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January 5, 2011

Kid Companions Chewelry ~ An Attempt At Restoring Sanity by Ali Foley Shenk

Out of the blue during a busy day in December, I was alerted that someone in cyber space had written about our sensory Kid Companions Chewelry. Upon reaching the site, two photos of a child chewing on our chewelry and a detailed photo of our blue, heartshaped chewable pendant on an undyed, organic landyard graced the page. Best of all, was Ali's post describing how Kid Companions Chewelry was helping her son with his teeth grinding problem. 

Thanks to Ali who agreed to share her post with our readers.  

Original post:

I might have mentioned before how badly Dean grinds his teeth. Cole did it too, but it only lasted a month or so and that was it. Dean has been doing it on and off for almost a year! I guess more than grinding it's more like "flicking" his teeth back and forth.

Obviously it's not *just* a PWS (Prader-Willi syndrome) thing, but I've heard of other kids with PWS doing it a lot. We've approached it from a boredom perspective, sensory perspective, whatever.... We've tried vibrating brushes and toys for his mouth, cold teething rings/toys/cloths, adding more crunchy foods to his diet, offering other chewy things (including the infamous Chewy Tube that is always recommended). He cares about none of them to any great extent. If we tell him "no grinding," he sometimes will listen, but more often will smile and do it again. Little stinker! Even Cole can be heard throughout the day saying, "Mommy, Dean's grinding!" or reminding Dean himself not to do it.
Recently though, Dean's been grinding (or whatever you want to call it) so much that his gums are bleeding by the end of the day. :( The dentist said that there's really nothing we can do about it except try to encourage him to stop. His OT said we're doing everything she could think of to try to get it to stop.

But there has to be something. So I searched online and found Kid Companions Chewelry. It's a Canadian company that makes necklaces with chew objects attached. This way it's always available for him to chew on. I was a little nervous about putting something around Dean's neck, but obviously we won't use it if he can't be supervised. It comes with a string that detaches if too much force is put on it, so that's another safety feature.

I purchased it from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002Z3EU5Q/ref=oss_product. If it works, it's easily worth the $20 in my book! We tried it today and Dean seems to like it so far. When he grinds or even wants to chew on something that he shouldn't, I put the heart in his mouth to remind him that he has that to chew instead. We'll see how long it works!

The follow-up post a few days later:

Kid Companions Chewelry necklace - Dean's been wearing it for a few days now and overall, I'm quite happy with it. When he wants to chew and remembers that he's wearing the necklace, he can pull the heart into his mouth and gnaw on it. Trouble is in situations where we can't remind him to use the necklace instead of grinding his teeth - the car, during naps/nighttime (even with the safety release, we don't let him sleep with it on... just seems like a bad idea), etc. But overall, I think having an outlet for his chewing needs that is accessible to him almost always is a great idea. I would recommend these necklaces!
Ali
www.divingintothewaves.com

Please note:
*Kid Companions Chewelry can be bought at http://www.chewelry.ca/
*Lanyards are available in undyed or colorful 100% organic cotton.
*A clip version is also available.
*All lanyards can be personalized with contact, medical or allergy info.
*Other pendant colors available include a black heart and a blue circle.





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