Thumb Sucking - Brownton,MN

iT SOUNDS LIKE STRESS AND JEALOUS A THING.
i KNOW A FAMILY WHO HAD SOME DAUGHTERS WHO WOULD NOT POTTY TRAIN TOTAL TILL SIX YEARS OLD.
sCHOOL WAS THE MOTAVATOR.
nO SCHOOL IF THEY DID NOT POTTY TRAIN.

i SUGGEST YOU AND HUBBY FOCUS ON a thing she wants and likes and see if this will motivate her.
tTry spending some alone time with her also.

Plus if she is say the middle girl or only girl then she may want to be Momma or daddies girl.
Attention.

It may be medical also.
Like friend found out.

It could be a fear of all her changes and or new life fears and losing her past and \fear of a animal or ?

Ask her if she is upset about anything also.

Hope this helps
D.

My neice sucked her thumb. My sister bought a "sleeve" to put over her thumb (especially at night). There were "x" number in a pack and when they were done, she had stopped sucking her thumb. It was a guard that slipped over her thumb to prevent it.

Hi J., I have six children ages 30, 23,18,16,14,7. I am 45 and was a thumb sucker myself. My advice for you is to provide your baby with an alternative activity. When she is sucking her thumb distract her. Give her something to do that requires the the use of both hands. Try giving her something to nibble on when she wants to suck her thumb like baby carrots, or a little baggy filled with cereal. And look on the bright side...my sister sucked her thumb while rubbing someone else's nose! So...it could be worse : )
M. S

My nine year old sucked his thumb non-stop from the time he was 3 months old till nine. Nothing I did would get him to stop. I kept telling him he would end up with braces. One day we went to the dentist and she told him he would have to get braces. My child stopped sucking his thumb instantly. I was rather shocked since he was a chronic thumb sucker. We had tried everything and nothing had worked. I guess he thought if he stopped sucking his thumb the dentist would change her mind. Sorry-not much help.

Hi J.,
I have 4 children and 2 of them were thumb suckers. One of my daughters was 6 and we tried everything to break the habit! What finally worked was what the orthodontist suggested and it seemed so simple and similiar to other things we had tried but it worked. First he talked directly to my daughter and really encouraged her to try this. He said the child has to be on board and really want to try to stop sucking their thumb. Then he gave us a roll of tape, I think it was either masking tape or that white athletic tape. We put a piece on each thumb before she went to bed at night. If she kept it on and didn't suck her thumb, we put a sticker on a chart. We had to do this for 3 weeks (21 days). If she sucked her thumb, we had to start over on day 1. I was skeptical but that is what finally worked for us. It sounds like you are an experienced mom so you know that thumb sucking is annoying but small potatoes compared to some things!:) Hopefully your daughter will decide sooner than later that she wants to stop and something like this might help her through. Good Luck!
L.

Is the thumb sucking really hurting anyone? Not yet-maybe her teeth a little. Most kids will grow out of this in time. I speak from experience-I used to suck my thumb and my parents hated it-I always said, when I'm 3 I'll stop, 4, then school, then 1st grade. I might have been in 3rd before I stopped. I won't worry to much-it's a comfort thing. Like you said you moved and that's when it started. It's like a security blanket. Talking in general, and finding other things for her will help. Dogs or pets are good ways to break habits. Just suggestions. Oh, my mom also did things like putting finger nail polish remover on my thumb to get me to stop-but it didn't work. Maybe it will work for your daughter though. You can try it. Hope that helps.

go to mavala.com The company is from switzerland and they have a product called stop. it is for nail biting and thumb sucking. It really works! It is very strong and cannot be licked off. I did put it on daily but only because I wanted to make sure that it worked. It still took about 2 weeks to break the habit. Good Luck

Do the other siblings pick on your daughter or tease her for sucking her thumb? That may be an issue. My daughter sucks her thumb more when we mention NOT sucking it. She is old enough to understand that she cannot always have another thumb to rub. Stop that habit, the thumb sucking may also stop. Have you asked her why she started sucking her thumb? Was it because of the move or something else?

we have pinned socks to our daughters hands, (pin them to the top of her shirt by her shoulder. My daughter has stopped the horrible habit about 50% now....we're hoping by summer that it will be gone....

Is the thumb sucking going on all day long or just at bedtime? She probably did start it as a comfort thing when you moved and now it is just habit. You have to be calm about it to begin with and tell her that from now on, the thumb is only for nap or bedtime. If she persists during the day, move on to bathing her thumbs in vinigar or something else that tastes bad but not toxic. They even have such things in pharmacies now a days. Once you have the daytime taken care of, move on to no more naptime thumb. If your child is in daycare, they can help with a lot of this. If not, you may have to endure a lot of crying. Be strong and consistent with it. Next, to move on to night time, start by telling her she doesn't need it and try to start a different routine for her bedtime. I know you said she has to rub someone else's thumb, see if you can get her to start rubbing a satin tag on an animal or a taggie blanket or book (found in most stores in the baby section). If she is falling asleep with her thumb in at night, go in her room and remove it and tuck it under her pillow or blanket. Check on her several times before you go to bed to see if she has put it back in and remove it again. If she has gotten used to not having it during the day, it will be easier to keep it out during the night. Don't be adverse to briberyo once you get to a point that she is ready to be done. You may have to sit with her for a week to make sure she is falling asleep without it and then reward her with something RIGHT AWAY. Do not postpone it. A week of no thumb should be sufficient to keep her off it, but check back every other day or so to make sure. Don't be adverse to using vinigar on the thumbs at night also. I hope this helps you. Good Luck, L. R.

My 3 yr old was also a thumb sucker. At his last well child check up in the fall, the peditrician told me a tip from one of the other patients moms. The kids dentist told her to put clear nail polish on the thumbs (yes both, cuz they will try the other one) and before it dried, to sprinkle cayanne pepper on it. You may have to do it when she's sleeping or she may just push it away.

My grandson was the same way. They tried treats, chiding him and finally they took him to the dentist who showed him so examples of what his teeth would look like if he didn't stop. At 5 He came home from the dentist and hasn't sucked his thumb since. He had sucked it from day one and his thumb even had a callouse so he was quite entrenched in sucking his thumb. good luck

I am a single mom of 3 children but I remember when I was a child my brother would suck his thumb at the age of 5 years old. They decided to put hot sauce on his thumb every time he put his thumb in his mouth and it didn't take him long to figure out that putting his thumb in his mouth would lead to his tongue feeling like it was on fire. It worked for them so I thought I would share that experience with you. Good luck.

Our daughter also sucked her thumb and was very attached to her "blanket" -- no rubbing another's thumb though. Anyway, I gave her safe periods of time when she could suck her thumb and have her blanket -- and times she could not - i.e. no blanklet/sucking thumb away from home, then no thumb/blanket except in her room, then only at bed time, etc. She still sucked her thumb, but adjusted quickly to the defined times. Even at seven years old she sucked her thumb when she was over-tired but it was infrequent. That was a long time ago -- she's 32 now, married and has three children of her own!

J., I have two thumb suckers here in my house. I tried using a product called Thumb, but it didn't even phase them. Then I found out about a product called Hoof. They hate it!! I think it just may be the cure I needed. I get it at Wal-Mart in the cosmetics section where all the fingernail growth, nail clippers, tweezers, etc. are at. It comes in a green and pink package, and the label on the bottle is pink also. I hope this helps. My son almost lost his thumb, due to infection. I have tried a lot of things, but this one they really do not like.

I used to put vanilla extract on my sons thumb because it tastes awful but smells good, it took several days but it cured him of sucking on his thumb.

J. W, You sould like you are have a pretty full and busy family. I suspect that is part of the problem - and the solution! Thumb sucking can be indicative of insecurity - a way of feeling cuddled and loved even if you have to provide that feeling yourself - it is similar in substance to nursing as an infant. Suckling is normal, but we usually grow out of it - when one goes back to it, we must positivley provide that little one with security again! I might suggest paying more loving close personal attention to this particular youngster, whose life has changed, and even though she may not know it, she feels insecure in the new setting. MAKE time to be with just her, OFTEN and DAILY, holding her, cuddling, reading a book to just her - give her a back rub or other personal soothing attention - do all of this DAILY. With the size of your family, you may be able to draw on some of the others to also provide this reinforcement, but please do not let any of them critisize her or point out constantly that she has developed and annoying habit. Best just try to nurture it away. Don't expect overnight results, either. This is a child who will always need just a little more of a security blanket from her family and friends. Bless her for being sensitive and nurture her to be a nurturing little person also. Good luck to you!