Any One Have a Good Suggestion for Thumb Sucking Child???

I got my daughter to stop sucking her thumb by making a game out of it. I would just yank her thumb out of her mouth and say, "NO sucky!!" and she would laugh, sometimes responding by putting both thumbs in her mouth. So I would again yank both thumbs out at the same time and say "No two sucky!" and repeated it til she got tired of the game. Eventually, and not very long, she stopped sucking her thumb.

I was lucky it worked, but I didnt want to associate any negativity in stopping her. But she started sucking on her tongue, when tired, and she still does it at age 5. You can see her tongue going between her slightly parted lips. Definitely cute, and non damaging. But I hope she stops that by the time she's at least 10.

There used to be some stuff on the market to put on a child's thumb to make it taste bad so they would stop that but I don't know what it was called or wether there still is such a thing. The only other thing you can do is repeatedly tell him no and take his thumb out of his mouth.

Have you tried putting hot sauce on his thumb?

Hi S.. My friend encountered this same problem with her daughter and her doctor gave her a prescription for something that looks like finger nail polish and tastes horrible. It is applied much like finger nail polish and the idea behind it is that when your son wants to suck his thumb this bad tasting stuff will make him take his thumb out. My friend said it took about 3 days and her daughter quit. Good luck!

My daughter had the same issue with her son. She finally put some liquid made for thumbsucking and nailbiting on his thumb.
It did discourage him and make him more aware of the habit.
Also, we had his Dentist talk to him and believe it or not that helped. He is 5 now and still makes that sucking sound occassionally in his sleep. His whole maxillary arch is pronounced due to the sucking. Do your best to assist in stopping, some of it is a natural reaction. Braces can always be the option. Good luck. A grandmother.

My daugter went to Build a bear and let my grandson pick an animal to replace his pacifier, we of course put his pacifier inside of the monkey. It worked like a charm. You could try this and call the animal thumpkin for thumb and tell them this animal replaces the thumb sucking and see if it works.

On the other hand my daughter sucked her thumb till she was 12 years old, only when she got tired and was sleeping. She finally stopped on her own. I tried every trick on the store shelf, hot sauce, stuff sold for stopping thumb sucking. Nothing worked. I would try the animal and see if it works. Good Luck
Kathy

I would suggest trying those substitutes, but do so without telling him that he should stop sucking his thumb. My son sucked his thumb until shortly after his second birthday. I never said a word about it even though I got pressure from other people to make him stop. One day, he completely stopped on his own and never went back. I think the more you talk about it and try to stop it, the more he will do it. Maybe he will take to the animal or blanket and stop on his own. If not, maybe some other moms have better advice for you!

Well my Little girl Hailey she been sucking her thumb since she was born then She had to get a surgey done on her mouth and they put this thing that keep her arm stright and she could not suck and it work great ....you could make thing to keep your child arm stright only time your child could have the arm free was when you could watch and when the child go to bed or nap put the arm stright .... i tell you it work ! My Little girl she is 2 years old now and the last time she suck was before her surgey and now she don't think about it ... she love her blanket that was good she had that ... I hyope you find something to help you ....
Bless you and your little one ! oh and a other thing that nail biting stuff did not work with my little girl ... she loved it she would just suck it off ...

M. S

A friend of mine had the same problem with her son. The doctor told her to put nail polish on his nails, the stop biting kind. It worked. She had to put it on several times a day, but it worked. He couldn't stand the taste. They say kids out grow this but don't count on it. We noticed a child the other day that had to be at least 10 years old walking through the store sucking her thumb. Better to break the habbit now.

My husband sucked his thumb until he was 6 or 7. His parents tried all the old methods, hot sausce, nail bitting stuff painted on his nails, vinegar, etc. Nothing worked. He finally was embarrassed enough that he wrapped his hand up for a month. that did the trick, but he decided to do that on his own. Fast forward to today. My 4 1/2 yr old still sucks his thumb. Not as much as he use to. I tried the blanket substitute as well...nothing substitutes his thumb. Now school and kids are pressuring him. So I have started casually talking about his thumb...no pressure. It seems to be working a little...so I will keep trying this method, but I will NEVER put anything on his thumb, it has never worked for anyone that I know. Good luck!! It's a really hard habit to break!

I sucked my thumb when i was little till I was almost 5 years old, when the dentist told my mother that they would have to break my jaw if i did not stop my mother came up with a wonderful plan to help me. Sew a sock to the pajama or shirt sleeve and this will help prevent him from sucking his thumb at night and during the day when you see the him sucking his thumb tell him to stop. It took a while but it worked.
Hope this helps and good luck

I Have a thumb sucking 5 year old with the same strong will as you're son.She went from a binckie at almost 3!!Wich I KNOW,how bad is that?!Point is,she goes to the dentist regularly(every 6 months),and she just had her 5 year check up 2 days ago with the pediatician.I asked the doc about it and all he said was unfortunatly alot of kids sooth them selves that way,and that was it!I don't think she'll stop until SHE is ready.I've tried EVERYTHING,believe me!From nailbiting stuff,to nailpoish,to telling her her teeth are gonna fall out,and so has the dentist.He tells her everytime we go there how bad it is for her.But nothing has helped.It's like telling somebody who smoke,how bad it is for you,or somebody with a little too much fat on their bodies,to watch the cookies!They will stop when they are ready.Unfortunatly,WE probably have to pay for braces later.
SORRY I couldn't help you in a better way,
Good luck!!!!!!! M.

Try Mavala Stop.. good luck

Try Control-It. I bought this for a nail/cuticle biting daughter, and it worked. It tastes terrible, so it deters thumb-sucking, but just as important, it helps the skin heal. Thumb-suckers actually wear off the outer layer of the epidermis, and when it heals, the thumb won't taste the same. This product is all-natural; I bought it at Chamberlain's. It's kind of pricey, but a little goes a long way. Good luck!

Hi S.,
My son was sucking his thumb while I was pregnant with him, I gave him a pacifier and he sucked it until he was 4 months old and continued to suck his thumb. My husband and I started taking it out of his mouth everytime we saw him doing it, he started sucking on it when he was napping or at bedtime he stopped sucking it on his own when he was 3 yrs old. I guess because we kept taking it out of his mouth. Maybe that will work for you it doesn't hurt to try it.
C.

S. unfortunately no good news from me. My sister sucked her thumb until she was 7 and my uncle until his late teens. My mom put something on her thumb from the drug store that is very bitter. I don't know what it is called but I am sure your local pharmacy can assist. Children rather suck a warm thumb then a plastic pacifier. Since you let him suck it so long it might take awhile to get out of this habit. I am confident he will not suck it on his first day of college.

I have 5 kids and 3 of them were thumb suckers. With each one different things worked. The first one, we started putting a glove on the hand that she sucked. She complained about it and did not like it and we had a few rough nights but it worked. It did not work for the second one so we started dipping her finger in vinegar when we caught her sucking her thumb. It worked quite quickly. The third we are still working on. She is definately the most difficult. She is a little older and we are trying the reward system with her.

K.