I have a friend who has a boy just turned 3. He sucks his thumb a lot and lately he's developed a rather.....embarassing habit. When he sucks his thumb he likes to hold his willy for comfort. Not just hold it either, he plays with it too. Obviously he finds the sensation comforting!
The problem is, he isn't shy about when he does this, so public places are an issue. Also, he always does it when he's going to sleep or during the night (like another child might suck their thumb and hold a blankie) and he pulls his willy out of his nappy, resulting in soaked sheets most mornings where he's peed outside the nappy. She's started to toilet train him (she's bypassing the potty as he loves using the toilet), so hopefully in time she can solve the bedwetting problem. But the playing-with-willy issue still remains. She has tried getting him to stop sucking his thumb in the hope that he'll stop playing with his bits too, but she feels like she's tried everything and nothing's worked. She even painted his thumb with that nasty tasting stuff which is supposed to prevent thumb-sucking, but he just screws up his face and carries on sucking until it's gone!
Does anyone have any suggestions for a solution to this? It seems like the willy habit might disappear if the thumb-sucking can be stopped, but maybe there's a better way?
Any advice appreciated!