Need Advice on Weaning an Almost 3 Year Old from Sucking Fingers

Hey K.,
If your daughter's teeth are the primary reason you are concerned, you may want to talk to a dentist or orthodontist about having a retainer or occlusal guard made for her. As someone who once had braces, and someone who grinds teeth at night, I do know there are devices that can be designed specifically to keep teeth in place.

For the record, there are a number of children who suck their thumb/fingers far longer than three years, so you can take some comfort in not being alone in your fight. I do know a number of these children stop when they enter school and the peer pressure takes over. Is your daughter attending preschool? This might introduce that pressure. Sometimes pressure from someone other than the parent helps.

Best wishes,
S. :)

I was a thumb sucker until I was 19 (what is said her stays here right :-)). They only thing that stopped me was getting braces...so yes thumb sucking will mess up your teeth. My brother stopped when my parents took away his blankie & ruff-ruff (toy dog). That also seemed to help some of my relatives that were thumb suckers-taking away the "security blanket/toy". My oldest had a "crib" put on her upper teeth but she was about 6 at the time & now she has braces & still sucks her thumb at night. My 2nd oldest had the "crib" put in and that stopped her from sucking her fingers. The topical stuff & socks didn't work for me or my kids. I do caution you about putting tabascco sauce on the child because I did that once and of course the kid rubbed her eyes and got it in her eyes.

My step daughter is a thumb sucker but only at night, her two front teeth have fallen out and we were concerned her new ones would grow in funny, her dentist told us to put socks on ehr hands at bed time, it works even if it is strange, hope this helps good luck.

We have to girls that both had sucking problems (one the thumb the other the bent finger next to her thumb). It was and has effected there teeth. The orthadontist had us try severl things, the only one that worked for us was, placing a rather heavy, clean sock over there hand at bed time. The sock was secured with medical tape. During the day when they would do this they would get a reward for not sucking or given something to do that required them to remove there thumb. The biggest thing was staying with it. Your pursistance will pay off and may save you lots of money in orthadontist fees later.

Hello K.. I think some mom's will find this harsh, but it is cheap and simple. With my brother my dad put something on his fingers that he didn't like the taste of. I don't think I would try something very strong since she is she is so young like tobasco sauce. I understand your concern about her teeth getting to be buck teeth and even though they will fall out, I would also want the habit stopped before she gets much older so she doesn't have adult teeth that are all crocked. Best of Luck.