Help with Thumbsucking

My daughter had cut her thumb and needed a band aid. We kept putting a band aid on it for a few days and when it finally came off she had forgotten all about sucking her thumb.

I think all you can do is praise her for the times she is not sucking her thumb, and come up with a cue to remind her not to suck it when she is awake. I do think at the age of 2, its not that big of a deal, and likely the more negative focus the behavior gets, the more likely it is to continue.
My oldest daughter, now 15 years and in braces of course, sucked her thumb until she went to kindergarten and realized this was not a great thing to do.
You may read your child Berenstain Bears and the Bad Habit then talk about how thumb sucking can also introduce germs and hurt her teeth.
Caution- I saw a child choke to death after Mom put hot sauce on her thumb to stop thumb sucking. I would rather live with the thumb sucking.

I just wanted to send along a suggestion that I haven't seen in your other responses. There is a product called "Mavala Stop" for finger/thumb sucking & nail biting that I've heard is far superior to "Thum" (which is just cayenne pepper in liquid form). My niece was a thumb sucker, and it was definitely affecting her teeth and palate, according to her dentist. She now has an open bite and a tongue-thrust problem, but she sucked until 5yrs old. Anyway, my niece just kept on sucking when Thum was used, but the Mavala product stopped her problem in one day (with continued application for a few weeks). My sister put it on her while she slept, and explained to her daughter that her thumb tasted "yucky" because she was a big girl now, and wasn't supposed to suck it anymore. My niece wasn't happy, but, it worked. My sister said it tasted disgusting, so maybe that's the secret. It also lasts for 2 days with one application. Anyway, I've seen it online at Amazon and other sites, with many personal reviews by users. Check it out if you're interested. Good Luck!!

I don't really have a good solution for you. I was a thumbsucker and stopped when I was about 4, so I can remember it very well. It was the only way i'd be able to get any liquids down (i'd put a gulp of water in my mouth and then stick my thumb in and swallow). Anyway, I never had any teeth problems, never needed braces. I remember one day I thought it was dirty and just decided I didn't want to do it anymore. Not sure if I helped, but I hope I did put your mind at ease a little bit. Good luck!

A.,
I was a thumbsucker into my teens. I know, tell me about it. The thing is, I think I did it when I was bored or needed comforting. If you can figure out when/why she is doing it, it would help you to deter her from doing it. But, don't worry, I'm nearly 30 and have never had any problems with my teeth. As a matter of fact, all of my dentists have said that I have a beautiful set of teeth.
My parents tried the following:
tabasco on the thumb (I got it in my eye)
socks on my hands
punishing
Good luck. This is a doosy.

My sister sucked her thumb until after age 5... when it was getting close to starting kindergarden, my parents told her the other kids would laugh and everytime she had the urge she sat on her hand instead.... within a month she had stopped. No problems with her teeth.
now my son is almost 3 and has also been a sucker... Daddy hates it and is always yelling at him to stop, so he hides behind me or a pillow to suck it... it's comforting to him so I intend to encourage him gently to quit now that he can understand he's a "big boy", but I feel it will take time. Good luck!

Hi A.,

I would ignore it for now. The more you give it attention, the more she will probably want to do it. If it continues for longer than you are comfortable, I would ask your dentist. Sucking thumbs isn't such a taboo thing anymore. My daughter LOVES her thumb. I'm not a bit worried. We'll check with her dentist when she is old enough to go to one.
Good luck!
M.

Your daughter sounds cute...asking for more hot sauce! That's a good one!

My niece was a thumb sucker. She's almost 14 now, but a number of years ago...she may have been 8 or 9, I'm not sure, maybe earlier...the dentist said it HAD to stop. She had messed up her palate and had to wear something to fix her palate. She also had to go to a behaviorist that the dentist sent her to. She went twice, as I recall, once to start the program, once at the end. She also had to wear this long mitten at night, and the things that she slept with...stuffed animal/blanket...had to go at the time, too. Her parents said she screamed for days (at bedtime)...and this is a very easy going, well behaved child...but eventually she got used to it.

Another friend of mine had similar issues with her daughter of about the same age. She also had to go through some sort of system to break herself of the habit, and it was difficult, but I don't recall the details. I just remember it was different from what my niece went through.

Good luck!

Hi A.,

My son, who is now 6, has always been a thumb sucker. I asked the Dr. and the dentist at every visit and they always said it was okay and to just praise him for not doing it and try to remind him not to when he was sucking. Anyway, I followed their advice, and one day recently I noticed that I haven't seen him sucking his thumb in a while now. He just stopped on his own!One thing for sure is that he cut down considerably once he was in all day kindergarten. I know he didn't want other kids to make fun of him.

N.

My husband and I both sucked our thumbs until we were 8 and neither of us ever needed braces. My 2.5 year old is also a thumb sucker. Because it was very hard for both my husband and I to stop, I did a lot of research on the subject and even spoke to my pediatrician about it. I was hoping that my son could avoid the difficulties. Every single article that I have read on the subject stated that if you do not make a big deal of it, children will most likely stop on their own by the age of 4.
I plan to continue to ignore my sons thumb sucking until he begins kindergarden or our dentist tells us it is starting to cause issues.

A., I had a rather challenging thumb sucker from a very early age. We bought a product called Thumb Guard. It is placed over the thumb so they can't suck it while it is on. It never hindered my son from doing any activities. It cost around $70. You get two. That worked for me because mine would suck either thumb. The company is Thumbguard.com. It was definitely worth the money. Nothing else worked for us. I hope this helps.
L. R

A., I had 2 binky girls and a thumbsucker. At about 2-3 years of age, my thumbsucker E started to get leery of germs, so we decided to see if it would work with her thumb. We had to work our way up to this so we talked for 2 weeks about yucky germs. Then one day, we told her that with all the playing she was doing with her toys and outside, she had germs on her thumb, then she was putting those yucky germs in her mouth. EEEEWWWW, yucky!!!!! Ww kept it age appropriate by adding all the sounds and stuff (whatever works!). When we went to adopt our youngest, my brother was watching the girls and kept it up for us. By the time we got home from the trip, E had stopped sucking her thumb and was very, very proud of it, telling everyone that would listen! We did tell her she was doing a great job when she did NOT suck her thumb, giving as much positive praise as possible.
Hope this might give you an idea for your daughter!
Good luck!
G.

I know that there is a device in the magazine "One Step Ahead" that you strap on to her thumb (you might want to look on line for more info). But I can't say if it works or not. I'm in the same boat as you with my daughter, but she's not at the stage yet where she does it all time. Let me know what ends up working for you and good luck!

H.

I personally haven't had the thumbsucking problem with my kids, but I totally understand. Mine were very addicted to the pacifier and it was a nightmare getting them weaned off! Anyway, I have seen in parent magazines a thing that you can put on her hand that covers her thumb and its plastic and she would throughly not enjoy sucking on it this way! Go to onestepahead.com
and at the top on right type in thumb guard and it'll come up. I know some people who used it and it worked great because it just discouraged the behavior quickly and easily without "punishment." Later on she will thank you when she doesn't have bad teeth! You may be able to find it other places but this is a very good site and I get the catalog in the mail, got a lot of stuff from them without disappointment. Good luck Jennifer