The Lean Mean Carpet Eating Machine

Alternate titles:

Crunchy Carpet Eaters
Mmmm... Fuzzy Carpets Are My Favorite

So, what can I say? Some kids will eat anything. My daughter, not so much. She can pick out a tiny piece of lettuce off her sandwich that is not visible to the naked eye. And she does NOT get that from me. But I've seen some kids who will eat it all. Paper, fuzzies, napkins, buggars.

Yum. Love the buggar eaters.

For my daughter, it's definitely a sensory/texture issue (also NOT inherited from me). It sort of goes with her having to wash her hands the instant she gets dirt or mud or ice cream sandwich on them. Same thing when she gets something weird in her mouth.

But apparently, poor Melissa does not have that problem:

Am I the only one with a child that likes to eat the carpet?  My toddler started this horrible habit when he was almost a year old.  We had just moved into a new apartment and it had new super cheap carpet that fuzzed up horribly.  He took to picking it up off the floor and chewing it.  We later had the carpets cleaned hoping that getting rid of the fuzz would stop him.  Now that he does not have an easy source of fuzz he rips up his own.  I am hoping that he eventually gives this annoying habit up before he goes to college.

I'm thinking it might be a comfort/anxiety thing - my daughter picks her nails (which apparently I do as well - little did I know). But, I'm thinking Melissa doesn't eat the fuzzies off her carpet, so what's the deal?

Anyone else have a kid that likes to eat weird stuff? Leave a comment and show Melissa some love.

And if you have your own "Am I the Only One?," email me!

Comments

[Meagan]

My son (22 months) is also preoccupied with eating dirt, putting rocks in his mouth and licking our stone fireplace! I think I might have to try the multivitamin too. I am completely frustrated. The weather is beautiful and I go crazy every time we leave the house because within minutes he has a mouthful of dirt or rocks and will not spit it out.

[Sherry]

Im starting to really worry about my little girl she is 18 months and for the last 10 months she has been eating carpet hair and fuzz. She knows its bad because she gets in trouble for it but she just will not stop.

[Chelsea]

My 2 yr old has eaten fuzz since his first teeth came in and he will eat it off of anything blankets carpet towels, we heard from our neighbor that one of their relatives had a little girl who ate fuzz all the time, she got really sick when she was about 6 yrs old and the doctors couldn't figure out why, then they realized all the fuzz she has eaten fused together in here intestines and was blocking anything from going through, i am not trying to scare you b/c i have asked my doctor and everyone else i know what to do, my doctor said try to keep him from fuzz, well i never knew there was so much fuzz around until i tried to keep it away from him, it's very hard, nothing i have tried works so if you find anything let me know!

[donna]

Hi,
My 2 and a half year old also eats fuzz and we can't get her to stop it. She tears the fuzz off of blankets clothes, stuffed animals any fuzz she can find. If you get your child to stop eating fuzz let me know, I too would like her to stop before she goes to school.

[Melissa]

I will have to try the vitamin thing and see if it makes a difference. It seems to be a self soothing behaviour becuase he will often pull it up and chew on the fuzz when he is crying or upset about something. He also managed to eat quite a bit of my hair when I was going through my postpartum shed from my second son.

[Michelle]

At the beginning of this spring my daughter started eating dirt by the fists full and it drove me nuts. She would constantly have the dirt drool and it was just gross. I had no idea what to do, I talked to her pediatrician who just told me she would grow out of it and other mom's but really no one had any advice. So I started giving her a daily multivitamin and after about a week of the vitamin she stopped eating dirt, but if I forget to give her the vitamin she's right back to eating the dirt!

[Janet]

Gawsh. I wish Lily would eat something other than chicken and Cheerios. Maybe not carpet, but some bug is at least protein right...She won't put anything in her mouth especially new foods. If it's not the regulars...she won't touch it.