Button phobia

[jona]

My son has a button phobia, whereby he cannot bare them on any clothes. At first I didn't realise why he had such an aversion to certain items of clothing but as he's got older he's been able to vocalise it. What's interesting is that the horror is graded depending on the type of button that he is faced with. Ie a large wooden button is preferable to a clear, school shirt type, which he can't go near. I have heard of this before, but am wondering if anyone else has come across this with their children and whether it was something that they grew out of.

If you're waiting for him to grow out of it, I wouldn't hold your breath. My dad (aged 70) still has this phobia!

My niece had this phobia as a young child. My sister helped her over come it by gradually introducing clothes that only had perhaps one button on it as decoration, or a dress that only did up with a button at the back. I can't remember when she actually 'grew out' of it, but she now wears things with buttons, such as her school shirts with no problem.

As young child it is reasonably easy to avoid clothing with buttons, as your son gets bigger you can always swop buttons on trousers for hook and eyes or even velco.

Don't dismiss his phobia as being silly, try and get him to explain what it is that he doesn't like about buttons. Introduce buttons slowly - eg put one on a table and just get him to sit near it, as his confidence grows that the button is harmless then encourage him to touch it and eventually progress from there to putting a button through a buttonhole. As he gets older the lure of wanting to wear a garment may be stronger than the aversion to the button - I know this was the case with my niece! If it does continue to be a problem then seek professional help, there are trained people who can help overcome phobias.

Phobias are very real to the person suffering and telling then not to be so daft is unhelpful at the least and damaging at the most. However many phobias can be overcome with the right help and encouragement.

Good luck.

I thought it was unsual, one of my friends has a button phobia. We shared a house for years at Uni without anyone esle knowing or noticing, it wasn't until we had to buy white shirts for graduation that we found out. The only problem must be school shirts once he gets older. Sorry I cannot help.

My mum had this and she definitely grew out of it!

My 10 year old has got this. It has got much better over the years - we no longer have to take the buttons off his polo shirts for school, but I'm not looking forward to 'proper' shirts at secondary school. He never voluntarily chooses anything with buttons.

I replaced buttons with velcro, or just avoided them, for years. I don't any longer, but I don't buy things with buttons if I can help it.

Our Daughter also has this "button phobia".
When I (her dad) or my wife wear buttons she is very reluctant to go near us and will completely change her character around us.
However, around other people e.g. nursey teachers, she seems to accept the buttons on them.
She has had this phobia since she was 2 and she is now almost 4.
It does not seem to have lessened at all as she has grown up.
We would appreciate any advice or any information regarding this phobia as it is now getting to the point where we are thinking that we need to seek some kind of professional advice to help both us and her.

Our email address is:

[email protected]

Thank you

My daughter has this button phobia too. She doesn't seem bothered by other people wearing buttons, and doesn't worry about her school polos but will not wear any tops with more than one button on and she is not very keen on just one.
I was telling a friend in our twins club and she told me that she has it too. She couldn't explain what it was about but she cannot bear them.
I've never heard of it before but will have to be careful when buying clothes.
She doesn't mind the buttons on jeans either.

My brother had a button-phobia when he was small, but subsequently grew out of it (I'll have to check with my mum exactly by what age) and is quite unperterbed by buttons now! Although it sounds strange, it does seem to be relatively common, as phobias go ? I've since heard of it in other people. My bro was quite sensitive, generally, as a child, but turned out to be extremely bright ? don't know whether the two might be connected.

My daughter has had a button phobia ever since she could indicate that she didnt want to wear something . as soon as she could say "no" it was pretty clear that it was the buttons she didnt like. She is now five and will still not wear them , gets upset if we wear them and will decide if she likes someone or not by the amount of buttons they have showing!She will not wear a school polo shirt not only because of the buttons but also the button holes(after cutting the buttons off). She just wears a white Tshirt under her uniform sweatshirt. If the school moan I will just tell them why and I am sure they can make an exception. I have just found a website about unusual phobias and there were loads of people with button phobias who get panic attacks and vomiting etc when they come near certain types of buttons. I hope that if we just make it clear that it will be reasonably easy for her to avoid them and we wont force her to wear them it will not make the mild phobia she has now, develop into something worse.

My sister is a button-phobe & she's never grown out of it. She also has the thing where some buttons are worse than others. Causes endless amusement to our family. She googled it once, it has a proper name & everything.

I don't like buttons. I try to avoid clothes for me and the children if they have buttons on. For me the clear small ones are better than the big chunky wooden ones. In brown. Uggh! Its worse when combined with wool.

I can cope with the ones on ds polo shirts for Nursery.

I know a 75 year old with button phobia. And have heard that hypnotherapy can help children and adults with this. I don't have personal experience of this though.
Strange! I wonder how it all starts.
I also know a young girl with sticker phobia. Makes rewards at school tricky.