4 year old eating toilet paper

Over the last few months I have noticed bite marks in my toilet paper... I thought my daughter was just biting it, turns out she has been EATING IT... Today she took several bites, and when I questioned her, she said very seriously, "Mom, it tastes really good, you need to try it." Not knowing if I should cry or laugh due to the fact of me making her "try" all new foods... I started searching it online after she went to school. I just know it could be several things, and am not sure where I need to go from here. She is healthy for the most part. I know her iron is great. Out of all the blogs I have read, most people that eat toilet paper start at a young age, and continue to eat it through their whole life. How do I stop this? She doens't have a Dr appt until Sept 6 so I am worrying myself to death about what kinda of addiction to it she can get. I know it has increased over several months, just didn't realize she was actually eating it. She has had constipation issues on and off her whole life, and it has gotten worse over the last several months... I am very worried that this may be a cause.

[margypops]

I think you should take your child to the doctor ,there is something called Pica eating I think it would be a good idea to remove the toilet tissue from within her reach It may be a habit that will stop soon, a phase but have it checked out.Dish her out with a couple of sheets of paper as needed, stand there and make sure she doesn't eat it..good luck

[ohcalcutagirl]

hi, between now and dr appt. feed the child correctly, and that would mean
vegetables, fruits, and get some minerals in a liquid from a vitamin store
how do u know her iron is good?
besides if she was low on iron and exhibiting PICA she would probably be eating dirt
while u r at vitamin store, buy the highest culture count probiotics so as to give her 100 billion cultures daily, open the capsules and mix into plain yogurt with freshly cut up pieces of fruit, PEACHES, STRAWBERRIES ETC
GIVE HER WATER ONLY and tap is best (no soda etc)

what does she eat and drink now;
   .  can u write down everything she has had to eat or drink in the last 2 weeks

good luck

[RockRose]

What a surprise - when I googled "child eats toilet paper",  I got a LOT of hits,  forums with post after post of adults saying they've always eaten toilet paper.  

A recurrent theme that keeps coming up is zinc deficiency.