My daughter is 22 months old and is a thumb sucker. She does it for comfort... when she's upset she'll do it for a few seconds as she calms down, and she does to help her fall asleep, but does not do it for recreation. I have heard that although there are a lot of methods to help babies stop sucking their thumb, that really nothing actually works. I hate to say it but my daughter has really really big front two top teeth and I can only imagine how those will look when they're facing forward due to thumb sucking!
Help! Has anyone successfully weaned their child off of the thumb?
ETA: the reason I am going to try to wean her off the thumb is because a) I am worried about the damage it will do to her teeth and b) I believe that it would be better to stop her sooner than later so I don't have to fight a 5 year old habit vs. a 2 year old one. Hoping it would be easier now vs. in 3 more years.
We still have not initiated any measures to stop her thumb sucking, but we are pulling her thumb out of her mouth when we see it and playfully saying "don't suck your thumb", then distracting her with something else to do. She doesn't suck too often, again, just when she is tired. We plan to continue to monitor it and maybe in the next 6 months try something more, like socks over her hands.
Thank you for all the suggestions!
I was an avid thumb sucker till age 5. I have a small gap in my teeth but definately am not buck toothed at all! My mom sewed socks to the sleeves of my pj's and I chewed through them, she painted the stop bite on my nails, it was sucked off. My youngest sucks her thumb, and I can see no reason to stop her, unless a dentist said it was doing damage. Until age 5, I would let the child do what comforts them.
This may sound strange, but I put socks on my son's hands. The dentist told us he was pushing his top pallet out and he had to stop, so when ever he did it during the day I would say no and put a sock on his hand. Once he was over the day time thumb sucking we worked on sleeping with the socks on for a few nights to break the comfort sucking cycle. It worked like a charm.
I always hate those mothers that preach or lecture when someone asks a question and I am really not trying to do that, I promise, but why do you want to wean her from it, she is only 2. My daughter is 29 months, and like yours, sucks her thumb when she is tired or when she is feeling unsure about something, like if we walk into a party where there are a lot of people. I would never try to take this from her, unless she was like 5, because this is how she comforts herself and the one thing she has control over. The other reason why I am not worried about her thumb sucking is because I talked with her pediatrician about it and she said that by age 4 or 5 you want to stop them from sucking their thumb but by that age most kids have given it up. She only sucks her thumb a few times a day, so I really am not concerned like I would if she sucked constantly. Obviously, you are a different person and have different beliefs on things, so if you decide to wean her good luck to you and I hope all goes smoothly.
Does she already have an overbite? My son sucked his thumb until he was 4.5 and never had an overbite. My daughter is 3.5 and sucks her's and has a terrible one. The dentist said she is just sucking it harder. The only thing that helped my son was to put nail stop (from www.whatshebuys.com). It's the worst tasting nail polish I've ever tasted and it lasts for days. It's so bad that it might make her throw up the first time she sucks her thumb. I tried it with my daughter and she claims to like it. I've spoken to her doctor who suggested we play her game, he feels she does it because we keep saying not to, so he said every so often throughout the day, pull her away from what ever she's doing and place her on the sofa and tell her it's time for her to suck her thumb. If you do this several times a day, she may no longer want to do it.
Now, I've tried that and it doesn't work for my daughter, but the doctor said it works about 1/2 the time.
He suggested I go to the pharmacy and see what they have available behind the counter. He said they have a product for thumb suckers that is suppose to taste really bad, but I haven't had a chance to get it.
I also tried telling my daughter it was okay to suck her thumb only if she is going to bed, but she is constantly sucking her thumb (in bed and not in bed). She just has a very strong will to suck it and no matter what, I think it's up to her to decide when. She claims when she turns 4 (which is in a few months), so we'll see.
good luck. I would try nail stop by www.whatshebuys.com. It's a great product, and very, very bad tasting. Oh, I also placed a drop on her skin right above her nailbed. That way, if she licks her finger, she wont taste it, but if she sucked it, she would.
I did not stop my daughter from sucking her thumb and it did alot of damage to her teeth, bite and speech. If I had to do it all over again, I would definitely stop it earlier than later. Im sorry I dont have much to help as far as getting her to stop but have heard putting socks on their hands helps by just cutting a hole big enough for the fingers and not the thumb. Sewing the arm shut on her pj's. Like I said I didnt try those ideas but with all the money I am now spending, I surely wish I did.
Out of 4 children, only my youngest sucked her thumb.....from 2 weeks on. She also only did it when falling asleep or when relaxing. Once she fell asleep, it would come out. So we never had any problems with her teeth because of it. She did give it up when she was 9.....just decided to and never went back. It was never a social issue because it was only sleeping and she was attached to a "burpy" rag too. Ones I used while nursing the kids. She gave it up at the same time.
My younger sister was a thumb sucker and never was able to give it up. She sucked all night long and ended up with 4 years of braces. My parents tried eveything. Prongs on the back of the front teeth, putting stuff on her thumb, using a glove on her hand for sleep, nothing worked. Good luck to you!
They wil stop when they are ready-my DD stopped by 3 yrs old-when one day I told her to stop -I paid her .25 cents at night when she did not suck it while reading for every book we read-it worked she stopped in less than a week-My DS is still sucking his, but am trying the same thing w/him. They will stop when they are ready not when u r ? LOL! Good Luck! L.:)
i sucked my thumb until 7 and i dont have bucked teeth. I think they say they can suck it until age 4 without worry. around age 3 start training her not to do it during the day. what she does in bed is her business
I sucked my thumb for comfort/sleeping for a very long time - about 9 or 10. I never needed braces. I think some kids are just more prone to crooked teeth and will need braces whether or not they suck their thumb. If it's not a social issue, why not let her soothe herself in this harmless way? One day she will decide to stop on her own, when she no longer needs it, until then you will be fighting a fight you don't need to.
My 8 month old is a big thumb sucker. I can't wait to see your responses. Thanks for asking the question :)
