Hi everyone,
I am really stumped. My 5 1/2 year old son is a chronic thumbsucker, as I was until I was an older child. We have tried for several years now to get him to stop sucking it without humiliating him or making it a war. He seems to do it unconciously most of the time. Our pediatrician says to wait it out and as he grows older his classmates will pressure him to stop sucking it. In addition to sucking though, he picks his nose at the same time! Half of the time he has a disgusting crust on his upper lip and nose.
I am worried about his teeth, his feelings as he gets older and gets made fun of, and I don't know where we should go from here. Has anything ever worked for your older children/grandchildren?
Thanks so much!
A.
How about bandaids on the thumbs? or that stuff similar to nail polish that tastes horrible? (I think Sally Hansen makes one.)
My oldest daughter went through a nail biting stage. Someone had told me about "Control It" . I ordered it online and it can be used for thumb sucking too.
It worked! It has a very biter taste to it that everytime she tried to bite them, I convinced her it was 'pretty' nail polish. (OK- So it was an awful fib.)
Haven't had problems since. I'm sure if you google it, it will pop up.
I have a set of twins and they were both thumb suckers. I tried many things from tying socks onto their hands to over the counter thumb sucking liquid. Nothing worked! It wasn't until their peers at school were giving them a hard time that they quit on their own. I must say that they doctor is correct.
L.
I sucked my thumb until I was about 6 or 7 and have had no problems with my teeth. My mom started putting socks on my hands at bedtime and my brothers would put lemon juice on my thumb. Along with those things, I started getting self conscious about it at school or when friends spent the night, so I finally stopped. Unless your dentist is really concerned about it, I would let it take it's course. He will probably stop within the next year.
I just wanted to share that my friend had the same problem with her daughter (around six at the time). She would suck her thumb unconsciously at night, so it was really hard to get her to stop. They tried that implant in the roof of her mouth, but it was very painful and her mouth ended up growing over it. I'm sure she would not recommend that route if there is ANYTHING else you can do.
Our children's dentist put an appliance in the roof of my son's my mouth to make him stop sucking his thumb since we couldn't get him to stop and it was making his teeth push out. You might check with the dentist about it. Best of luck. C.
Hi A.. My oldest is a nail biter. I have been meaning to get to the store and buy something that you can put on fingernails. I can't remember what it is called but I have purchased it before. I got it at the pharmacy dept at Target and it comes in a small bottle. It tastes of hot pepper but is harmless. You may want to ask a pharmacist if there is anything out there. You could also check the internet to get suggestions.
Good luck.
I sucked my thumb until 3rd or 4th grade. I quit on my own and I don't remember class mates making fun of me but for the most part I already kept it private, I think. I did need to have braces, but not because of that. My sister, who was not a thumb-sucker, had to have braces too and she had to have them for longer than I did.
The bigger deal you mkae it, the more he is going to turn to it for comfort or whatever. Quinine or whatever they put on kids thumbs these days will likely be ineffective. He most likely knows how to wash his hands.
And if he does get made fun of for sucking his thumb, and that's the only thing he gets made fun of... he's pretty lucky. And it's not going to scar or ruin his life.
My niece did this and it actually did cause problems with her teeth. She had to have a palate spacer to reshape it because of the late thumb sucking. The orthodontist had the perfect way of stopping the thumb sucking. He recommended putting hand lotion on the child's hands several times a day. It tasted awful and my niece quilt sucking her thumb within a week. Make sure you don't let him use antibacterials like Purell because the alcohol is very toxic when ingested.
Well my daughter sucked her thumb til about 4 1/2 yrs old- Took her to the dentist & he asked her if she did suck her thumb & she was really embarresed (sp)but he told her she is getting an overbite from it & that she needs to stop ---soooo we got home & looked at her teeth in the mirror together- talked about it & she said she wanted to stop but didn't know how so we created a word to say when we saw her doing it we would say the word. She picked the word. Slowly she was doing it less & less each day.
Then it would be once or twice in a day still (especially at bedtime) & we put socks on her hands at nt (with her blessing of course-didn't work) and sometimes that ichy stuff on nails -didn't work(her blessing)
so it still would happen so then we bribed her! She was determined. If she stopped for 3 days- we would take her to TOYS R US & she could pick out anything under $20!!!! Grandma said the same thing so she got 2 trips to the toy store & it worked! She actually has special memeories about those toys- "that is the toy that i got when i stopped sucking my thumb...."
Some kids do it out of boredom so watch to see when he does it the most- my daughter did it while watching tv so i would have her color & watch tv etc...in the car i would have her chew gum etc.... GOOD LUCK!
