Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi, My son is almost 4 years old and on the waiting list for an autism assessment. He has a strong oral fixation and continues to bite his fingers. We are struggling to get him to stop biting his fingers, he has a speech delay and doesn't completely understand the implications of him biting his fingers is causing infections in his finger nails. To combat the infections we've been perscribed oral antibiotics which he is refusing to take, so doesn't help the situation as his infections are not improving due to him not taking his medication.
To try and take his antibiotics we've tried just giving them to him and telling him but he refuses, placing into his favourite drinks but generally tastes it and stops drinking. Placing into nice foods again will taste and stop before taking an entire dose. I was hoping to see if anyone has had any related experience of children refusing to take antibiotics and how they got them to take them. And also any experience in children that bite their fingers to the point of causing finger nail infections and what they have done to help stop them from doing this. He will not keep on gloves. I have just purchased some nasty tasting nail vanish to see if that will stop him from biting his fingers. When trying to stop him from placing his fingers in his mouth it usually ends up in him becoming triggered and then causing challenging behaviours to occur.
Any advice would be appreciated as we are struggling with how to solve this issue.
Thank you.
Hello
Maybe you could try and reward him for not doing it? Perhaps make a chart, get some sticky stars and ask if there is something he would like to earn. Maybe that way there’s a little distraction for him and he gets something cool at the end of it.
Chewing the skin around my nails and the inside of my mouth is something I have done for many years. Lucky not to the point of infection, I have tried to stop so many times without success. This I believe is a stim for me and find myself doing it when I’m calm, relaxing or driving home from work. When I don’t do it I find myself trying other stims to compensate. Hullabaloo I must look into chewlery and see if that’s an option, I work alone so wouldn’t be an issue with getting spotted.