How to stop/reduce an oral fixation

[NightOwl]

Dcg 2 puts things in her mouth like she's 6 months old. Every.single.thing. she picks up. Toys, crayons, blankets, paper, crumbs, specks on the floor, everything! And if she can't pick it up, she licks it. The couch, tables, her cot, the floor, walls, front door, whatever. It's kind of extreme in my experience and I've been doing this for a long time.
Any suggestions to curb the behavior? I know it's still within the normal age range, but like I said, it's really excessive. And I've been working on it for a couple of months now with no improvement. Not even a little bit.

[cara041083]

I tell all the kids aged( 2 and under) that we play with our hands and not feet or mouth. After I tell them 2 times not to put something in their mouth, then they loose the toy and i put it in a bin to be cleaned that night. At 2 they should learn pretty quickly not to put toys in the mouth. It drives me nuts . Also when the kids use their feet to play with toys instead of hands. It's like nails on a chalk board .

[alicia@home]

chewelry

I had a 3 year old with the same stuff going! EVERYTHING went in the mouth all the time! So, I found something that he could chew on. "chewelry" they call it. http://www.amazon.com/Stella-Mamma-N...=chew+necklace

They can be pricey, but he stopped chewing MOSTLY. And when he eventually lost it, but he didn't chew at all after that. Since I bought it, I made him take it off every day before going home (his mom was not good about bringing things back). It worked out well
Good luck!

[NightOwl]

For kids this old, it grosses me out too. I can't stand to see her licking a toy, dropping it, then another kid picking it up. I like the idea of "you lick it, you lose it". :: I've seen the teething jewelry before, but with this clumsy child, she'd find a way to strangle herself!

[Leigh]

I, too, will take away what they're ****ing on. If it continues, I'll take away ALL of the toys from that child. They then stick all four fingers in their mouth and have to wash their hands all.day.long. Chewelry is a great idea.