How to stop 5yo chewing her sleeve

[Blankiefan]

She started school in August and seems to be doing fine. She says she enjoys it and we had fine feedback at parents night. Generally seems well socialised and happy.

But - in the last couple of months she's started chewing her sleeve (always the left) quite aggressively. You can tell her to stop it a dozen times in half an hour. She doesn't seem to realise she is doing it.

Her coat and hoodie were soaking when I picked get up from after school club today. I mentioned it to a member of staff who suggested getting her something else to chew. She said they'd had a boy previously with a similar issue. Boy was given a bracelet to chew and stopped chewing his sleeve.

But - is that just validating the behaviour? My only other idea is to paint her sleeves with that nail varnish that tastes nasty that's supposed to stop kids sucking their thumb / biting their nails

Any thoughts?

I could have written exactly the same post word by word! No advice though, also looking for a way to stop my DD..

Mine did this for about 3 weeks! She also started school this year and said she did it when she was ‘nervous and worried’. She only did it at school. Then she just stopped. I think she found her feet at school and just no longer felt the need to. It was driving me insane!

DS did this for about a year then stopped. HTH.

There's much "chewelry" online - seeks mostly aimed at people with sensory issues which we've never had to manage. She's NT and not overly sensitive. A bit fearful sometimes (doesn't like most films for example) but nothing disruptive.

I just don't know if chewelry will solidify the behaviour.

A fiddle toy instead? My DD has one of those spiral plastic hair band -bracelet things which she’s twiddles and chews instead. Teacher doesn’t seem to mind too much as long as she does her work. She’s 7.

My DS1 chewed his sleeves all through school! (I refused to buy new sweatshirts for his final year and he sat his gcses in the most dreadful looking ones! ) Totally NT , just an absent minded chomper. He also likes chewy sweets.
He has finally grown out of it at 25 (sorry!)

DS2 on the other hand has autism (verbal but only moderately able) and to date has chewed every t shirt he has ever worn, chews paper, zips, bath sponges, plastic bags and annoyingly his headboard on his bed.. mock leather, padding and all. I tried chewy OT items but they weren't the same apparently!
Amazingly he has a p/t job in the local supermarket. Ate his lanyard... and his swipe card! We just replace stuff and remind him to stop when we see him doing it.

DD did this, sigh. She's hyper overconfident teenager, now.

Most things pass with time I find, just find a way to help them deal with the here and now? But my DD is rather sensory that’s just who she is. My eldest is completely different and handles things in other ways, they all find their way just keep talking to her and help her deal with what ever is making her feel anxious as it normally stems from not feeling in control of something. We’ve used picture calendars to explain the routine that day, we talk about what’s going to happen tomorrow if it’s a different routine etc. I give a heads up if I know something different is happening in school that day and talk to the teacher about how they manage “transitions” during the day as some teachers are far better than others at understanding some kids need processing time or they get anxious.

My six year old does it. Drives me mad. His clothes are all ruined. We tried a chewy necklace but it didn’t help.

My two DS both went through phases of this, one much more than the other. The 11 year old has grown out of it. The 9 year old was chewing his dressing gown belt tonight. I think it's much worse when they are teething (ie milk to adult teeth)

Ds is NT but did this during reception and yr1, his jumper sleeves were in threads. I think it was anxiety. I caught him doing it once this year (so far!) and it was during a stressful (to him) situation.
At home there were no signs of anxiety but his behaviour on the last occasion where I caught him doing it made me realise that he was doing it when upset. Poor little guy, I had no idea he was so upset at school. Not sure a 'chew toy' would have helped him, he just needed what was, quite literally, to hand! As I said, there are no indications of him doing it now and I think his anxiety has settled a bit too.
It can be distressing for the parent to see their child anxious and not know how to get to the bottom of it.

HTH.