Carpet Muncher

[ashokia]

GET YOUR MIND OUTTA THE GUTTER!

Okay, so we have carpet, and when we first got our puppy, she used to chew the rug right at the corners where the tile met the carpet in our apartment. We quickly got her to stop this terrible habit and hadn't really thought about it until DS started crawling. We started noticing him chewing on something I kept pulling fibers out of his mouth and realized he'd started pulling up the carpet and eating them. Now, this was all well and good because he was very obvious about doing it and I have always been able to fish the pieces out with no harm done.

Now he's decided that instead of letting mommy get his prized carpet gum, he should swallow it instead! I am seriously worried about what will happen with him swallowing these pieces of carpet. Will it mess up his intestines somehow? Has anyone else had a problem like this? I've tried putting another rug without loose threads on top of that, and I roll his highchair over it to keep it in place, but he's figured out he can wiggle under the highchair and pull up the other rug!

[Tweetybird999]

Anything that can't be digested can become a blockage. After calling the local health info number, I had to take my son to the ER once for swallowing an unknown object. It was not stuck but I was advised to make sure he was having normal BM for a few days and if anything odd happened, call 911. Try to put something heavy your baby can't move on top of the carpet so he forgets about chewing it. It is a phase that will pass in time.

We had a dog that ate the carpet and this resulted in horrible vomiting and diarrhea...the dog too. Horrible mess on more than one occasion, not to mention a completely ruined carpet. Had to rip it out in the end.

[marstec]

Watch him like a hawk. Eating carpet pieces won't do him any good, even if it doesn't obviously harm him. When I think of all the crawlies, dust and dirt in carpet, I get the heebie geebies; plus he is ingesting fibers made of who-knows-what. You might want to replace that carpet if it is unraveling, or at least glue it down really well so he can't pull up the pieces.

On a lighter note, I guess he's too young to audition for My Strange Addiction, huh?

[lekate]

Watch him like a hawk. Eating carpet pieces won't do him any good, even if it doesn't obviously harm him. When I think of all the crawlies, dust and dirt in carpet, I get the heebie geebies; plus he is ingesting fibers made of who-knows-what. You might want to replace that carpet if it is unraveling, or at least glue it down really well so he can't pull up the pieces.

On a lighter note, I guess he's too young to audition for My Strange Addiction, huh?

Isn't being exposed to dirt and germs good for the immune system?

In anycase, try something heavier that he can't get around, a rubbermaid tub full of stuff too heavy for him to move, an ottoman, could it be taped down? Spray it with something that will taste very awful to him (vinegar, some sort of cayenne powder mixed in a liquid, for dogs there's a bitter apply spray that's recommended for dos with this problem ), is it possible to keep him completely out of the area?

And no! I can't get my mind out of the gutter!!! Teeh hehe

[marstec]

Isn't being exposed to dirt and germs good for the immune system?

I hardly ever use hand sanitizer, but I wash my hands frequently and practice other good sanitary habits.

I don't think I'm too neurotic about germs, but I'm also not going to lick my bathroom floor to test my immune system either.

[ashokia]

LOL, I totally thought of 'My Strange Addiction' too when he first started doing it!

He's usually very regular with his BM's so we should notice any changes in that. I might just call our family Dr. tomorrow to ask her about it.

[ashokia]

I'm not overly worried about germs, we steam clean the carpet once a week (or more) because it gets a lot of baby goop, spit and snot all over it. I'm more worried about the fibers somehow getting wrapped around his intestines or something equally horrible. Most of my friends say it isn't anything to worry about and he'll just pass it, but it's not like any of them are Dr's!