alternative comfort

[JockoT]

My child is 8 and her teeth are deformed by thumb sucking. Also she picks up worms from school more than any other child I know. Recently she has had a serious infection where the worms entered her urethra and climbed up to her lungs and caused her to have a cough and terrible discomfort when she frequently went to the toilet. Believe me when I say I have cleaned the house,bedlinen, used Ovex on the family etc. What I haven't tried is to wean her off her thumb sucking. I have bought a thumb guard today and will try. I have asked her why she sucks her thumb and she replies 'it makes her calm and relax'. What can she do to help her be less stressed and calmer? DO I have to take away her loved teddy because she always sucks her thumb while stroking him?

Maybe sit down with her and see if there is another sensation like vibration, feather stroking that she could do herself which would still give her the 'calm feeling', have to say as an avid thumb sucker i didn't get worms so not sure that is the reason she seems prone to them.

The worms climbed up to her lungs and made her cough?? Are you sure, I have never heard of this happening. Sorry if this is genuine, I just find it a bit odd!

With the thumb sucking issue, maybe start by trying to get her only to do it at night, and teach her to wash her hands well - get her to scrub under her nails with a nail brush before bed as well. This should help with the worms issue.

Definitely don't take away the teddy bear BTW, it seems she gets a lot of comfort from that and would be cruel to remove everything at once.