[rookiemom]

My son, age 9 was an avid chewer. I tried gum, incentives, charts. I talked to teachers, counselors, looked on the web with no success. I could see a pattern when ever he was stressed about a new situation. Finally, I tried two things . I would tell him to stop chewing his shirt whenever I would see him do it. This worked pretty well because I worked at his school, so I saw him often. Secondly I rubbed cayenne pepper mixed with water under the collar of his hunter green uniform shirt. I did warn him about it a head of time and I had to keep applying it for serveral weeks. But it did stop him from chewing his shirt. I gave him praise when he came home with a dry shirt. Now that he is getting older, he seems more concerned about his appearence. Now occasionally, when he does chew, I know it is because something is bothering him and I can get him to express it in words instead of chewing. My son came to me at one day old and I often wondered if the chewing fixation was due to not trying to breast feed.