Where is the info that says HUGS are required?

My friend has her 5yr old in a Frontier and a Blvd, both without HUGS because he ATE THEM!


He is 41lbs, not ready for a booster yet, and is pretty close to outgrowing the Blvd by shoulder height, so I suggested she get a new seat, but get some new HUGS in the meantime. She thought they were there just so you couldnt over tighten the seat. (other than that, his seat is installed perfectly with the straps and everything tight)


Any ideas on how to keep a kid from eating their carseat?

Where they completely eaten or just bites missing? What about something to chew on while in the car. I know you can order necklaces that kids can chew without them breaking off pieces. DD1 said it called chewerly like jewerly or chew instead.

I would suggest your friend looks into some of these for her DS http://www.especialneeds.com/speech-language-oral-motor-tools-chewy-toys.html

As for needing the HUGS - in my Frontier manual (FR80) on page 44 in the Care & Maintenance section one of the things listed under Warnings is 'Never remove HUGS system from harness straps'

ETA - in my MA manual it has the HUGS warning with the harness height adjustment info (pg 33, but probably different for the Blvd)

The manual says that the HUGS are required for FFing, optional for RFing. It's not to prevent overtightening, it's for head excursion or something. I can never remember which of the injury criteria it is, but it's important.

Yeah, if he has so little impulse control that he ate the HUGS, I'd say he's not ready for a booster! If he's only going after the HUGS, then a seat that doesn't have them is in order. Hopefully he won't move onto something else like the chest clip or harness.

I know its in the manual, which I believe can be found online if she doesn't have one.

He like ate them ate them, took bites and ate it to the point where she took them off altogether so he wouldn't choke or get sick!

He is a super smart kid, but has tones of severe food allergies which means he is deprived in some areas, which leads to him being really oral (he sticks everything in his mouth!). My ds is actually very much the same in that regard (actually same with me... )


I suggested the GN to replace the Blvd, sense he is getting too tall for it anyway and they want to replace it. The Frontier they have is pretty new though, so I'm guessing she wont want to replace it too. I'm going to have her order a new set of HUGS and one of those teething things, thats a good idea.

And he is the kind of kid that you can explain things to, I'll have HIM look at the manual (I'm sure she has it somewhere), and explain that he needs to follow the manual to be safe. He already buckles himself and makes sure he is in there tight, he will complain if he isn't in there tight enough, so he is good on safety rules. Hopefully that will help remind him not to eat his carseat too!

My 10 year old has pica and we've had great success with giving him gum (his OT suggested it). He is allowed gum and I pre pack it each week for him. Maybe the child would be OK with gum? For some reason he won't eat gum but has eaten a large portion of his Nerf DS case, styrofoam cups, terry cloth loops from his towels, and his favorite- erasers. I often find half eater pencil tip erasers in his pockets (though much less than I used to) and He's even eaten the wood of pencils (he pries the metal off w/ his teeth and then eats the wood). It's quite a challenging problem. It's not really about impulse control, it's like a habit or compulsion that he has zero control over. He still keeps his hands in his mouth. We'll tell him to take them out, and not 2 seconds later they're back. But the gum does really help. When he has gum in his mouth he won't eat other things, which right now is our goal.

So that went pretty O/T but I wanted to clarify that it's not always an impulse thing, sometimes it's something the child really seems to have not control over.

Becca

vtbecca said:

My 10 year old has pica and we've had great success with giving him gum (his OT suggested it). He is allowed gum and I pre pack it each week for him. Maybe the child would be OK with gum? For some reason he won't eat gum but has eaten a large portion of his Nerf DS case, styrofoam cups, terry cloth loops from his towels, and his favorite- erasers. I often find half eater pencil tip erasers in his pockets (though much less than I used to) and He's even eaten the wood of pencils (he pries the metal off w/ his teeth and then eats the wood). It's quite a challenging problem. It's not really about impulse control, it's like a habit or compulsion that he has zero control over. He still keeps his hands in his mouth. We'll tell him to take them out, and not 2 seconds later they're back. But the gum does really help. When he has gum in his mouth he won't eat other things, which right now is our goal.

So that went pretty O/T but I wanted to clarify that it's not always an impulse thing, sometimes it's something the child really seems to have not control over.

Becca

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Interesting.

This little guy and my ds both do some of the exact same things - constantly eating/chewing on things that aren't food. My ds has eaten every eraser in the house, and all of those little rubber 'dots' on cupboards, the bottom of trivets, etc, pool noodles, bouncy balls, anything foam (he took a bite out of his radian headwing when I had the cover off to wash it ), and he ate his nerf ball too! Its always something, I constantly have to take things out of his mouth and tell him not to lick different things. I always thought it was just him not outgrowing the "everything in the mouth" phase, but jeeze he is almost 4 already!

My friends ds is the same, maybe even worse, there is always something in his mouth!

I do give my ds gum, except we have to buy a certain kind because my ds is allergic to EVERYTHING, and the only one I can find is like $5 for a package so $$$ to have to buy often, so he doesn't get it often. I never really thought of it as a way to keep 'stuff' out of his mouth, but I guess it does work, he doesnt put other things in his mouth when he has gum!

His little friend is allergic to even more things, I'll ask her about the gum but I'm going to guess that he might not be able to have it because of his allergies.

Wow, sounds like he eats the same things as DS. I found a half eaten styrofoam cup in the car once. It's hard to keep on top of. Luckily his lead levels are OK, he doesn't eat metal or dirt. Other ideas are things others have mentioned- chelwelry, I've seen those phone cord type bracelets and necklaces that might help .It's really a sensory thing. He's done it since he was a baby and we always thought he'd outgrow it. At 10 he still hasn't. It's hard to keep on top of!

Becca

Levi doesn't eat metal stuff, but he does put sticks/leaves in his mouth that have been in the dirt, plus food right out of the garden.

I wonder if I should have his lead levels checked? He has never seen a doctor (for anything) before, but I have to take him for a check up for starting Montessori next year.

I think I'll get Levi this:

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Smart-Teething-Bling-Shaped-Necklace/dp/B001ANVUUU"]Amazon.com: Smart Mom Teething Bling Donut Shaped Necklace - Jade: Toys & Games[/ame]

Looks less like a 'baby' thing.

I definitely think any time a child is eating non food things levels of lead and/or other toxic metals should be checked. Also they may want to look into it further, sometimes a nutritional deficiency (like iron) causes them to want to eat things like dirt and leaves. Never been to a doc?! I can't imagine 2 of my boys have birth defects so we've lived at all sorts of doctors offices since they were born!

Becca

The only time he has been was the day he was born at the hospital, and once he went with my sister when she had to have a physical for school, and he got a referral for a blood test (for his allergies), it wasn't his appointment though, she just saw the state of his face (giant rash) and wrote the referral.

We don't vax, and he has only been sick once in his life (a cold that literally lasted 24 hours), so I havent bothered to take him!


He eats a ton of kale and spinach, so I'm hoping his iron level is ok. Last time he was tested for iron was when he was 8months or so and WIC tested him (he was way low then). We are vegetarian, so no meat products, and with a ton of allergies, his diet is somewhat restricted, so I don't really know. He is allergic to vitamins and supplements, so its not like he could take something to 'fix' it if he is deficient in something.

I have a ton of sensory issues myself so he could just get it from me...

I'll have them test for lead when he gets his physical for school, his first actual doctor visit!