Question

When do you all let your kids start chewing gum?

I know random... but I am not sure?!?

Thanks

I let mine chew gum once in a while starting when they were maybe 6. I only bought the kind the dentist recommended (sugar free with zylitol I think) Now they are teens, they chew it all the time, but again they only buy sugar free and they are really good about dental hygiene.

I let them chew gum at about 6-8. Only gum with Xylitol also, it actually inhibits cavity formation, and helps with ear infections.

I just started letting Ceilidh chew it this year (she is almost 5). I have only let her have it once tho. She doesn't quite understand it. She put it under tongue, moved her mouth around the spit it in the garbage with the gum completely intact. LOL. I figure I'll wait another year or so and try again. I think I'll find the gum tho with xylitol to try her with next time.

Meant to add that I thought I was late in holding off the gum because a lady I worked with was giving her son Juicy Fruit and he was about 2 or 3. Not sure how long she was giving it to him tho. The topic only came up once with us and I didn't think to ask how long he had been chewing gum.

My girls are adults now, but I rarely let them have gum as kids, because it annoys me. When I am nervous, being around someone chewing gum makes me feel much more nervous for some reason. I guess because many gum chewers make annoying noises as they chew - such as popping and lip smacking.
I also wanted to comment that xylitol is hard on some people. It is embarassing to admit, but it gives me gas and sometimes makes have to run to the restroom (I think you know what I mean ). I also can't tolerate malitol or sorbitol. Basically any of the things they commonly put in sugar free candy or Slimfast type bars.

Mine have always chewed it from when they were 2 or 3. I didn't plan it that way, but they would get ahold of some at their grandmas and seemed to do OK with it. They didn't spit it out when they were little, though. They swallowed it. I asked their pediatrician and she said it was OK in to swallow in small amounts so I didn't worry about it. (I'm a gum swallower, too.) I think the thing to me is that they need to be able to not get it everywhere. If they're the kind of kid to take it out and play with it, it will end up everywhere. My neice was like that and so she was banned from gum for a few years.

Oh, and I forgot to add that the xylitol gum is also affective in preventing cavities in kids if the kids don't chew it but their parents do. Yup. You read that right. The theory is that adults harbor bad germs which are responsible for tooth decay. When they kiss their kids, share drinks or eating utensils, etc. they transfer those germs to the child's mouth and a colony starts to set up. Xylitol helps prevent the germs from transfering, and it doesn't matter if the kid is the one chewing the xylitol or the adult is.

Unfortunatly I am not able to have ANY fake sweetners either. pERIOD. it doesnt sit well, and some give me hives. LOL

that said, unfortunatly, my kids have absolutly retarted grandparents and have been given gum everytime I turn around. No matter how often I say no.
(yes, I resent them. each and every one of them.) But even Bow has gotten small bites of gum, and Rayley has it damn near every time I pick her up from my mothers.

of course I can always tell when Bow gets it, it screws with his digestive system.



I have banned them all from gum chewing and feel that in addition to being delt a crappy hand and getting MY teeth, it has contributed to their caveties. (spend a weekend at grandmas and dont brush your teeth but chew gum and eat candy all the time. )

On the rare occasion that dipshit (that would be my mother) gives rayley gum, and she makes it into my truck or house with it, I find it stuck to something. and she is 4.

On a kid with no bad teeth, I would say when ever you feel comfertable giving it. that is, the stage where they dont take it out of their mouths and play with it.

Of course, Rayley lost a cap to a tootsie roll at mothers the other day. Even though I had forbid her from having that type of gooey sticky candy because I KNEW there would be no oral hygene and or it wasnt good for her teeth and the THOUSANDS of dollars worth of dental work I have had to do.


But I also have problems with idiots allowing my kids to have diet cokes and such. I honestly dont know how BR and I made it to adult hood.

Gosh, I think my oldest started chewing gum about 8 years old or so. Family would give it to her when she was younger (4 or 5) and she'd ALWAYS get it in her hair (super thick, super curly hair) so I'd never allow her to have it - oh, and the chomping of gum drives me up the wall!

My youngest two (ages 3 and 4) will probably never ever have gum - LOL. My 4 year old will chew any kind of paper calling it her gum - that's the closest she'll ever get to the real stuff - she's my 'lively' child

at least chewed paper doesn't cause hair balls !!!

Mine don't chew gum at all yet. I never did chew gum as a kid because I always had retainers and braces in my mouth and as a result I hate the stuff and never have it around! They don't seem to miss it.