Can Anyone Help Me? My 2 Yr Old Daugter Won't Stop Sucking Her Thumb

I sucked my thumb until I was 7. My perents tried it all and nothing worked except a dental applience with spikes on the roof of my mouth. It worked for me and it straightened my top row of teeth up so I never had to get expensive braces. She may be a little to young to do it now but if the problem persist you should look into it!!
It sounds a little harsh, but I can remember having it in and I thought it was SO cool! And I'm 22 now and don't hate my parents for it!

I'm pretty sure that she won't get an infection in her mouth. Just keep her hand clean. And if it looks as if that may be the case speak to your pediatrician. As for the thumb sucking, behavior modification 101: the bigger deal you make of her sucking her thumb the more she will do it. This is true for young and older children alike. Though we have feelings regarding thumb sucking and the like from a social perspective the reality is that it is an anxiety reducer for children. It is a good thing that she is self-reliant enough to have found a way to soothe herself instead of relying on a binky or even worse eating to soothe herself. I promise that she will eventually grow out of this behavior but I guarantee if you focus too much attention on it she will increase the behavior. Further by punishing her for it you teach her not to trust her own instincts and this can cause her much larger problems down the road. So just make sure her hands are clean and know that your daughter is a wonderful little girl who is learning how to take care of herself which is what we all want for our children. Good Luck!! ---E.

It is for comfort. My 10 year old still sucks her thumb and I have tried everything. She does it when she is sleepy. Good luck!

Dear B. i have 2 kids and my daugether never sucked her thumb and my 22 month old has never either. is your daugether still on the bottle or pacifier? if she isn't thats why she still sucking her thumb for security and really put hot sauce on her thumb thats the only thing i can tell u M. W

B.,

I have had a lot of luck with "trading cozys". When it was my daughter's time to ditch the paci, we had started to call it her cozy. She got to pick out something form the store that could be her "new cozy." One time, it was a blanket, another time, it was a teddy bear.

I realize with it being her thumb, you cannot take that away. That, of course, it the hard part here. When my daughter came home from daycare with her thumb in her mouth, I told her that she was to take her paci back, because I knew it would be nearly impossible to take the thumb away, so I got lucky there.

Sounds like she is orally fixated, and needs an oral soother. Maybe she could go tot a paci, then trade in her cozy, in a few months, just to rid the thumb habbit. The worst thing about it being her thumb is the fact that it is very damaging to her teeth, and perhaps speech from there.

The paci transition might be very difficult, because it is not the thumb, and doesn't have to warm fleshy qualities that the thumb does, so you will have to make the paci more enticing. You can dip it in honey, or condensed milk...whatever she might be into...sprinkles even. (if you do this, remember to brush more so the sugary stuff gets off of her teeth instead of causeing dacay) Sounds crazy, but reward her for keeping it in during a half hour tv show....anything to get her used to the soothing of something other than her thumb. I know a lot of people might thing I am crazy to encourage these things, but they might not realize the difficulity of taking the thumb away.

Good luck to you and yours!

A.

I wouldn't think it would cause an infection in her mouth. It might even help keep the blister a little more clean.

My son wasn't muc of a thumb sucker, though, so I can't tell you how to break that.

I used to work for an orthodontist and he said there is one true way to break the habit. She will not like it, but it does work. You have to find a 100% wool sock and tape it to her hands when she starts to suck her thumb. Especially at bed time. After a little less than a week of putting pure wool in her mouth she will have the habit broken. It is not fun, but the parents that did it have had success with it. Good Luck.

I bought the stuff called no more bite it is in the beauty section of any drug store or walmart...it worked for my daughter. She got it in her mouth once, and never put her thumb in her mouth again. I had already tried hot sauce, nail polish all that other stuff, but this stuff worked for some reason.

Alisha

B.,
I agree with the others that she is finding security there. I don't mean this in any way harmful at ALL, but with a 5 month old and pregnant again, she will naturally look for ways to "console" herself. As awesome a parent as I'm sure you are, you can't be there like you were for the first year or so of her life, with the other things you have going on. My daughter was just 4 when my sister and I brought home new babies one week apart from each other. Before that she had been everyone's world, as first grandchild, niece, etc.
She was awesome with the new little guys and wanted to do EVERYTHING to take care of them. She was almost 5 when she stopped sucking her thumb and before that, every time she wanted to try being a "big girl", someone would say something about her thumb in her mouth and she'd regress right back to it.
Try letting her help with your son and the new baby when it comes, and keep her occupied. Make sure she knows she is not a "BAD girl" for sucking her thumb and just try to find things to replace it.
Most important though, make sure you purposely set aside a time for the two of you, EVERYDAY. Make sure she knows she is still your little princess, no matter what happens.
My oldest daughter is 19-1/2 now and is married with her own baby and I wish I could have back the "thumb-sucking" days.
Good luck and much love,
L.