- It’s as if the Hungry Hungry Caterpillar has possessed this family’s baby.
Babies can be difficult with their tendency to stick everything in their mouths. It can be a real challenge to keep your toddler from consuming stuff that’s not meant to be eaten.
The one-year-old of this British family, however, takes it to a whole other level.
Meet Junior Harry. He’s a spunky toddler who eats everything.
And we meet everything.
Nothing is safe from Junior’s baby teeth. He’ll chew through his toys, books, and even his crib. If there’s nothing else available, he’ll chow down on the walls.
Junior’s bizarre behavior has caused his mother, Jess Harry, no end of trouble. Not only does her son destroy her possessions and house, but she also has to worry about him accidentally consuming something dangerous.
This isn’t a matter of discipline or poor upbringing, however. Junior has an extremely rare medical condition that causes nutritional deficiencies and drives him to devour anything in sight.
After the diagnosis, the Harry family has received help with managing Junior’s destructive drive. Yet, there’s no known cure for his condition, and there’s a lot of learning he has to do as he grows.
Toys, Walls, Everything
Jess Harry, a single mother of two, gave birth to Junior in early 2024. All was fine at first, but she soon noticed that her newborn had some peculiar habits.
He began by licking the Velcro strips on a tactile baby book. Initially, that seemed like a harmless googoo-gaga toddler thing — but things quickly began spiraling.
As soon as Junior could crawl, he started seeking out things to stuff in his face with even more gusto than your average baby. His first favorite was and, which he was choking down by the handful.
His sand-consuming habit got so bad that Jess had to take her son out of daycare. She told the BBC she made the decision because Junior was eating “disgusting amounts of sand.”
Junior’s endless appetite isn’t focused just on sand and Velcro, though. It’s not an exaggeration to say he will eat anything he can get his little hands on.
“Even if nothing is available to him, he’ll seek it out. He will find something,” said Jess.
Among the things Junior has consumed are his play rug, books, toys, furniture, and even his own crib. After he began chewing through his wooden crib, Jess moved him to a metal toddler bed.
However, that means Junior can roam freely at night. That led to him gnawing on the wooden door frames of his bedroom.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, the incident led to Jess discovering her house — unbeknownst to her — had lead paint. So, Junior started building lead in his blood.
A Pica Eater
For now, Junior resides in a playpen or a travel crib until Jess can figure out what to do with him. But what on earth is driving him to this bizarre feeding frenzy?
Jess finally got answers last September. A childcare worker suggested getting Junior tested for a rare disease known as pica.
Jess had never heard of pica before, but reading its description, it seemed eerily fitting. Pica patients experience an irresistible desire to eat things, most often stuff that is simply inedible.
The disease can be fatal if the person suffering from it consumes something poisonous or otherwise dangerous. Pica is classified as a mental disorder, but it can be caused by a nutritional deficiency of some kind.
A blood test confirmed that Junior indeed has very low iron levels. Considering his drive to consume all, Junior was finally diagnosed with pica.
‘He Cannot Be Left Alone’
With a diagnosis in hand, Jess and Junior could finally start getting the help they desperately needed. One of the first things to do was to find something safe that could satisfy Junior’s desire to chew things.
Jess has discovered a couple of options. Junior’s favorite things to chew at the moment are wood and cardboard, so she found stuff to imitate those textures.
The first one is licorice root. As Jess says, it’s “literally a stick,” but it’s safe to eat, so Junior can gnaw to his heart’s content.
Another substitute is Weetabix. If you’re not familiar with the product, it’s a kind of very large, palm-sized wheat cereal/cracker that’s infamous for making you feel like you’re eating cardboard.
It’s pretty gross, but for Junior, that texture is ideal.
Unfortunately, there is no known cure for pica, although the symptoms can be managed with therapy and counseling. As such, Junior will continue his destructive rampage is left to his own devices.
“He cannot be left alone. If I leave him in the living room, which is a Junior-safe zone apart from the walls, there’s still something that he does or goes for,” said Jess.
“I just think, what next? I joke and say I need to live in an empty shipping container.”
Funnily enough, when it comes to actual food, Junior is very picky. Jess hopes that as he gets a little older, she can start reasoning with her son and trying to wean him off his chewing habit.
For now, she’s working with the U.K.’s National Pica Advisory Service to help Junior. She’s also trying to raise awareness about pica, both to help other children like Junior and so that she wouldn’t have to keep explaining her unbelievable story over and over again.