My 4 Year Old Thunmbsucker!!

Hi H.,

As much as I hate to admit this....I sucked my thumb (at night only) until I was around 13 or so. My teeth are fine, I never had braces. I know a lot of moms want to stop their kids from sucking their thumbs..but my problem is the pacifier, I'd almost rather it was thumb sucking.
I think she will grow out of it (hopefully before age 13 :) )
If she's not doing it too much in public, I'm not sure what it could really hurt as long as the dentist doesn't see a problem growing.
I hope this helps,
S.

Hi H.,

Like the other two, I also sucked my thumb for a very long time! At night only, but well into my teens. I did have braces, and I sucked my thumb throughout the entire time I had braces, headgear, you name it. But, the day I got my braces off and saw how beautiful my smile was, I stopped cold turkey! For me, it was a very comforting thing. No one else in my family did it, but all of us needed braces anyway. My parents tried EVERYTHING to get me to stop, even put this nasty stuff on my finger that tasted horrible. I just licked it off until i could suck my thumb again ;0)!

I would say gently remind her that it isn't something to do in public, but allow her to self soothe when she needs to. She will eventually stop needing to use that as a comforter.

Good luck!

ok, I confess too!! I'm like Sandra - I sucked my thumb until I was pretty old...and no braces or anything :-)
I think self-soothing is a good thing...

Just check w/ the dentist from time to time?

OK my daughter started sucking her thumb and i nipped it in the but! my cousin because she wasn't stopped from doing it sucked her thumb until she was almost 15. so what i did was i got the nail polish for thumb suckers(about 3$) and put it on her about 2x a day to make sure it was on there and old had to do it for a week just make sure you put it on all her nails so shes not tempted to suck another finger and its safe wont hurt her just has a bad taste it doesn't stay in her mouth after she takes her thumb out either(i tried it) so good luck and i hope it helps!

When I asked my daughters Ped at her 4 yr old check up and they told me not to worry about it. My daughter also only sucks it when she is tired. I have told her now that she is 4 that she can not suck it in public and it has stuck. We were at a Panthers Game last weekend and she looked at me and said "Can I Suck My Thumb" I told her no that we were in public but when we got to the car she could and she was happy with that. She also wants me to paint her finger nails and I told her I would as soon as she quite sucking her thumb and she seems to be working towards that goal also.

I just saw this and i want to let you know my 10 year old daughter just stop sucking her thumb dont lose sleep over it.They get over it but she does need braces and the dentist told me part of the problem was the thumb sucking. Good Luck to you.

I would reconsider the blanky so that she has something else to soothe herself - but require that she be on her bed to have the blanky. Then drop any comments on the thumb sucking. In my experience, kids who have parents that make thumb-sucking an issue suck longer. If she only does it occasionally, it's unlikely it will affect her teeth. Good luck!

HI,

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