How to stop a thumb sucker?!

[Pembo]

My almost 5 yo ds sucks his thumb. I've always thought it was so cute. He only does it when he is ready to sleep.

At our last dental visit I was told that it is changing his bone structure so we need to encourage him to stop. I have no idea how to do that.

Any suggestions??????

 

[Dee & Greg]

But I also was a thumb sucker (many years ago!) and the pediatrician just told my parents to ignore it and not make it an issue... I would quit on my own. (Not too many college freshman out there still sucking their thumb!) Or that when I went to school, my friends would tease me and then I'd quit!
I did quit about school time.. and my teeth had moved a bit, but they moved back. I'm 40 now, and I've never had a cavity, braces, or anything. My teeth are perfectly straight!

 

[disykat]

My oldest stopped sucking his thumb at night when he was 5. He overheard the neighbor telling me about how she had to have her jaw broken and reset because she sucked her thumb as a child. I didn't even realize he'd stopped until he pointed it out and told me why!

 

[peg2001]

I hate to say this, but TIME is the only cure I know. If he does it during the day, you can use distraction and activity. But, since he only does it when he is sleepy, you may just have to wait until he outgrows it.

I pushed pacifiers on my babies. . .it is hard to take them away, but at least it is possible.

Peggy

 

[Lorix2]

My son used to suck his thumb and rub his beanie bear's tail in his ear at the same time (so cute!) when he was tired and grew out of both those habits eventually - around 3 I think - but I never did anything to persuade him not to. He just outgrew it on his own.

Maybe you could try playing some soothing/calming CD's like "rainstorm" or something like that when going to bed to pacify him?

Now that my DS is 5, I need to start a thread called "How to stop a nose picker"

 

[Allie322]

I am in the minority here. My daughter, now 11, was a big thumb sucker. By the time she was 5, she only sucked her thumb when she was tired and it was only her left thumb. She also ended up with orthodontic and speech issues. I have a cousin who was still sucking her thumb well into her twenties and I didn't want to just wait it out with my child. My daughter wanted to stop but inevitably the thumb would end up in her mouth. So the solution we came up with was at night I would tape her thumb and index finger together thereby making the thumb inaccessible. I used that ouch-free medical tape. It took about 2 weeks and she hasn't sucked her thumb since. I know it probably sounds like a strange way to handle it but it worked for us.

 

[ckmommy]

We also used tape. It worked great--for us at least!!!

 

[Aurora63]

My sister was a thumb sucker until she was eight. She would do it at night and during the day. My parents never nagged her about it, but it was strange seeing an eight year old walking around with her thumb in her mouth.

THen, she got pneumonia and had to spend a week in the hospital, with her left hand attached to an IV. She also only sucked her left thumb, and with an IV on, she couldn't get her thumb to her mouth! Kinda like the tape solution, I guess. She never sucked her thumb again!

 

[FOJMO]

This is the main reason why we gave our DD a pacifier when she was little, because when it came time for her to stop it, we could take it away from her, whereas you can't easily take away the thumb.

Now mind you, we had a week of PURE HELL, when we took away the pacifier when she went to sleep, but after that, she was fine.

 

[MickeysMommy]

I sucked my thumb till I was eleven. The only reason I stopped was the orthodontist put some metal thing in the roof of my mouth to widen my pallet (sp?). The doctor always told my mother that when it was time, it was time and I would stop on my own...I did. It's a security thing, I used to have a white blanket that I slept with (I only sucked my thumb when I went to sleep) and it got ratty so it finally became "my piece" because my mother cut the top corner out to make a "piece". Time heals all wounds as they say

 

[Pembo]

Allie322--Thanks for the tip of taping his thumb to his index finger. We tried the bandaid on the thumb but he ended up pulling it off.

FOJMO--None of my kids ever wanted a pacifier. All 3 would spit it out instantly. Only #2 found his thumb. He was sucking it in his ultrasound picture. He also has a blanket. He's our little Linus.

 

[piratesmate]

My mother told my younger sister that she didn't "think they let you go to kindergarten if you suck your thumb." She continued to suck her thumb - even though she REALLY wanted to go to school like her big sisters. She finally stopped (before starting school) when the dentist told her he'd give her a silver dollar if she stopped for a month. This was back about 1962 & we never had $$ of our own to spend.

If he really doesn't seem ready to stop, maybe you could try talking to him about a "replacement" security thing....something like sitting in the rocker with you to read before bed - or even a straw to suck on just before bed. Of course, you couldn't let him actually fall asleep with the straw . . . .

Good luck!

 

[CruiserDew73]

My little brother is also 5 yo, and he is still sucking his thumb, a lot. We're just letting time run it's coarse.

 

[Jeannie]

I tried everything to get my younger DD to stop sucking her thumb - tape, nail polish, mittens, lemon juice! Nothing helped and she was an aggressive sucker (you could hear her in the hall outside of her room). Whenever I asked the pediatrician about it he would tell me that she would stop when she was ready, and that it would be a lot cheaper/easier to fix her teeth rather than her psyche! She finally gave it up on her own when she was almost 8.

 

[bsnyder]

Only one of my three was a thumb sucker, my DD.

By the time she was 6, she only sucked it at night, while she was asleep. But by then, it was a totally unconcious habit, and even though she wanted to stop, she wasn't even aware she was doing it in her sleep.

We ended up having the orthodonist put a thing in her upper pallet. I don't know the official name for it, but it had a little roller type thingy in the roof of her mouth. And it definitely works! She's cured!

 

[Chicago526]

I sucked mine for a very, VERY, long time. I won't say how long because it's rather embarassing (yes I have quit by now!) All I can say is, nothing worked for me but time. I finnaly stoped without even realizing it. The funny thing is, not only did it not affect my teeth, but it may have saved them some wear and tear, turns out I grind my teeth in my sleep, and when I sucked my thumb, I bit that instead of grinding!

 

[CJMickeyMouse]

Hmmm... I am surprised "Thum" has not been mentioned... it's an awful tasting liquid you paint on the thumb.

I know a lot of people believe in letting it take it's course, but I am not one of them. We did not do pacifiers or thumbs, and we have one with braces and one without. Go figure!

 

[HugsForEeyore]

My 9 year old niece was a big thumb sucker, and she stopped in the last year, all by herself. None of us in the family made a big issue about it, since in my area every child gets years of braces and orthodontic appliances anyway, regardless of thumb sucking or not. It's extremely rare for any child to escape childhood without braces here!

<img src="http://home.att.net/~disneysue/hugsmall3.gif">

 

[TerryKitten]

I sucked my thumb though the 6th grade. Only at home when I went to bed. My parents tried tape, bandaids, etc. Only time was the key. Or it could have been outdoor school when I got REALLY teased about it.

 

[Evil Princess]

I sucked my two fingers (right ring and middle, how odd) until 6th grade as well. I used to hold my blankie and suck my fingers, only at night, I couldn't fall asleep otherwise. My parents would bribe me, they would threaten me, doctors would lecture me...

My mom finally took my blankie away. I stopped sucking my fingers after that. She would always joke in hands, shoulders, knees and toes fashion that "the blankie bone is connected to the finger bone!" In my case, it was. I couldn't suck my fingers wihtout it, mental thing, who knows.

My front teeth were majorly messed up from it. The only reason why I needed braces. They were really bad. When they came off though my teeth were perfect.