How to Get My 7 Yr Old Daughter to Stop Sucking Her Thumb

My sister actually did the same thing many years ago and my parents would put cayanne pepper or hot sauce on it. Within one suck she was done! I've also heard that putting some sort of oil on it works because the flavor of oil by itself is pretty gross (although I would imagine that it can become quite a mess too). Good luck...my sister was ten and still would occassionally suck her thumb in the middle of the night!

I have the same problem except my daughter is 5. We have basically tried EVERYTHING under the sun and nothing helps. It is just a very bad habit that looks cute when they are small but later is a problem. I guess 1 out of 6 isn't bad. We have put gloves on her and I guess without knowing it, she takes out the thumb at night. Now, we have just tried this and it is only 3 days but seems to be working. I got one of my husbands LOOOng socks and put it on her all the way up to her shoulder so at night she can't possibly remove her thumb unless she takes the sock off. Try it, it seems to be working. It must be a long sock though not short.
Let us know how it goes.
W.

Hi A.,
I've not had personal experience with thumb-sucking with my son. But O. thing that works well for me when I am trying to encourage or discourage a behavior is a reward chart. You could do a sticker for everyday she does NOT suck her thumb or for every block of time you are with her and she doesn't (I know you work FT and PT and it may be hard to get accurate reports from caregivers each day! I cannot imagine how busy you must be!). MIght be worth a shot. Especially if she is motivated by some small toy (Barbie clothes, etc.) that she really likes. Good luck!

My sister's now 7yr old girl also sucked her thumb until about a year ago. What finally worked for my sister was applying one of those products that taste awful to my niece's thumb every day as needed. My niece wanted to stop however, so she was willing to have it applied, and didn't throw tantrums. My sister used "Thum", but I've heard that a product called "Mavala Stop" tastes so nasty that it stops the habit immediately. It only needs to be applied every 2 days. Some people apply it at night to avoid problems. You can read reviews on that product at Amazon.com.
Good luck!

So long as she's only doing it at night, I don't really see what the big deal is. I've known plenty of kids who sucked their thumbs at her age, they all eventually gave it up on their own when they became interested in more grown-up pursuits. My neighbors granddaughter quit at 11 when she got her first boyfriens.

Hi A.,
I'm a 37-yr-old mom of three and one of those little girls who wouldn't stop sucking on her fingers. It drove my parents crazy! I finally stopped at 11 yrs old, but by then I had learned to hide it until bedtime. What I can tell you is the threatening, yelling, punishment and shaming didn't help. It just made me feel alone, rejected and misunderstood. (And I never got any life-threatening disease, or worms, and my teeth are just fine.) The thumb-sucking your daughter is doing is her way of comforting herself and finding security. My suggestion would be to encourage her to limit the activity to bed-time and to find additional ways to help her feel secure. She'l give it up when she's ready. And before you know it, this will all be just a memory.

Best wishes from our family to yours.

When my son was about the same age, our dentist recommended putting an ace bandage around his upper arm at bedtime. When the thumb goes in the mouth, his arm fell asleep - an uncomfortable feeling. Within a few nights, he had stopped sucking his thumb, but never complained about the bandage. He wanted to stop the behavior, too, so he was willing to go along with the "treatment". At this age, he was only sucking his thumb when sleeping - not sure if that's your situation. Good luck!

Dear A.

I can't tell you what will definately work but perhaps if i tell you my experience it could help. My daughter used a pacifier when she was born which she easily gave up at 18 months. We then emigrated from Australia back to South africa when she was 2. i think the change was unsettling for her because it is then that she began sucking her thumb. Like you we tried it all. the star chart with rewards, the bitter aloe on her thumb, reasoning, we even tried play therapy! Finally i began to really worry when the dentist explained that she was actually changing the shape of your top jaw and that this can only be corrected later on with reconstructive surgery. He explained that for some children thumb sucking is not so bad because they only push their teeth out which you can correct with braces but my daughter was changing the shape of the bone. At this point she was 6 years old. We then took her to an orthodontist to see what he suggested we do. He was excellent. All he did was talk to my daughter and tell her that she was the only one who could stop herself from sucking her thumb. It was not up to him or us or anyone else. He explained that she is a cleaver girl and a pretty girl and that he believed that she was able to do this on her own if she wanted. He showed her with a mirror the damage she was doing and that if she did not stop he would have no choice but to put braces and maybe even opperate and even then there was no guarantee that she would not look ugly after that. He then asked her what she thought we could do to help her and she said to get her bandaids to put on her finger as a reminder not to suck. So we went out and she chose the bandaids she wanted. It was then her responsibility to put them on every day. This worked like a charm. She even went so far as to put 3 at night because she realised that with just one she was still sucking. Within a week she had stopped sucking it. The orthodontist had explained that it was important for it to come from the child because if for some reason the thumb sucking is not a habbit but an emtional 'crutch' for the child and you force them to stop then this can result in other bad behaviour like bet wetting and such. my daughter is now a very happy 8 year old and because she has stopped sucking the jaw has reverted to its original form. I hope this helps and good luck.

A.,
If you can afford the thumb guard I would get it. We used it on my son and it worked like a charm. Within a month he stopped. He was younger but I still think it will work. Make sure you get the right size and put it on tight enough. I had to figure out just how secure to put it through trial and error. My son figured out how to get his thumb out of it. We did also have two moves in two years and he started up again but we are in the process of using the thumb guard again. It was stressful for him so I didn't complain to much. He is also seven in 2 weeks so I know how hard this will be for you daughter. I hope this helps.
L.

A., I am in the same boat. My 9yr old daughter still sucks her thumb at night or when she is tired. We have tried to put bandaids on her thumb and an index card taped to the inside of her elbow (both per her dentist)so when she goes to put the thumb in the index card would make it too uncomfortable. Niether worked because she then could not sleep. It is a comfort thing for her. My husband and I decided she would end up needing braces anyway, like most kids these days and it was not worth the crying b/c she could not go to sleep. Bottom line...I have never seen a college student sucking their thumb. She will stop on her own. Good luck and try not to stress too much.

We had the same trouble with our 16 yr. old when she was 9 yr. It only happened when she was tired or in bed. Since she had an unrelated orthodontic problem with a cross bite, the orthodontist said the habit had to stop prior to any official evaluation. He suggested we put a sock up to her elbow and duct tape it so she could not get it off easily. This was in June by her appointment in August the habit was kicked and her mouth was in a position for him to see the real problem she was there. {By the way our 9 yr. old who did not suck her thumb has the same orthodontic problem of her older sister. This was inherited from me. Also, our 3 yr. old still sucks his thumb. Soon we will be using the same technic on him.}

I am not sure how much my advice will help you. My 7 year old still sucks his thumb too. Sounds similar to your daughter, just when tired or sleeping. His pediatrician gave me all thise advice to make stop (he was worse a few years back). He even recommended a thunb rake, a device that would be put on the roof of his mouth and prick his thumb when he goes to suck it. I discussed this with our pediatric dentist and he does not feel nearly as strongly. He told me that he doesn't agree with these harsh methods. He told me to talk to my son about trying to stop and encourage him, but when he's ready he'll stop on his own. The damage was already done, he already needed dental work by then. What's an extra 6 months worth?
One thing that helps him not suck at night is wrapping it up. I only do it when he asks me to, I will not force him. I put gauze around his thumb and tape it all up and around his wrist to secure it (with first aid tape).
He is getting better at trying not to. I prefer this approach, rather than forcing. Now I have to work on my 4 year old!!!
Hope this helped you at least a little.

put a little cyanne pepper on it before she goes to bed!!lol

Hi A., you might want to try giving your daughter some rules or boundaries around the thumb sucking. Like places she can and can't suck her thumb, or only at bedtime....You could also try to relax and sort of ignore it ( other than to enforce the rules) She may outgrow it as she gets older...or not. Some people are just thumb suckers. My sister, 40 yrs. old, when she has a bad day, in the privacy of her own home pulls out her blanket, lays down and sucks her thumb. My husband's Aunt,55, same thing. And these are successful, married with children business women.Do what you are the most comfortable with, and good luck.
Take Care
W.

My daughter is almost 7 and she sucks her fingers at night or in the privacy of her room. We do not allow it outside of her room which has helped limit it.

I really haven't made it an issue b/c I know that at some point peer pressure will set in and she won't want to do it.

I did speak with our dentist and he was not concerned about her pushing her teeth out b/c new studies have shown that it is not the "thumb" or "finger" sucking that causes "buck teeth". It is how you swallow. Some people thrust their tongue forward on the back of their front teeth, while others put it onto the roof of their mouth when they swallow. (Try it!)
There is a connection to tongue thrusting and thumb sucking. It seems that a large majority of thrusters suck their thumb or fingers. So in reality, it is not the thumb causing the damage...it is the tongue.

I am aware that the dentist can put something behind the teeth that will help them stop thrusting when they swallow. It's something to look into and consider.

Good Luck!

I know that they have a semi permanent device that is a thumb guard, They were around $500 when I was a kid and they mounted on the rear molars and came up in the back of the mouth behind the front teeth and won't allow them to suck their thumb
V.

I feel your pain. My son is the same age, the only thing that got him to stop was a visit to the orthodontist. It wasn't to scare him, he legitimately needs help because his 2 bottom teeth that had come out couldn't come in properly because his thumb was in the way. For 2 years our dentist told us that no matter what we did, if he didn't want to stop he wouldn't. At his last visit in October, he said that he was going to need orthodontic intervention because of the deformity caused by his thumb sucking (nothing major, but bothersome). His orthodontist was super. He gave him the facts, including showing him pics of what his mouth could look like when he stopped. He also recommended a tongue crib, a contraption in his mouth to stop his tongue from thrusting forward. The deal sealer was when he mentioned that he needed to stop soon, or he may have to do surgery to correct some of the problem (the honest truth, not something he made up to scare him). That night, my son stopped, he now has his tongue crib in for the next year, and he's progressing nicely. The point to my long story is, maybe she needs an orthodontist to look at her since her adult teeth are coming in. That may be enough to get it through her head that she needs to stop. Hope this helps, and I hope that you don't need anything done.

our 9 year old still had a habit in the car or at night. we took a glove, cut four fingers off so that just her thumb was covered and made her wear it at night and in the car. she hated it, but did it! after a few months of dicipline, it worked!!