Breaking the thumb sucking habit

DD (3yo) sucks her thumb when tired/ falling asleep. The dentist wants me to break this habit ASAP, but how? It's definitely a crutch/comfort for her.

TiA

Breaking the thumb sucking habit

My DD will be 4 in May. She sucks the first 2 fingers of her left hand.... She has since she was in the womb, we saw it on the sono. I have no idea how to get her to stop. We've tried everything. She does it all the time, and she's ruining her teeth, her fingers are all messed up from it. Even the ped said there's really nothing to be done about it and she will stop as she goes to school full time. I guess we will see.

Re: Breaking the thumb sucking habit

DD sucks her thumb and I don't plan on ever, EVER breaking it, it brings her so much comfort and she uses it to calm herself down. I sucked my thumb until I was practically in college (not being sarcastic) and I never needed braces, hoping she has the same luck.

I guess this isn't what you asked for... a pro-thumb-sucking pep rally?

Breaking the thumb sucking habit

Lol I'm glad I'm not the only one dealing with this! The dentist is worried because he said her pallet is lengthening bc of the active thumb sucking and that it can change her facial structure!!! I never even thought of that! She is very calmed by the thumb sucking but I don't want her face to change :(

Re: Breaking the thumb sucking habit

My nephew sucked his thumb. My sister tried everything and was pretty frustrated. The dentist said his teeth were getting damaged. At 4.5, he understood what money was. So my sister used it to motivate him. Sh started with a new piggy bank with a few quarters. Everyday that he had a good day, she made a big deal and gave him 2 quarters to deposit. For every bad day, she took away 4 quarters. At the of he week, she took the money out and took him shopping. What she him didn't match the coins, but if he had a good week, she got him something he especially wants ( car, train) and made a big deal. If he didn't have a good week, she told him he didn't have enough money.

He broke the habit in less than a month.

Re: Breaking the thumb sucking habit

My DD is almost 4.5 and has been sucking her thumb when she goes to sleep since the womb.......we have sono pics. Our dentist (who is also my uncle ) is always on us to get her to stop but my ped says not to worry. She will stop in her own time.

In my DD's case it would be hard for us to do much as it is an unconscious nighttime thing, short of staying up all night and pulling her thumb away I don't know what we can do. I figure she will stop in her time, I try not to sweat it. Worst case........she needs braces one day.

Re: Breaking the thumb sucking habit

I should start by saying I've never used this but saw it in the one step ahead catalog. Might be worth trying.



One step ahead

I also saw in BRU they sell a sort of polish, I forgot the name, that you can put on which I guess doesn't taste great but is safe that is supposed to help them stop.

Someone told me once the only think that worked was putting pepper on her son's thumb. Drastic I know. She said she tried everything . She used a tiny amount. She did it twice and he got it and stopped.

Re: Breaking the thumb sucking habit

I have an ultrasound photo of DS sucking his thumb in my belly. He did it all the time, callused his thumb and always sucked his thumb. At first I focused a lot on it and tried the nail polish that tastes bad, and nothing worked. Finally at about 4 (it was almost a year long deal) we had a conversation about it. I told him I would stop nagging him to stop sucking his thumb if he could give me a date when he thought he would be old enough to stop. He picked his 5th birthday. I said ok, I will stop nagging you, and tell everyone else to stop as well as long as you promise to stop on your fifth birthday. I asked him if he could only do it when he was tired instead of all of the time too. He agreed to both. Less than once a month I would remind him of his promise but that is all I would speak of it. On his fifth birthday he said he no longer needed to suck his thumb. And he has not ever since. DS is now 5 1/2.

Re: Breaking the thumb sucking habit

our ped dentist at her two year old cleaning said that she needed to break the habit by 3 years old. That week i filled a bag with wrapped dollar store gifts that she earned every morning after she went to sleep without sucking her thumb. It worked!
I did also buy the gross tasting nail polish. I remember one night her asking me to put it on her....
it wound up being so much easier to break the habit then i anticipated!

Re: Breaking the thumb sucking habit

DS sucked two finger all the time. In utero, in every picture we took. It was adorable.

Until he got a nasty infection. He was about 18 months.

We decided to have him stop. We wrapped his fingers (the sucking ones) in sports tape. Wrapped them every day. After a few weeks, he just stopped and never sucked again.

Re: Breaking the thumb sucking habit

You cant! If your DC really wants to suck their thumb, there is nothing you can do to stop it, trust me. i was a thumb sucker until i was 12! My parents tried everything and I still managed. I will tell you, I some how never needed braces and I remember it making me feel so content. At 33, if I could still suck my thumb, I would

ETA: I guess I should say it depends on the child, after reading pp sucess stories. I however didn't want to give it up.

Message edited 2/10/2013 3:01:39 PM.

Re: Breaking the thumb sucking habit

I wish I knew! My DS is 3 & last year he actually stopped sucking his thumb on his own for 6 months and then his little brother was born & he started again. It's a nighttime/ nap thing for him. If he is sleeping & we see him doing it, we pull his thumb out. We've tried bandaids on the thumbs but those came off easily, we've that gross gel polish called mavala stop but after a couple of weeks, he sucked through it & also decided to stop giving it to him because it smelled like nail polish, when I looked up the ingredients online, I did not like what I read.
I think I will try the sports tape though such as PP suggested. I'm sure that stays on much better than bandaids.

Message edited 2/10/2013 4:29:04 PM.

Re: Breaking the thumb sucking habit

DS is a thumb sucker and is 3.5. He actually is in speech now because he developed a tongue thrust. So speech and the dentist are on on us to get him to stop, but it's so hard. He tells me he will never stop, ha! I know he will need braces, which I don't mind. I'm more concerened over him having a lisp. So frustrating!!!
My younger DS sucks two fingers I better stop that habit real soon.

Breaking the thumb sucking habit

I used to think I was so lucky that I didn't have to break the binky habit bit this is much worse :( thanks for the advice ladies!

Re: Breaking the thumb sucking habit