Pica in kids?

[snipsnsnails]

Anyone have any familiarity with this? My 7 year old niece was here over the weekend and she locked herself in the bathroom to eat our hand soap (she said she lathers up her hands and then just "eats the bubbles" and we found bite marks in our candles in there as well. She also has lupus, so I don't know if there is any relationship between the two. sweetday , do you know anything about a possible connection? Nutritional deficiencies playing out in pica?

My SIL said her pedi said it was "normal" and to not make a big deal about it. I have no idea if that advice is whack, but it doesn't seem particularly normal. They haven't pursued mental health counseling, because they spend most of their time at doctors appointments relating to the lupus.

Anyone? Anything I can pass on to my SIL is helpful. Thanks!

[snipsnsnails]

Thanks @kirkette - sorry ,i didn't see this response before. She's spoken with each set of doctors re: this, so they each give their opinion and they all semi-loosely match up (i.e. she's got bigger health fish to fry, don't jump on this and maybe it will pass). But it's starting to worsen. She's being more secretive, eating more things and greater quantities of the things.

[dottyblue]

It's the secrecy that raises red flags in my mind, along with the fact that no one seems to know exactly what, and how much, she is eating. A 7 year old locking herself in the bathroom to chew on candles and eat soap bubbles isn't normal, no matter what the doctors say. That she is locking the door makes it pretty obvious that your niece knows it isn't normal behavior, so she's hiding. That's going to have repercussions sooner or later. I understand your poor SIL has her hands full, but it sounds like they need a 3rd or 4th opinion on this.

My heart goes out to them. What a load to deal with...

[snickers]

There is no way that can be normal, is there?
Poor girl
I hope they figure something out soon.

[underwaterrhymes]

My friend's daughter has pica and she's quite young. Maybe also 7? If you want to PM me i can try and put you in touch.

[sweetday]

sorry, I havent heard of the connection. I can put out some questions for you and get back to you.

[starbuck]

Interesting. I went through a stage as a kid where I just loved to eat bath sponges. I couldn't get enough of the texture in my mouth. I grew out of it at about 10 or 11. I do have an autoimmune disease as well (celiac), but I have no idea if the two are related.

[Jermys]

I had it as a kid! I ate: dirt, rocks (the chalky kind), paper, tar off the road, and probably some other stuff that I don't remember. From what I was told, it usually goes away in early childhood - between three to five.

My aunt and grandmother also had Pica as children and it came back when they got pregnant.

[iamali]

Oct 28, 2013 16:25:22 GMT -5 @cse1960 said:

I used to eat paste, mud, and match heads. And chalk dust.

And the frost from inside the freezer that would build up. I still like that, but I have a frost free refrigerator.

and I don't ahve any health issues.

@cse1960 - OMG. Chalk dust. I loved it.  LOVED IT.

Snips - I'm sorry I don't have any info about this.

[wildfloweragain]

I have a student who has PICA. She's 7 and has had it for at least 2 years. We don't know what else she has, but it seems like slow processing and math issues so far. She is about to have a screening done.

[mirandahobbes]

It's actually more common in children than adults. It is considered an eating disorder. I don't know of any connection with any auto-immune diseases. I would think it's a separate diagnosis.