How to Stop a Toddler from Sucking Her Thumb

Hi P., Try using the "Big Girl" method. You know, "Big girls don't suck their thumbs" etc. But don't be too hard on her. My daughter had the same habit. First I got her to only suck in private at home. Then down to only when she was going to sleep. The thing is it's a habit. She probably doesn't even realize she's doing it. Once I called attention to it, my daughter weaned herself off it. And I didn't have to be the bad guy. Hope this helps! And remember, a thumb is better than a pacifier. Even if she goes on sucking her thumb 'til she's six, it's not THAT big a deal. Good Luck! M.

Since you know the thumb sucking is worse with the blanket, it sounds like it is time to conveniently "lose" that blanket. There are products like Thum out there that you can put on her thumbnail, but I would be hesitant to put it on a child so young since it can irritate her eyes if she gets it in them. She still has plenty of time to outgrow this, so I'd just "lose" the blanket and see how it goes from there. (You may need to actually give the blanket away so you won't be tempted to give it back to her if/when she gets upset the first few days as she is adjusting to it being gone.)

Use MAVALA, that should help. If you goggle stop sucking thumb-their are lot of options.

First of all.....why??? Why is it a big deal? If you are worried about her teeth...its her milk teeth so she will lose them. By the time she gets 6-7 when she starts to lose them she will be self conscous about it and probably quit on her own.
My daughter is 16 months old and she sucks her thumb and has a blanket and a stuffed dog. I think its cute. We have like tower coming out of her room.
I sucked my finger when I was a kid and stopped on my own too.
Dont worry about it!! Enjoy it! It could be sooooo much worse!

I commend you for helping your child break this habit. Please do not buy into the fact that she will lose these teeth, so it's no big deal. Actually, it's a very big deal. As a dental hygienist, I work daily with a dentist who sees children who have problems with their teeth due to thumb sucking. Even though she does not have her permanent teeth yet, her upper and lower jaw bones are forming and thumbsucking causes the upper arch to be very high and narrow, leading to teeth crowding and even speech problems. Some think this sounds cruel, but I know of a lot of parents who have had success with professional appliances for their children. The easiest thing is to go to a local dental office and order a rubber sleeve that will fit over her thumb and hook around her wrist. This really discourages them from sucking on their thumb. A more major approach would be to have an appliance placed inside her mouth that is attached to her baby teeth. The appliance makes it impossible to suck their thumb and it falls out with the baby teeth in the future. I would make these my last resorts if needed. Just wanted to let you know there are possibilities when it seems impossible.

Hey P.,

I want to second your motion to nip it in the bud now while she is this young. My brother sucked his thumb until he was 9 yrs old and it was very hard for him to quit.

My daughter, now 4, sucked her two fingers. I allowed it until she was around 2 yrs old, but wanted to try and see if I could nip it early so that she would not be picked on. She had never had her fingernails polished and she really wanted to. I decided to use bright pink polish (of course her favorite color-Pink). I encouraged her all day to remember not to suck off the pretty polish. She would start to forget and I would remind her and she would stop. I kept her nails polished for several days and she got to the point where she was not sucking them. To add more interest & to ensure the habit was broken, I repolished them again in a different color 4-5 days later. She has never sucked them again and she is 4 yrs old.
Good luck. I think you are on the right track. Sure it is cute while they are little, but later it is not so cute.
Best wishes,
A.

I sucked my thumb until I was 9 and I wish I had never stopped! Nothing has ever soothed me and given me the immediate comfort that thumb sucking did. By the time I was 5 and going to school, I kept it a private affair and only sucked my thumb at home and at bedtime. I NEVER had any teeth/gum/orthodontics problems from it, and I certainly never had any speech problems from it. I'm sure some kids do or else their dentists or therapists find out they are thumb suckers and point to that as the problem, but I know several people who sucked their thumbs until after the permanent teeth came in and no one had to have braces or speech therapy. I wouldn't push it -particularly at age 2 when she may keep sucking it just to spite you! You can't take away that thumb or cut the end off of it like a pacifier! I would have kept sucking my thumb no matter what my parents said.

Hey P., I know how you feel. My daughter is three (turned last month) and we have ultrasounds of her trying to suck her thumb! When she was born, she would cry in frustration over not being able to get her thumb in her mouth. We eventually helped her, LOL!! I've tried the nail polish thing and she would come and ask in the most sweetest way for me to take the polish off because she wants her thumb. For my daughter it's a bedtime/tired/upset reaction and yes, she has a blanket. I didn't even know she had a special blanket until it was nap time and that specific blanket was in the dryer. She would not let herself sleep without it. I got the blanket to put over her and she grabbed it, found her corner on it and sucked her thumb until she fell asleep. I can't imagine taking her blanket away from her. My husband went out and got another one so that she'll always have one when the other is being washed. I do want her to stop sucking her thumb but I'm not going to traumatize her into doing. Then she'll start biting her nails or sucking her hair or her shirts. I've just been reminding her to take her thumb out whenever I see her doing it. Sure it's the long way of doing it but that's what I've decided to do seeing since Daddy is in the middle of the ocean so it's just me for now. I have heard of some of my friends that thumb sucked that they would put tape around their thumb or a band aid at all times to that when they would go to suck their thumbs they would be reminded quickly not to. Maybe a cartoon band aid will help. Good Luck!

I was a athumb sucker myself and I stop on my own when I was around 7 or 8....I do not remember my mother using anything for me to quit

My son is almost 3 and sucks his thumb ALL the time. He is seeing a speech therapist now who has told us that his thumb sucking has effected his speech in both his articulation and in the amount of spoken words. She advised us to start slowly. She said to pick one time during the day or an activity not to allow him to suck his thumb. First we started on when I read to him. It took about 1 week and now he does not suck his thumb while I read. Now we are working on while watching tv. It seems to work. Another thing she told me was that physical reminders work better than verbal. She said during those no thumb times to simply take his thumb out of his mouth to remind him. Also of course verbal praise for not sucking are nice. I hope this helps.

I also was a thumb-sucker and quit around 8...Both my sister and I had braces, and she wasn't a thumb sucker. So, the fear about teeth growing in improperly might not be the best reason to force the issue. My mom has always joked that braces are cheaper that psycho-therapy. Her point is, that most thumb/finger suckers gain a great deal of comfort and stress relief from the habit, and most will give the habit up as they find other ways to cope. If I had a thumb/finger/paci sucker as a child, I might set some limits as they aged (like only at bed-time, or only at home, etc, but I believe I would let them keep their habit until they were ready to part with it.