DD's oral obsession driving me mad!

[hillbilly]

DD (5) is always chewing on something, whether it be a hairband, hairclip, a piece of string or a bracelet - basically anything in her hand goes in her mouth. She also sucks her thumb a lot. My constant nagging her about it is clearly not helping. We have tried reward charts, stern chats and constant reminders to no avail.

She is a very happy child who loves school and has lots of friends.

Should I just leave her to it and hope she gets bored of it one day?

I bet it is something she'll just grow out of. My parents bribed my brother and I with fifty quid to stop sucking fingers (me) and thumb(bro). My bro was about 5 when they were trying to get him to stop.
I remember him being quite obstinate about it but eventually the promise of the cash won.
Not sure what that says about us though?!

My ds has Aspergers and an insatiable need to chew is an aspect of his hypersensitivity. Everything he had in his hands would be in his mouth, he would shred the buttons off his school polo tops, put holes in his collars, chew his shoelaces to shreds, anything he could get to his mouth was fair game. We found a New Zealand website called the Sensory Corner which had various things he could chew. He chose two tubes shaped like the letters P and Q. They have been brilliant, he really needed to do it and now he has a way of doing it which meets his need without being damned annoying for us or anti social. Ds does it much more when he is anxious or concentrating. This may not be what you are after but if you are in the don't fight it, cater for it camp then they may be worth looking into,