Pica is a common problem with autistic children. They crave non food items and it can be potentially dangerous to ingest the inedible things. It's believed that they are deficient in some nutritional way and it is resulting in strange cravings.
My eldest son would stick human hairs in his mouth and my second son who is also on the spectrum would suck on rocks. I was always afraid they would swallow it. Vaguely, I recall pulling hairs out his feces and that is when I got concerned. I started noticing him picking hairs off blankets, pillows, carpets, or wherever he could find it. Constantly, I was telling him not to do it. Do you think he stopped? Yeah, right! Next, I was trying to limit access to hair around the house...near impossible. I started buying fabrics that didn't collect it, either clothes or blankets to reduce exposure to it. Rocks were a little easier to control in the environment than hair.
I discovered this topic again when my son was doing this again tonight....ten years later. I have not seen him do this for years. I reminded him that if he swallows too many hairs, that he will have a hair ball stuck in his tummy and a doctor would have to cut it out....Does he want that? He is old enough now that he can think about the consequences if he did that habit. It was not so easy in his toddler years to just talk to him. I am glad a decade later it has gotten better.
