Hi
Does anyone have any good success stories to share on how they got their child to stop sucking the thumb.

Thanks

My DS is 2 1/2 and has been a thumb sucker since he was born. He really only does it when he is tired or sick now. If he is trying to talk to me and has his thumb in his mouth I ask him to "please take your thumb out so I can understand you", then thank him afterwards. Otherwise it really doesn't bother me. I figure he will probably stop by himself by the time he starts school lol. If not I am sure that it would stop pretty quickly once he is at school. I have no problem with him sucking his thumb for comfort at night.

Hi, my DD is a finger sucker. I read somewhere the other day that most kids (gave a % but I can't remember it) stop spontaneously sucking thumb/fingers between age of 2 and 4 years.

I think that under 3 is too young for them to be able to stop if they aren't ready.

We have decided to come up with some rules about finger sucking to help our DD do it less.

1. No sucking while talking or eating. She's always been good with the talking but unbelievably she has tried to suck and eat/drink a few times when very tired.

2. No sucking during active play time.

We are introducing the concept that sucking is for bedtime/settling only. When DD is sucking due to boredom we try and give her an activity to do. When she is just sucking out of habit we explain that sucking is for rest time and ask her if she needs to have a nap. This almost always works and she stops. Toddlers have very short memories and attention spans so she needs lots of reminders!

Hi
Thanks for that.
I had my DD addicted to the dummy so I was quite over the dummy by the time DS came along. Great not having to wake up in the night to a "ive lost my dummy" but bad that you cant take the thumb away so easily.

I had those restrictions with DD with dummy. Dwindled it down to dummy only at sleeptime. Im just more worried that hes going to put his teeth out, and be teased when hes a bit older - he generally only does it when hes watching dvds or sleeptime. He hasnt tried to eat and talk with thumb so maybe i should feel good about that. My dh did some search on internet, appears you can buy a thumb guard for them to wear. Has anyone gone that far. $115- my ds would hit the roof if i put that on him.


Thanks again for your replies.

We've set boundaries for our DD1 (3yo) thumbsucker.

She can only suck her thumb while going to sleep. If she is sucking her thumb at another time, I tell her to go to her room and go to bed.

So far that is working, and we are happy with the boundaries.

I have bought some yucky-tasting nail polish (for nail biters) that I will put on her non-sucked thumb so she knows what it tastes like. I'll use this to reinforce my message -- if she doesn't obey, I will paint her thumbnail so it tastes yucky.

Hi
That sounds like what I will end up doing. He is 2 and 3mnths. Im just concscious that it will cost us thousands in the long run on his teeth. Plus I so dont want him to have buck teeth. They say it doesnt affect the adult teeth if he give this habit up before 6yrs.
I know i had a long hard road with my DD on the dummy front... she begged for it, it took her a long time before I could use it just for bed time. I think some kids kick these habits easy but I think my kids wont which makes me more determined. I bit my nails from the age of 5 and never gave up until about 2yrs ago. Im obviously a breeder of bad habits.

Mine sucks her security object (teddy's arm). We were going really well on the "only for sleep" idea but she has regressed and I feel like an absolute failure.

DD2 sucks her first finger, only when she is going to sleep or asleep.

I am not worried at all cause it is her comfort thing and the Dr said that she will grow out of it cause her finger will get too long for comfort anymore.

Good luck with it.

DD stopped sucking her thumb almost completely between the ages of 3-3.5y.

By the age of 4y she would only suck her thumb when bored/tired/distracted - usually watching TV or sometimes in the car and occasionally while asleep at night. I bought some of that disgusting nail polish stuff and put that on and she has pretty much stopped totally in the last 2w. She took it pretty well apart from the first morning she must have been sucking her thumb while she was asleep and woke up drooling bucketloads and very distressed. We've just used the nail stuff to remind her not to suck her thumb.

Steph

We had thumb/finger sucking blitz over Christmas
Lots of info in old posts about this that i found useful.

5 yo sucked thumb often throughout the day at home and all night. So to save $$ on the teeth we decided it was time before she started full time school.

Talked up giving up the thumb for a few months so she was used to the idea.

I used a big reward chart stuck on the lounge room wall (daily stickers for not sucking during peak times - tv, bed, computer, bored etc) then a small reward after three days (colouring in book), then another after one week, then after three weeks of complete non-thumb sucking - big reward (thomas train for DD1,DD2 got a new doll).

Also used character bandaids on the thumb during the day. During the night used the yucky nail stuff and a sock over the top. Also reinforced what to do with her hands (eg hold them together...put them under their pillow)when she was watching tv etc as she was so used to just popping the thumb in that she didn't know where to put it when she wasn't sucking. Only down side was that once the thumb sucking was stopped DD didn't lie in bed relaxing in the morning and took hours to go to sleep at night for about 3 months!!!!

After watching her sister go through the process DD2 (3.5) who has shocking teeth from finger sucking wanted to do it too so we did the same thing with her. Lots of tears the first night then she was fine. (actually easier than DD1) Three months down the track I still paint the stuff on at night just in case they relapse.

minyamamum I did have that thumb guard in the back of my mind and was going to use it with DD1 if the nail stuff and band aids didn't work seeing her adult teeth will be arriving soon. Cheaper than braces!!!!

DD3 still sucks her thumb but she is only 7 months

Hi
Thanks for your replies....

I updated my sig, heres the thumb sucking monster... along with his Angel sister.

Might buy the nail stuff then.

I'm nearly 35 and still suck my thumb!!

Can't believe I just admitted that.....

I can't believe you did either . . .lol . . I am 33 and still rub my foot on the sheets as I am going to sleep! I'll have to ask my mum if I did this as a bub (I can remember doing it as a child).