My son is 4 years old, he has been a thumb sucker since before birth. I have to start trying to break this habbit. We really only tried once, but the dentist suggests that we stop it in the next 6 months. We used some paint on substance called "thums". I found it in the infant section at walgreens. Apparently it has chili pepper as the main ingredient. My son put thumb in mouth, started burning, and then started crying, and then rubbed his eyes and then the eyes were burning. So I am not interested in that product, needless to say. Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
We used bandaids. My son picked them out himself and chose race cars so it was exciting for him to see which race car he was wearing for the day. He wore the bandaids for a week and it worked. He was very open to the idea though and did not try to take the band aid off. Good luck!
I can sympathize with you. My daughter finally stopped 4 months ago, but i think a lot had to do with peer pressure.
She came home from school and said she wanted to stop sucking her thumb but she couldn't. She said a couple kids were calling her baby at school.
Now i have been trying for 3 years to get her to stop and nothing worked. I tried the Mavala(spelling) stuff a while ago and still had it, so i put some on her thumb and for about 2 weeks i was constantly getting up at all hours to get her milk to get rid of the taste. THen i came up with putting a sock on that hand so she doesn't accidentally put it in her mouth. She has not sucked her thumb since and she no longer needs the sock and i only did the paint for about a month.
THe callous on her thumb is now gone and she is so much happier, as am i. Good luck, and as much as you don't want to hear this, I know i didn't, but i think a lot has to do with the child wanting to quit or at least the willingness.
Take a glove and cut off the fingers, leaving the thumb part and have him wear it
E.,
Have you tried to discuss restricting his thumbsucking to just for sleeping? You may not be able to get him to stop completely but can perhaps decrease the amount of thumbsucking.
It's worth the cost and it works!
Good luck!
Good luck! My 6 year old is still doing it! I have tried many products. She can get her thumb out of many things during the night to suck it. So far what seems to be working, is an adult sock over her hands at night and those bracelets that only go on and not off (like what you get at a fair) at her wrist so she can't take it off at night. They say if you do it every day for a few weeks the habit will be broken. Well it appears to take a little longer. Start now before the habit really gets ingrained.
