Thumb Sucker

hi A.,

Here is a web site:

http://www.dentistry4children.com/articles/Article-Thumbs...

Hope this helps. D.

My one son who is 9yr old, still sucks his thumb. But it seems more towards the time that he is tired. But he has sucked a whole right threw his thumb nail. I use to suck my fingers and i remember my parents putting some nasty nail polish on my nails. There is one type out there. Then there is my one brother who is in his 30ites and he still sucks his thumb. But that is when he is tired and thinks that no one is looking.

Whenever my son fell asleep I would gently pull his thumb out of his mouth to let it get some air. It seemed to help with the cracking. I also told my son that he had to stop sucking his thumb all the time to let it heal but he was a little older so I don't know if talking to her will work for you. I would just gently remind him each time I saw him sucking during the day and he would pull it out. We never made fun of him or scolded him for it.

you can try 'bitter bite" or something like that - its a non toxic nasty tasting nail polish type thing you can use to stop nail biting -

i sucked my thumb longer thani care to admit - and my mom said my dr said that until they are sucking it so much that its affecting their school life then dont worry too much b/c they will eventually grow out of it - and another thing i know my mom was told to "look for" was whether or not the thumb was inthe mouth the ENTIRE night b/c if its just used to "fall asleep" but isnt' in all night then you are on the road to "recovery"

also a reward system might work - or gettng her a blankie or "special" animal so she can do something else with her hands - but i honestlyl think its sort of like potty trainng - they have to be ready - unfortunatly thumb sucking is SO much worse than pacifier - b/c that you can take away

Good Luck - let us know how it goes and what the pediatrician says!

S. w

A.,
I feel your pain. My little guy loved both of his thumbs like crazy. We used a product called thumb guard. Go to rightstart.com and they should have it there. it was well worth the money. You get two so you can do them both at the same time. The younger your child is the better it works. My son was actually 3 when we put them on him and they worked like a charm. I will say though we did end up moving twice in a year and a half and he did start sucking again but we did put them back on. Vaseline does work to heal the skin in the mean time. I hope this helps.
L. R

A.,
my son just kicked the habit of sucking his two middle fingers on his left hand and he is 4 1/2 years old. This is a really hard habit to break. He had constant callouses on his two fingers where his teeth rubbed the tops of his fingers and occaisionally some sores in that area. That is what I think will happen to your daughter's fingers. I think they will eventually go to callouses. I had tried many times to help him kick the habit but it really is up to the child to be ready. I had a pediatric dentist tell me not to try and stop the habit because unless they are sucking their fingers way after 4 years it won't really effect their final bite when they have adult teeth. Infact I can see my sons teeth starting to realign themselves in the last couple of months since he has stopped sucking and his callouses are going away very nicely. My daughter also sucks her right thumb so, I am less worried about that after having gone thru all this with my son. My daughter is 2 1/2 years old. I have been told that at this age they really need this behavior to cope with whatever is upsetting them and to calm them down when over stimulated or tired. They have to learn a new way of self soothing in order to finally let the behavior go. I don't think they have enough life skills to find a new way until they are older than 14 months. Good luck and I know it is a loosing battle trying to get that skin to heal.

Glad I took time out to read your concern and everyones responses. I too have a thumb sucker, my 1st and only child, he will be 2 in a few months. He shows no signs of stopping and i have lately noticed his thumb getting really red and irratated. There is some good advice on here about that. well keep up the goodness of sucking thumbs out there.

HI A.,
I don't want to alarm you, but PLEASE don't put band aids on her hands...I just read a horror story about a child who choked on a band aid--apparently it's pretty common--so please don;t use them on her even at night!
What about mittens? Or gauze? Gauze might be a choking hazard too, but mittens might be OK.
I've also heard of "dummy" thumbs.
My son was not a thumb sucker, so I don't have any good first hand advice but really wanted to bring the band aid choking hazard to light, I don;t think many moms realize just how dangerous band aids can be.
Do the sores seem to bother her/hurt her?

My son who will 2 soon and loves his thumb too! He also sucked it raw like your child. Our ped said to put vasoline on it and it worked. It healed up alll the while him sucking away happy as a clam. He was our first thumb sucker so I was horrified to see it raw like that. Good luck!