Junior has attempted to eat all manner of inedible items, even table legs
Many parents wish they had eyes in the back of their head when their toddlers start reaching for things they shouldn’t, but for Jess Harry, it seems nothing is off limits for her son Junior.
The mum-of-two first became aware that he liked to try and eat inedible items when he licked the Velcro in his tactile books as a baby.
Since then, the 21-month-old has “scoffed” sand “by the handful” and eaten playgroup rugs as well as furniture all over his home, including his own cot.
It wasn’t until September that Junior received a diagnosis of pica – a condition where a person repeatedly craves and eats non-edible items with no nutritional value.
“Even if nothing is available to him he’ll seek it out, he will find something,” said Jess, from Brymbo, Wrexham.
The 31-year-old had to pull Junior out of nursery because he was eating “a disgusting amount of sand”.
Jess admits the ridiculous nature of the situations Junior sometimes finds himself in – but said there was a serious side too.
Jess had to move Junior into a metal toddler bed after he started eating his wooden cot, but this meant he could get out in the night and he chewed his door frame.
This led to him having lead in his blood as “the old layers of paint have got lead in”.
Junior is now in a travel cot or playpen until the problem is resolved and Jess raised the issue of lead paint with her housing association, Clwyd Alyn, but said she wasn’t taken seriously and no action was taken.
Clwyd Alyn said repair work was scheduled to be carried out at the property and it would “continue to liaise with the family and swiftly act on appropriate guidance about how to deal with this situation going forward”.
Craig Colville
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