I am wondering if there is a connection between ADD and when kids give up comfort measures like a special object, bottles, pacifiers, or thumb sucking.

My childhood comfort thing was food...and that stuck around till earlier this year when I finally realized I had a form of eatting disorder.

I wonder if a lot of us are stuck in the oral stage.

hmmmmm it's possible....

I've notice that I can even get the same effect by keeping chewing gum around....better than a package of cookies! :p

i'd have to say I never gave it up, 1-3 I was still on the passifier and bottles like a normal baby, 4-10 my comfort was candy, lots and lots of candy, now its ciggies

Mine too was food, everything revolved around it, it still is, Also I squirm, foot tap and I have to be tapping something. still do , my father was always like "can't yoiu sit still". anyway, my mom always had soooo much food in the house I never really noticed it as a comfort thing

I had a favorite stuffed animal named Bam-bam. It was a monkey or ape-type stuffed animal. One night I had a friend sleep over. She was pulling on Bam-bam's arms and I said, "Be careful cuz he's old." Well, that made her pull even harder on him and she ripped him in half. :eek: I was devastated. I was so angry at my friend that she ended up going home (she lived a few houses down from me, so "home" wasn't too far away). So, my "giving up" my favorite thing was kinda forced upon me. I slept with a bed full of stuffed animals for a few more years, but I never had another stuffed animal that I treasured as much as Bam-bam.

I can't remember how old I was when the Bam-bam incident occurred. We moved when I was 8 years old, so I couldn't have been any older than 7 or 8 ...and it's hard to imagine having a sleep-over much younger than that.

I believe that I sucked my thumb until I was 7. When I was 1 I had a very severe burn that required a cast to be put on my arm. I couldn't suck my thumb for about a month but as soon as the cast was gone my thumb was back in my mouth. My mom tried to break me of the habit but I foiled all her attempts.

I also had a thing for rubbing a certain type of fabric between my fingers. I still do the fabric thing but it has to be a specific feel. Usually its a liner in a wind breaker. The Original was the nylon strip sewn around a blanket. Not sure then that blanket was lost but it was the texture more than the specific blanket that I needed.

When I was older I used a stuffed toy panda as a pillow. Not sure why I did that.

My husband kept his special blanket around until he was at least 9.

My 3 year old still uses a pacifier and bottles. I'm not sure how hard to push him to give it up. Is there really a problem with having a comfort measure? Most people would say he is too old....

The responses are interesting. It seems that we hold onto these things longer than average!

I didn't give them up they were taken from me. My Mom tells me when she was in the hospital having my sister (I was one) my Dad took away my bottle and my pacifier. She tells me it was very hard on me.

I had a favorite blankie that I had longer than I'll addmit..... :o

I don't have a oral fixations...... Never smoked, never sucked my thumb didn't use food.

I was wondering can you have other problems because these things were taking away before you were really ready ? Or would it have to do more a sensory problem now?

Hi daisyo75

My kids had their own little things that they kept for a long time (one sucked his thumb until going to school, the other had a speclial blanket).

A 3-year old is still pretty young. I personally would not worry about it. Maybe get them off the bottle (they really don't need it to drink) but let them keep the pacifier.

Maybe kids would have fewer oral fixations (like eating, drinking, and smoking) if they were allowed to wean themselves off these things.

But I am just a dad, not a Psychiatrist.

I was about 4 yo and it was a hell. After my mom made rid of my pacifiers and stuff I started chewing my fingers instead... AND toes! But luckily I can't bite my toes anymore ;) I've been smoking (but quit) and I talk way too much, I use snuff and I'm addicted to chewing gum... bite pens and everything else I get my hands on :o

Daisy! My 3 yo also uses bottles ans pacifiers. But he only get the bottle for breakfast and when he's going to sleep. And he only uses the pacifier when he is sad or very tired. Don't let your kid play or run with anything in his mouth! If he falls and hit his mouth on something he might damage ALL his teeth instead of just one and/or damage his lips (LOTS of blood!! :eek: ) I've seen this happen! :(

jamie,
What kind of eating disorder? Our cat likes to have his butt scratched while he eats his crunchies. It's like sex for him & he does that for comfort, not because he's hungry. I'm a chain smoker.

Paulbf, compulsive overeatting.

hmmmmm it's possible....

I've notice that I can even get the same effect by keeping chewing gum around....better than a package of cookies! :p

Oh, no it's not!!

I don't really remember having a security whatever. I just picked up a book and vanished into its pages as a way of getting away from it all.

Oh, no it's not!!

I don't really remember having a security whatever. I just picked up a book and vanished into its pages as a way of getting away from it all.
It's not what? Not possible that some of us got stuck in the oral stage? Yes it is possible, just not all of us, like the statement said...SOME of us. We never generalized it as ALL of us.

I just meant that gum is NOT better than cookies. Yes, a lot of us get stuck in the oral stage, which is probably why I like cookies so much. There's two packages on top of the freezer right now, and I shouldn't be talking about this when I haven't eaten breakfast...:(