Does anyone else's child struggle with socks because of sensitivity?

[Saqra]

Socks can take an hour on a bad day.
They touch the toes the wrong way !
They are too thick for shoes!
There can be lots of reasons but basically its a very sensitive issue which means most socks are rejected and if you lose patience a tantrum can trigger.
We have tried different brand but nothing definitely works.

Apart from socks there are no other unusual triggers.

Does anyone else have this ? Have you any suggestions ?

My eldest (now 11) had a very hard time with socks - we have eventually found a brand of soft cotton trainer liners that he can accept, but we had two years where he just wore trainers everywhere and we washed them a lot as we just couldn’t get socks on.

The things that helped:

• school should accept that he wears trainers without socks, which will be fine in summer, and it’s a reasonable accommodation for a sensory need. We found giving our son a break from all the sock battles really helped, so worth doing even if long term he needs to wear socks.
• work on general sensitivity in his feet - so we did all kinds of crazy things to try and desensitise him/get him used to it - brushing his feet gently with a make up brush, or toothbrush, or different fabrics, plus we got sensory squares to walk on with different textures.
• remove the drama, don’t let the socks turn into a power struggle. He was always worse with socks if he felt anxious or unhappy about other things, as he became more sensitive plus I think there was a control issue there sometimes.

It’s a really common issue for autistic kids - their nervous systems are just reporting the world differently, so things that don’t bother somebody neurotypical can feel really horrible/overwhelming - it’s a genuine difference in how they experience the world rather than trying to be difficult!

Are there any other indications of autism? Even if not if you look for advice for sock sensitivity in autism you’ll find a lot of advice is available that may still help you.

Yes. We talc feet before docks go on (this doesn’t always work) and stripy seamless socks off Amazon. And also not trying to fix it too much, sometimes she just needs to work through it. Noisily with screaming. And then a cuddle.

One of mine never wore socks for about 12 years, he does now wear socks as an adult

Seamfree Bamboo socks from The Sock Shop are the only socks my kids will wear. They wear out quite quickly sadly but it's worth it not to have the battles every morning. They are very soft, go on easily and are not as tight as other socks.

Try slapping their foot gently between your hands and rubbing them all
over to desensitise them, whip a sock on then carry on rubbbing and tapping etc once the sock is on

I absolutely hate the seams in socks touching my feet so I wear them inside out. So much more comfy and no one can tell when they’re under shoes. Might be worth a try?

My youngest will only wear fluffy socks even in hot weather. Primary school don't mind but I can see it causing issues from year 7.

I have some sensory issues around clothes. I bought some extra thin mega stretchy trainer socks from Primark and they are much easier to cope with Vs normal socks. I can still freely move my toes as if I was barefoot which makes a big difference.

Oh my god seams in socks used to drive dc2 mad, so much fussing in the mornings until I told her to try them on inside out. Worked a treat and she will now happily wear socks the right way round!

@MummyInTheNecropolis snap

Never have, never will wear socks and I'm now in my 50's, my parents gave up, apparently even as a baby I would scream and then as I go older I would pull them off..
Although I will and do wear tights as they "feel' different,
The only way I can describe it is that they make me feel claustrophobic and sick ( but different)

Yes- my older DS.

My solutions are to buy 'super soft' socks and always larger than his size.

I also used to buy little knee high stockings which he would put under them. That helped. Sometimes talcum powder helped as well.

But the only consistent thing was looking for suoer soft socks and having a larger size.

I'm 62 next week and currently barefoot as my "nice" socks are all in the wash.
I like cheap trainer socks for men (size 9+ - I am a 6). They have to be washed and tumble dried and worn inside out. (I also feel claustrophobic with socks on, and cannot wear bamboo ones as they feel "wrong" when my feet are sweaty.)

So, it turns out that no matter what you do, if you find anything that works, it could be carried on forever!

Yes! My 5 yr old is not neurodiverse but we have an entire drawer full of socks we have tried

Wait until you get to the underwear years.

{twitches recalling the £120 I spent on knickers that he could not tolerate]

We have tried inside out and bamboo socks and yes they succeed sometimes.
No socks has worked on holidays too.

There are lots of suggestions we didnt though and will definitely try them.

@MeAndLicorice - Those* *desensitising ideas are great, we never thought about doing anything like that. She does not have autism indicators apart from this, it feels like we just have this. However like you said anxiety or other feelings are a big factor too, if these are present its much more likely to occur.

And wow blown away by all the responses here so quick. Thanks everyone I really appreciate it.

My daughter had this - the thing to watch is what are the triggers. On the face of it for my daughter it was socks / shoes. However the same
pair could be fine one day and not fine another. It actually boiled down to her being anxious inside - the more anxious the more the socks / shoes upset her.

My autistic dd can cope with these socks - she still takes them off but she can cope for a while:
https://www.sockshop.co.uk/products/sockshop-plain-bamboo-socks-with-gentle-grip-and-handlinked-toes-black/?colour=Black&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=18021101647&gbraid=0AAAAAD_G6wHQ6D5bSCBsf1Q4Qyz2kIZDl&gclid=Cj0KCQjwh-HPBhCIARIsAC0p3ccdxBkwfMRn1bdq7xr0yqxqhOm0Zh62sID77vjcZIrnm_Bn2uiv2XoaAs4hEALw_wcB

Op, i would have an autism assessment for her. Autism is a spectrum and affects people differently than portrayed on tv - and is particularly different in girls

I myself got my autism diagnosis after the doctor showed me a diagram of why autistic people hate socks and shoes! ❤️

https://sensorysmart.co.uk/collections/absolutely-seamless-socks/products/absolutely-seamless-socks-smartknitkids-ultimate-comfort-sock-navy

For a while DS would only tolerate these.

He will now also accept "diabetic" socks as long as they are soft / low elastic and no toe seam. Still takes a while to put on but much quicker than it used to be.

I'm genuinely not trying to be an arse, but is it actually possible to be NT and be highly sensitive to socks?

Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) often co-exists with other ND but can br standalone. Socks is a common trigger. Incannt recommend the same Sock Shop Bambooo socks someone uptrend did already, hugely enough.

SPD can affect any or multiple senses. Touch and auditory are particularly common. Dyspraxia is a form of SPD as it impacts Proprioception.

Other regular triggers you might have seen in your child inckude:

Over sensitivity to noise eg coffee shops, hair dryers, lawn mowers etc
Over sensitivity to other clothing particularly layers or denim. Also seams, labels etc.
Over/under sensitivity to temperature - eg does not feel.cold/heat like other children

Can struggle to sleep due to the smallest thing - a noise, a blanket, a pillow
Over sensitivity to certain food textures or temperatures wg refusal.to est due to texture or temp
The Proprioception challenge might be seen in "clumsiness", or an inability to do routine tasks such as button clothes, zip jackets, tie shoe laces.

Sorry, on phone and cant see typing properly! Hopefully my post makes sense.

I’d say so yes. You need more issues than sensitive feet for a diagnosis.

For example, DS can’t bear the sound of people eating bananas or similar. When he was younger he genuinely had to leave the room if someone was eating one, but he’s not autistic, though his brother is. There’s a cut off for diagnosis and he’s nowhere close.

I only wore about 5 pairs of socks for a while when I was younger and hated all others, I would also make my mum spend ages getting rid of all the ‘lumps’ but I grew out of this and am now fine with all socks!

I forgot we did this too when it was bad. Sometimes it helped