[louisebcfc1]

[/size]Hi,

My 2 year old will not stop sucking her thumb. We saw the dentist the other dayand she said my daughters teeth are more prominent than they should be becauseof the sucking and she should really try and stop otherwise it will get worseas she gets older.

The only thing i have tried in the past 6 months is asking her to stop, whichshe does when i ask, and then 2 mins later, she is back to sucking again. I don’teven think she knows she is doing it. She sucks when in a new environment or atbed time, which is fine as its her comforter, but then she sucks all day aswell, when she is reading books, watching tv, sometimes even drawing!

Help! Any advice or tips on how to help her stop would be appreciated!

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[littlemissmessy]

My daughter sucked her thumb until she was about 5. I didn't really make a big deal out of it and when she started school she stopped sucking her thumb of her own accord because she didn't want anyone to see her doing it. She did have a gap between her teeth but when her permanent teeth came in they were fine, so I wouldn't worry too much. Your daughter is only young and it's probably a comfort to her at this stage.

[Elemenopee]

Both my girls sucked their thumbs. My 7yr old stopped last year when she lost her front teeth, due to a combination of knowing she had too, it feeling strange with no teeth and the fingernail paint you get from chemists which taste bitter.
My 5 yr old still sucks her thumb and twirls her hair, we will become more proactive about it when she starts to lose her baby teeth.

[Lyra]

I was told to tell my son 'you can suck your thumb in your room' and if we were out I told him 'that's for home'

That way you aren't making it bad but something that is only done at certain times and places

[Jane Jetson]

My three-year-old still does it. I'm not sure why I should be fussed about it, really.

[soontobegran]

I agree that it can cause orthodontic problems but at the age when your child is old enough to understand you can try and make a deal with them that it is a bed time thing only. This will happen at all different ages. I had 2 thumb suckers and 3 dummy suckers and they all stopped before they went to school. I would try to not make too big a deal of it.
I did see a 'new invention' on eBAY last night which made me laugh
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Stop-thumbsucki...=item257a2158f3


Not for one minute recommending this. I just feel sorry for the poor little babies and too think sucking on plastic from China is better than sucking on their own skin is just odd to me.

[louisebcfc1]

great, thanks for the advice. my concern is mainly around her teeth and also her thumb can be sore and red at time which is sad.

we have started telling her thumb sucking is just for bed time which she understands, but her habit is so strong she does every other time too, subconciously!

Perhaps i will leave it go just now and try not to get too worried. I can only trust it will be something she grows out off in time

[sophiasmum]

DD1 was a thumb sucker

DS was a 2 finger sucker

When they turned 4 we used the spray from the chemist I think it's called thumb stop & it worked for us, took a few weeks to break the habit but I continued using it for about 2 mths to be sure.

[Phascogale]

We used the stuff that you paint on the nails because that stays there and keeps tasting bad.

There's also a product called Never suck that you put on the actual thumb but my kids didn't mind the taste of this too much so it didn't work.

[bronhilda]

My DD as a dedicated thumb sucker! I waited until she wanted to stop herself, which occurred when she was 3.5 and at kinder. The kinder kids asked her why she sucked her thumb, she asked me, and it opened up the conversation about wanting to stop.

What I did first was wrap guaze and bandaids around her thumbs for two weeks. Everytime she put her thumb in her mouth she remembered she didn’t want to as it tasted awful. After two weeks, we then just reminded her everytime we saw her doing it that she should stop. She was also promised a big present (a camera) if she stopped sucking her thumb.

It took 5 months for her to stop doing it during the day. She still sucked it in her sleep for about another 6 months, but neither she nor I had control over that. She has not reverted (now 6).

My newborn is showing a tendancy to suck her thumb, so I have given her a dummy and convinced her to take it. Much easier to dispose of a dummy than a thumb!