lives back!

The first thing that had to change for Pica Eating Disorder not

to control our lives anymore was our attitude. I took a look at

my child's toy box, over half the toys in it were items that

we had bought or been given by a specialist for him because

they were safe for him to chew on.

We were encouraging this behavior and didn't even realize it, so,

I threw them all away. It was not an easy adjustment for him or us,

but the symptoms of Pica were unacceptable behaviors that

were to dangerous to ignore or encourage.

I replaced the non wanted items hewould eat with

food items that mimicked the textures he was eating:

pretzels for the wood and dirt textures,

twizzlers for the rubber textures,and

pop sickles for the hard brittle textures.

I reprimanded his habit of putting everything in his mouth.

I used the same words "no mouth" to verbalize to my child

if he were eating something inappropriate or not. My attitude

became zero tolerance for the urges of Pica Eating Disorder

no matter how bad the fit he threw was.

It was important for my child's safety that he learns the

appropriate items that were safe to go in his mouth and the

things that could not.I would no longer let him even chew on

the things I knew would not hurt him becauseI wanted to change

his need to chew on anything but food.

When my son was young and would eat small things like penny's

and hand fulls of dirt or sand it didn't seem like that big of a deal to

us, but by the age of four there was no end insight to what

 he would eat.

At some point it comes down to your attitude as a parent and

the way you view this disorder. For us as parents having lived

through a couple of scary years with this disorder I realized

my sons addiction to putting things in his mouth could be

compared to a cigarette smoker.

We find other appropriate ways for him to deal with this addiction

and began breaking the habit one day at a time. Since we have

become more vigilant about not encouraging the symptoms of Pica

my son no longer suffers daily life threatening illness's because

 this eating disorder.

My son went from being non verbal with little faith of ever speaking, 

to us hearing more speech from him. Once we quit focusing on what

went in his mouth and took away the Oral distractions it

 significantly improved his delayed speech

 and communication.

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