Paper-eater!

What a weird title for a blog post! You must be wondering what she meant by a paper-eater. I was actually referring to my baby, who loves to eat paper. Oh well, I think a lot of other babies like to eat paper too... maybe.

She loves to eat paper, any kind of paper. If paper were an edible item, it would probably be her favorite snack. She likes the glossy papers of magazines like Time and Fortune, she likes notebook papers, drawing papers and paper labels found on bottles and jars. She also loves crayon wrappers and price tags! On five occasions, I inserted my right index finger into her mouth to bring a piece of paper out.

Like most 10-month-old babies, she is very mobile. She can crawl and cruise to every nook and corner of the house. She can open drawers, al kinds of drawers. She can open cabinets with even more ease. On an accent table in my living room, I used to have a pile of magazines. After I found out about her favorite snack, I stashed those magazines into the cabinet of our writing desk. But no, this did not help me a bit. While on a mission to dig treasure, she discovered that magazines could be found in the bottom cabinets of a writing desk! So, now she opens the desk cabinets and pounces on the magazines that I once stored there just to save them from her hands.

She already tore several pages of a nursery rhymes book that my mom bought for her. Nowadays, I try to keep all kinds of papers away from her. I bring down her rhymes and story books from shelves only when I read them to her. I bought board books for her but interestingly, she managed to chew on their corners too. I learned that the trick was to moisten the page corners with drool until they become very soft. Once the corners are soft, you can easily bite pieces off them! So, never underestimate the intelligence of a baby. They are not as naive as they may appear.

However funny everything above may sound, but papers contain inks, colors, metals and chemicals that can be toxic. Paper can also cause choking hazards. So, it is best to keep all kinds of papers away from your child's reach, no matter how much he/she loves chewing on them.





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