Thumb Sucking...make It Stop!!!

My dad painted my thumb with something called "Thum" and I only put it in my mouth once. After my mom washed out my mouth through my tears, he painted it again. I never put it back in my mouth again.

Personally, I don't care if it does seem cruel. I would have done it if my kids had sucked their thumbs. A family member of mine's kids sucked theirs til they were in kinder and had to ask for help to keep from doing it because they were being made fun of. Sucking a thumb or paci can cause teeth and speech problems too.

One can argue that it's cruel to take away a paci as well, but people have to do it...

Dawn

I know how hard it is to deal with a child who still needs to suck and they are ruining their teeth. My daughter's teeth are so badly shaped, her jaw is recessed. I talked to the pediatric dentist about kids and sucking. From being in child care I recognize that a child that needs to suck needs to suck. When they are taken off the bottle too early or not allowed to have a pacifier when they need to suck they have little option except to find an alternative. Their fingers are handy...lol...excuse the pun.

The more you focus on it the more they will dig in their heels and sneak around to do it. They might actually do it more since they feel it is being taken away.

As hard as it is there are a couple of ways to go about getting them to stop. The nail polish or other taste alternative is there. There is also the just leaving it alone and letting them get made fun of in pre-K or kindergarten. They will stop it during the school hours so they are not being humiliated.

But the will most likely continue it when they are going to bed and while they are sleeping.

There are many adults who still suck their thumbs. I can't imagine this but I know I have seen my daughter do it on occasion when she is extremely tired of upset.

Once they have started sucking on something that is part of their body it is nearly impossible to "make" them stop. Perhaps you can chat with their dentist about how to go about this. They might even have some sort of nail paint that is really safe or something.

I hate to say this, but... It has to be your child's choice. As a thumb sucker myself, I can tell you that many things were tried and I still sucked my thumb. What broke me was going on vacation with a family to help watch their little one. That was the summer before 8th grade! I decided that I probably needed to stop and did. I would still even wake up with it in my mouth for some time after that. In my opinion, it is compared to potty training and quitting smoking... A choice! Hope this helps.

My son was also a thumb sucker.We had to stop it, because his teeth were being affected as well. Don't put tabasco on it. That will burn their skin. We tried some of the paint on stuff. My son learned pretty quickly just to wash his hands a lot.

We invested in a thumb guard. We got a soft kind, basically a glove for the thumb only. The only problem is he could stretch it off. So we bribed him to keep it on. It took about two or three weeks to break the habit...but he mostly sucked his thumb at night, not all day like your girls. (Once he stopped consciously doing it when he was awake, the habit of doing it while he was asleep quit soon after without interference from us. )They also make hard thumb guards that are much more difficult to take off, but they looked uncomfortable to me.

My BIL is a dentist. He says an ace bandage around the elbow sometimes does the trick. It makes it uncomfortable to bend the elbow and suck the thumb. My son hated the way it felt even when he wasn't sucking his thumb.

Some other tips I got from my BIL - distract them as much as possible when you see them sucking their thumb. For older kids it's ok to give gentle reminders about not sucking their thumb, but don't punish for it. Have an authority figure talk to them about it - pediatrician or a dentist. Sometimes it helps when it's not coming from you. Take away any instigators. For my son, he sucked his thumb ANY time he held his security blanket. So we had to get rid of the security blanket first before stopping the thumb sucking. This was the hardest and most painful part for me! And finally, it's ok to reward them for their efforts.

It's a hard habit to break. GL Mama!

If your worried about their teeth, that's not true I sucked my thumb until 8 or 9 & have perfectly straight teeth...keep the calcium up (vitamins, Milk etc). If your son's teeth are messing up, it's not because of the thumb sucking...really. Think about it, it is a natural sucking motion, there is no real contact pressure-wise against the teeth. Either way, they will out grow it. So you have to admit, does it bother you or can you live with it...my mom tried everything on my thumb & I would basically suck it right off. She just finally decided that it was just something that calmed me & I eventually outgrew it.

When my second was 3, I took her to a dentist and he told her she had to stop because of her teeth. And she did!!!

My pediatric dentist recommended a device called a T-guard. It goes on the hands, not the mouth. It is about $70. I never did get one, but my thumb sucker is much more subdued after he got busy talking. He now only sucks right before bed.
anyhow, just wanted to offer that option to you. Just google it and you can see it for yourself. could be really helpful with your 3yo.

I'm really surprised nobody else has given this advice yet . . . it was relatively simple for us (and both my kids were/are MAJOR thumb suckers). We started limiting where they could suck . . . first we just limited sucking in public - they could just suck in the car and at home. Then, just in the car (too hard to "make" them stop when you're driving) and in their room, then just their room, and now my 5 year old has to be on her bed. She can still suck whenever she wants but she has to make a choice. . . we did the same for my now 9 year old and it worked like a charm. My 5 year old occasionally forgets and puts it in her mouth but always stops when I ask and she RARELY decides to go to her room to suck it. Using this strategy has really helped us avoid a power struggle.

Please don't do the tabasco! I had that done to me and my sister. Scared us for life! We can't even smell tabasco without cringing.

I'm going through the same issue. My daughter is 5 1/2. Sucking since the womb. We just keep telling her 'no thumb'. Hoping that it will eventually sink in. The dentist wants to put a metal piece on the roof of her mouth that will help her not get the suction she's used to so that she'll stop sucking. That seems more cruel than the tabasco.

There are thumb guards you can buy, but they get pricey.

My daughter sucked her thumb until she was 10. She stopped during the day when she started school. It did not affect her teeth at all. The dentist always asks her if she had braces when she sees a new one. Her teeth are that straight. She eventually quit on her own. My husband tried everything and nothing worked. Even the medicine for it. I finally told him to leave her alone.

Have you tried putting a good sized band-aide on the thumb? Talk to them about stopping the thumb sucking and why you are needing it to stop. Put the band-aide or medical tape on their thumb as a gentle reminder not to suck. It is only going to work if you explain why you are putting the band-aide there. Good luck!

Check out the dental crib. It is like a retainer that stops the habit. It is not cruel, especially if it saves them from the teasing they will receive from other children, or the years of braces they will need to wear! Good luck!

Www.yourhandaid.com

Takes about 6 weeks of continuous wearing but it works. NOT cheap, so be committed before you start. My dd was 5 when we did it. She went to daycare and all the workers said it was the only hing they had ever seen work; the kids just sucked around the other guards but she couldn't with this.

ETA: strongly recommend against a bandaid, especially for the 3 year old, it is a major choking hazard.