Thumb Sucking - Wichita, KS

A friend of mine had a daughter that sucked her thumb (she was 4 going on 5). She put medical tape around her thumbs for about 2 weeks and she finally stopped sucking her thumb. Good luck to you. She did take the tape off while she bathed and ate.

This worked for my daughter. She was a bit older. She wanted to stop, that was a big part of it. We would lie in bed together and on the first night, I asked her to keep her thumb out of her mouth for as long as she could and I would in my head. The next morning, I told her she had kept it out for, let's say a count of 30. The next night I told her I would hold her hand for a count of 40, then if she needed to put the thumb in her mouth she could. Each night we made the time longer. Eventually, she fell asleep before her time was up.

have you tried talking to her? i was sixish when i quit, and i remember being conscious of it because i was told "big girls don't suck their thumbs". worth a shot?

Have you tried Thum? It's a clear, bad-tasting polish to put on the nail. We bought ours at Walgreens. It helped our son to stop sucking his thumb. Just make sure it's completely dry before you let her out of your sight. Otherwise, she can wipe it off! You'll also need to stay vigilant about reminding her not to suck her thumb. After a while, some kids develop a tolerance for the bad taste and suck their thumb anyway. It's just something to get you started...maybe a sticker chart for each day she goes without sucking it (while using the Thum to help), and after so many stickers she can earn something. Good luck! We struggled with this until my son was almost 7 and I STILL catch him in his sleep sucking it sometimes.

Has your daughter started school yet? If not, I bet once she starts this fall she'll stop. My daughter is 4 (5 in July) and an avid thumb sucker. My dentist and pediatrician both told me not to worry about it, that more than likely she'll stop when she goes to school. My denstist also told me that as long as we had her stopped by the time her permanent teeth came in there shouldn't be any harm to her permanent teeth. What their baby teeth look like has no bearing on what their adult teeth will look like. I also sucked my thumb along with 2 of my sisters and my brother. We all did until we were up into school, we have one sister who did not suck her thumb, she's the only one who had any trouble with her teeth. Also keep in mind that any night time/sleeping habit is the hardest to break since your not aware that you're doing it. When I was about 8 and trying to break the sleeping part (so I could go to sleep overs) I would sleep with my thumb sucking hand in my pillow case and under my head so it was harder to get to. I've also heard of people wearing stuff on their hands like gloves and socks. Good luck!

I did the same thing and had a very hard time quitting. My mom used nasty tasting fingernail polish. It is typically used for kids that bite their nails but it works for this as well. Also you can wrap up the thumb with bandages. However you may need to do both if she ends up switching. If she has the scar on her thumb from her teeth rubbing the skin that should disappear. Good luck.

My kids didn't have this problem thankfully but my son does bite the skin around his fingers causing lots of hangnails or skin tics whatever there called. My sister told me that when my neice was little she was a thumb sucker and she put a small drop of cinnamon oil on her thumb and rubbed it around the thumb area. She said it worked. Have you ever soaked toothpicks in cinnamon oil? It's pretty spicy. It shouldn't take but a few times and it might work. I am going to try it to get my son to stop biting around is nails. I've also heard the hot sauce one. It's basically the same theory. Good Luck-----J. C

My oldest daughter was a utero thumb sucker as well as outside from birth. When she was in Kindergarten we put Hoof Stop the Bite on her nails. We had to do it to both thumbs cuz when she couldn't suck her left thumb, she'd suck the right one. We also talked to her teachers about watching her and reminding her to get her thumb out of her mouth. She also, would unconciously suck when she was tired or in her sleep. It actually took several months but we were persistant, because we didn't want her to have the whole mouth problem. She did go from thumb sucking to biting her fingernails. When she was 9 we used the Hoof Stop the Bite again. And her grandmother gave her a nail kit with polish and all and told her she couldn't use it until she quit biting her nails. Well, she is no longer a nail biter or a thumb sucker. Persistance is the key.
Tell your daughter that big girls don't suck their thumb and that other children will be cruel to her if they see her suck her thumb in school. We would have talks with our daughter about it and she became determined to quit herself. Explain to her that the implement that will go in her mouth if she doesn't quit will not be comfortable and my even hurt. Just be persistant. Good Luck and God Bless.

I would try the stuff that you put on their nails, or I know a few that have put vinegar on their thumbs. It is not spicy and will not burn their mouths. It just taste so bad that they will not want to put their thumbs in their mouths. I do not agree with using hot sauce or spicy things, that is just wrong.

I just want to say, I read your entry to my five year old, who also lovingly sucks her thumb. She said, "What's a thumb guard?" and I explained to the best of my understanding (because I really haven't heard of one!) and she said,"Well nobody's gonna do that to my thumb because I love it!" She didn't start until we took her pacifiers away at her four years birthday - she wagged her thumbs at us and said,"I got two pacies right here!" and we've never tried to break her so I can't help you there. My mom used to put vinegar on my sisters thumb - when she was 21 she still used it in private to comfort herself - I don't know about now??? Good luck!

Hi A.,
My daughter was 6 when she finally stopped. She also only did it at night toward the end but I very nicely told her often that her teeth were sticking out some and would get worse if she didn't stop. She would try to hide it and I would know she was and just say you really need to try to stop doing that if you can. Just nice encouragement and remind her of her how her teeth look to others and that they will get worse. Worked for me!
J.

A) See if you can find a children's book to read to her to explain the problems associated with thumb-sucking.

B) If she needs something to comfort her, read her bedtime stories to induce a calm, sleepy state.

C) Reward her for not sucking her thumb. :) Have her help you decide on "big girl" rewards such as pretty things for her hair or NAIL POLISH - which she won't want to mess up. ;)

What I would do: You could even take her to a salon for a professional mini-manicure. She will feel very grown up and the focus will shift to her wanting to care for her pretty nails.

Dr. Mom

Have you tried to put gloves or socks over her hands? You will need to put them on both. My daughter who is now 11 sucked her thumb until we had the thumb guard put in her mouth. When we put the socks or gloves on we had to put duck tape aroung the bottom of them so that she couldn't take them off. Make sure that the tape stays on the fabric and not on her skin, fold a small part of the end of the tape so you have something to grab to take off in the morning. Good luck

I experienced the exact situation, and her 2 bottom front teeth did actually "lean in". My daughter is now 7. We (my husband and I) just sat her down and explained to her that she was hurting her teeth by sucking her thumb and showed her in the mirror how her teeth were leaning in. We told her that if she didn't stop she would have to have braces to straighten them out and she would not be able to eat her favorite snacks or foods with braces. We told her that it does hurt when you have braces on your teeth. We
didn't want to scare her, but I think being honest with her helped. We really watched her at night and everytime we saw her with her thumb in her mouth we would ask her, are you sucking your thumb and she would quickly pull it out. We even started putting a sock on her hand at night. It helped. She even started to remind us to put the sock on her hand. We just kept reminding her and telling her that we knew it was hard to do but we knew she could do it. She finally stopped. We also told her that once she started getting her big girl teeth, that she would have them forever and she had to take care of them because they would not fall out like her baby teeth. Once she lost her first tooth, she never sucked her thumb again!! Just be patient with her and keep reminding her not to. Let her know that you know it is hard to stop, but that you know she can do it and praise her everytime you notice she is not sucking her thumb.

Hi, A.. Habits are hard to break, aren't they? I can only offer suggestions, but my brother had the thumb guard when he was young. If she likes to have her nails painted, you could suggest going a getting a manicure together or just painting her nails at home. You could try taking this away if she already paints her nails until she stops sucking her thumb. I am sure it is a combination of a comfort measure and habit, so if she does it at bedtime, find something to replace the thumb. A special animal or blanket, maybe. I hope these ideas might help. Good Luck!

From experience, we had to put tape (masking) around the actual thumb and then tape it to her hand. In the middle of the night in her sleep she would pull the tape off. We also put some stuff on there that was to make people stop biting their nails and it was a little spicy and that seemed to help. Good luck, it's a horrible battle, I hope yours goes better than ours did:-)

OOhhhh...I was a thumb sucker and my mom tried EVERYTHING to get me to stop. Tabasco...I would lick it off. Gloves...would take them off. Numerous talks about how it was affecting my teeth and and how I would be teased as a result...I understood, but I just couldn't help it. I HAD to have it. I eventually got the mouth guard and that is what finally broke me. It was too late, however, for my teeth. I had to have NINE YEARS of braces!! I had every contraption under the sun on my teeth at some point or another. Painful and, I'm sure, expensive.
I'm sorry I can't offer much advice on what to do, but I can say I feel for both you and your daughter. Good Luck with everything!

Good Morning A., Im not positive on this, but it sounds like your daughter is using her thumb as her comfort zone. Kind of like a child who has a blankie at bed time. Does she stop when she falls asleep?
I've never had a thumb sucker, neither of our boys nor 5 grand children, all uses binkies, and they gave them up on their own. As far as I remember anyway!
Some people I know used the hot sause, the nail biter stop stuff or something sour on the childs thumb.
Wish I could be more help, I understand your concern for her mouth and teeth.

God Bless
K.
PS It's not a concillation at all, but few yrs ago I saw a 25 yr Woman sucking her thumb. I was cleaning her mom's house who was disabled, there was her college grad in her room for lunch break from her job, watching Soaps on her bed sucking her thumb.

Some may say I am cruel, but I tried EVERYTHING myself with my daughter. I did what the pych said to get her to cut back on thumb sucking by giving her certain times of the day she was allowed. Bedtime I could not break. We teased her from time to time that we were going to put hot sauce on her thumb, and she'd scream NO and would take her thumb out(for a second). Well, we followed through one day, and she screamed at her thumb!!! She didn't even put it near her mouth. My daughter is a drama queen so this was funny to watch! But she stopped. She was 4.5

I would hold off on the thumb gaurd for a while until she starts school.
I, too, believe she will stop when she starts school.
I sucked my thumb until I was 5 also. When I got to kindergarten, there were 2 of us that were still sucking thumbs. The other kids teased us, and the teacher made us take our rest mats to the other side of the room and we could not rest with the other children as long as we insisted on sucking our thumbs.
The two of us decided to help each other. We made a pact to remind each other every time we saw the other with her thumb in her mouth. As a result, we broke ourselves of the habit in a very few days, and became very good friends in the process.

Sooner or later, your daughter will come across a motivation strong enough to make her stop. School will likely provide that.

This also reminds me of my son when he was around 2 and still using a pacifier. (He called his pacifier his "plug".) We took him to a rodeo that was in town. At the time, he thought he wanted to be a cowboy when he grew up. As we walked him around the grounds before the show started, he was in awe of the horses and bulls and the cowboys walking around. Hand-in-hand with his Dad, he grew pensive. Finally he looked up at his Dad and asked "Dad, do cowboys suck "plugs" ?" His Dad calmly and in in a thoughtful tone (holding back the urge to laugh, of course !) said, "No. No, son, they don't." Nothing more was said. My son thought about it a second or two longer, and with a serious face he pulled the "plug" from his mouth, threw it in the dirt, and walked on, never looking back ! LOL !!
I was so proud of my little man, but so worried that when bedtime came he was going to regret his decision, and we would have a rough night. Not so ! He never asked for it again !

I was a big believer in not forcing children through these milestones before that day, but that belief is written in stone in my heart and mind now. Each of my children found their own motivations to move past bottles, pacifiers, and other childhood habits all on their own, and none carried these habits beyond a reasonable age. I think stressing a kid over a security habit can have the opposite effect of making him need the security it provides all the more.

It all boils down to motivation, motivation, motivation !!

:o)

Hi A.. We went through this with our 5 year old. We also tried just about everything you've seen in the posts to no avail. I think it was because she's very strong willed and was not ready to give up. The thing that really helped her was actually talking to her dentist. At one of her checkups I mentioned my concern to the dentist and she just sat down with my daughter and had a nice talk about it. She didn't threaten her or scare her -just gave her the facts. I think after that our daughter realized that mom and dad just weren't "blowing smoke" about stopping her habit. She quit because she wanted to and not because we threatened her with devices. (BTW, our dentist also recommended waiting until she was older to go that route). Anyway, she still sucks her thumb sometimes when she's sleeping because I know it does comfort her but if I tell her about it in the morning she's always shocked. Good luck to you and you daughter!