How Do I Stop Thumbsucking

Try Mavala Stop - it seems to be helping my son who is a nail biter-he says it tastes nasty, and it stays on all day. You can get it on Amazon for about $15 including shipping.

I started getting my daughter ready that 5 year olds are big kids and they don't suck their thumb anymore. That is for little kids. I told her that the kids in Kindergarten didn't do that so somehow we need to stop. It took her awhile to wrap her mind around it. I asked her to try and she said she would but she couldn't. I asked her what we could do to help her. We came up with the idea to wrap a bandaid on it so she couldn't do it. It took a few days, she snuck it off, etc. But she finally did it, went a few days without. I told her if she went 10 days that we would go to the nail shop and get are fingers and toes painted. That way she had a goal..and she made it!! She's hasn't gone back since.

Well its an old mexican tradition and it may sound harsh but we put a little hot sauce on the thumb. It doesnt taste good to them it it makes the mouth a little spicy and takes all the fun out of sucking the thumb..lol It sounds funny, but it realy works unless of course your little one happens to enjoy a little spice. It does happen on ocasion!!! Hahahahaa

I have twin 5 yr olds and one was/is a thumb sucker (Anthony) and the other was a pacifier user (Ryan). Their dentist really wanted them to quit because it was affecting their teeth. They both have cross bites and their front top teeth go up in the middle from the pressure.

Here's what we did. For the first few nights, I took away the pacifier and put bandaids over the thumb (he used to only suck his left) for 5 minutes at bedtime and then went in and gave the pacifier back and took the bandaids off. The next few nights, we waited 10 minutes and Ryan fell asleep without his pacifier. The next night we told Anthony that we knew he could fall asleep without his thumb and we made a really big deal about Ryan falling asleep without his pacifier. We decided to do a reward system and work them up to a week/10 days without the thumb/pacifier and they both started falling asleep without them regularly.

Now, Anthony started sucking his other thumb at some point, so we ended up with bandaids on both thumbs. It's been a couple of months now and he has completely stopped sucking his thumb during the day, but if we don't put bandaids on at night, I think he still sucks his thumb sometimes.

It's worked great for us, though. I may go out and buy some of that nasty tasting stuff, though, so we can work our way off the bandaids and break the habit of putting his thumb in his mouth in his sleep--he sleeps with his hands very close to his mouth still, so if there's no bandaid there, in it goes! LOL!!

Good luck with whatever you try!!

Dear M.,
Oh, the thumb sucking thing.
My daughter never had a pacifier until I took her bottle away. (She actually found one that I had in a basket of things that I had kept....her baby rattles and teething rings and little miscellaneous stuff like that.) At first, I thought it was just kind of a novelty. Something she'd never tried and thought it was great once she checked it out. She never sucked her thumb in her life until I took the pacifier away. And she sucked her thumb until she was about 12 years old. For her, it was totally a comfort thing. She sucked her left thumb and rubbed her left elbow with her right hand. My husband and I COMPLETELY disagreed about how to handle the situation and he threatened to punish her, to put horrible tasting stuff on her fingers, he embarrassed and taunted her constantly. Which only resulted in her needing to comfort herself all the more and made her more conscious of it. But not in a good way. After all, there are only so many things you can take away....you can't chop their thumb off and take it away from them. So, she and I made a deal. I would not give her a bad time about sucking her thumb if it made her feel better, as long as she did it in private. After all, she wasn't hurting any thing or any body so it wasn't a punishable offense. My daughter is extremely intelligent, was very precocious and started kindergarten at 4 years old. It had nothing to do with her wanting to still be a baby. It was all about comforting herself. She didn't do it at school or in the grocery store or anything like that. If we were all snugged up watching a movie as a family and she put her blanket up over her head, we knew exactly what she was doing. If she had friends over, or she spent the night somewhere else, she just pulled her covers up and no one knew the difference. They didn't tease her because they didn't know. And frankly, it only took about 5 minutes of the thumb/elbow rubbing routine for her to be sound asleep and it didn't hurt a single thing. Eventually, she found on her own that she needed it less and less. She didn't even do it every day or even once a week. When she was 12, she said, "You know, Mom, every now and then, I still catch myself." She will be 22 in October and she still sleeps with her covers up over her head. I personally could never sleep like that, but that's what makes her happy. There is nothing I could have ever done to her to try to change that. Why would I?
Don't try to punish your kid out of sucking his thumb. Talk to him about why he does it, (he most likely won't have an answer), but if he says it makes him feel better, then try to find other "comfort" avenues that you can do together. Maybe rubbing his back or holding him while you read a story. I can virtually promise your son will not be a 20 year old thumb sucker. He will outgrow it. I think worrying about STOPPING it is counterproductive.
In the scheme of things, it's not the worst thing a kid can do and he will be fine. P.S. My daughter didn't have buck teeth or any of the dental horror stories either. If it becomes a problem in that sense, help him find another comfort outlet that works just as well.
God Bless!

You can check thumb guard product which is offered online (www.onestepahead.com). I purchased it for my daughter who sucks on her 2 fingers. I use the device at bedtime and I think she has kicked the habit.

http://www.onestepahead.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId...

Good luck.

- N.

Making a big deal about it only makes it worse....not that you are doing that....I am just warning you from experience. On the other hand....he is well old enough to know when to do it! If you remind him that there is a time and a place to do it and start him into the habbit of that it will help. For instance, sucking your thumb is a personal and private thing.....it should only be done at nap or night time....or when you are in your own space....like his room. Then when you see it happening outside of there,....you can remind him when and where it is okay. In time he will know not to do it in public or at school and it will cut back and down on the thumbsucking all together!

Hi M.,

When I was younger I was a huge thumb sucker. My parents tried everything to make me stop and were always unsucessful. Finally, they found a oil that you paint onto your childs thumb and when. It's not like a polish or anything where you can see it. It obsorbs right into the nail. When your son goes to suck on his thumb, the oil has a really yuckys bitter taste which is really unappealing. It was the oly thing that stopped me from sucking my thumb. It was like an addict in the sense that once I wasn't able to have that oral stimulation, I didn;t crave it anymore. You can find it at any health food pharmacy or any drug store pharmacy. I hope it helps!

M.

As a former thumb-sucker myself...It may be easier to let him decide when to stop. I sucked til I was 7, and some kids teased me and I asked my mom for help to quit. Otherwise I don't remember it being a big deal until then.
Unless he is self conscience about it, just let him decide when to stop. I know we want to protect our kids from other mean kids, but sometimes peer pressure is stronger than parents. The flip side is there will probably be other kids in the class who thumbsuck. He also may stop sucking in social settings, and just do it at night.
I wouldn't worry about it.
By the way, yes I wore braces but I have great teeth now!
Good luck!

I have heard that if you soak their fingers in pickle juice, or if they like that Tobasco sauce it will deter them. Not sure how well it works, and be careful not to get either in their eyes. Good luck!

Well I also had twins one who was a thumb sucker and one who was a pacifier user. Around age five, we started reminding her every time she had it in her mouth to take her thumb out of her mouth. We found that she was only doing this when she was bored or tired. We got the girls interested in extra curricular activites and this helped her stop. We put them into gymnastics and told her she had to stop sucking her thumb in order to do gymnastics because she needed her fingers. Over of about 4 months we continued to remind her to take her thumb out and eventually she stopped on her own. Good luck this was a hard lesson to learn. My next 2 children, I never let get even remotly close to their thumbs... T

Went through it with my oldest who is now 7. We had many nights where we would both cry ourselves to sleep because she had trouble giving up that comfort. We even tried bribing her with fake money that she could trade in for ice cream out with mom and dad. It finally worked but she would still suck her thumb in the middle of the night while she was sleeping. I found something online that came with all kinds of stuff, including a glove, but the system was some ridiculous price. I found an old glove in the closet, got out the Sharpees and let her decorate it. She even named it "Mrs. Hummingbird". It worked. And I think she liked being involved too.

My son was three when he stopped. I would constantly pull his thumb out. Some say put something that tastes nasty on his thumb in order to get him to stop. Let him know he will get laughed at. He will have welches on his thumb for all the sucking.

Hi M.,
Wow, this is really hard for me to respond to, because I have a 16 year old who still sucks her thumb. We have tried just about everything, but in the end it boils down to whether they want to quit, just like a smoker. Here are some of the many things we have tried...
1. Tobasco sauce - this worked well but she learned how to wash it off.
2. Band aids - this stopped working when other kids asked her what's wrong with her thumb and she didn't know what to say so she took it off.
3. There is a product you can buy at the pharmacy - often near the nail polish - that is distasteful and harder to get off. It's advertised to break the nail biting habit, but works for thumb sucking as well.
4. Gloves at night
5. Habit breaker - I will always regret having tried this one, but there is a device called a habit breaker that an orthodontist can attach which has prongs behind the front teeth that make sucking uncomfortable. It is not very attractive. My daughter wore one for 2 years, and just adapted her thumb sucking style to hook around it.
6. Explaining the health risks, how germs get on the hand and then go into the mouth with the thumb, and can make you sick.
7. Gentle reminders and signals - we worked with one of her teachers (yes she does it at school) to develop a signal, since she usually does not realize that she is doing it until is is brought to her attention.
8. Counseling - we tried this twice. In the end, the counselor said that she just does not want to quit, and until she does, there's not much we can do. She tends to suck her thumb whenever she gets emotional - regardless of which emotion - happy, sad, excited, frightened, whatever. It's her way of controlling her emotions.
9. Substitutes - the counselor had us try giving her some modeling clay, the kind that does not dry out, to play with instead of sucking her thumb. We also tried getting her to take up embroidery or origami to keep her hands busy doing something instead of sucking.

Oddly, the kids at school never did tease her. Even in Middle School, they chose to ignore her habit. She tends to not care what other kids think anyway, so that is probably a factor. It is only her younger brother that gives her a hard time. She has straight teeth, no need for braces, but then she does not suck hard, but more rests her thumb in her mouth.

Just because the above did not work for us, does not mean that they will not work for you. I have heard of success with all of them. That's why I sent the whole list.

Good luck,
B.

Suckling is the center of learning so it is very beneficial for him to be sucking his thumb. Will he negotiate with you to only suck his thumb in the bed? Have you tried a chart where he gets a sticker for every day he does not suck his thumb and then a prize after 10 stickers?

Hi,
I have not been there however I used to be a dental assistant and see this problem quite often. We would start with putting something that did not taste good on the thumb first and see if that worked. With some of our little patients it did. I would contact your dentist and see what they recommend.

my daughter is now 15 yrs old. she sucked her thumb until she was 7. at one point she only sucked it in bed. we went to see the orthodontist when it was time. he told her that if she didn't stop, she might require surgery to fix what her thumb sucking had done. with that news she said she was finally ready to try and stop. up until then we tried everything to get her to stop, nothing worked. with her decision made, we used a sock over her hand at night. she kept it on and eventually she no longer needed it. she did start sleeping with stuffed animals after that. not sure if that was related. I don't regret not stopping her sooner. we tried lots of things but nothing ever worked until she was committed to making the change. she had braces etc and now has a beautiful smile.
maybe a trip to the dentist or orthodontist for a consultation might help?

I sucked my thumb until third grade and I had braces to fix my overbite. Parents tried tabasco sauce, shame and gave up until one day a friend of my Dad's said to me something like "we all love you very much and so you don't need to suck your thumb anymore" Just remember how much we love you. I think that replacing the thumb security with another small object that can fit in a pocket or backpack that you create a ritual around holding and telling the child that you are pouring your love into may be successful.