Thumbsucking - San Lorenzo,CA

My 2 1/2 yr old is also a thumb sucker. I don't see how taking it out of her mouth while sleeping will do anything. They generally aren't sucking it all night long anyways. And she can always just put it back in her mouth. The fact that there is a space between her teeth is not related to thumb sucking I don't think. These are her baby teeth and I have heard that a space is good because that means there will be enough room for her adult teeth. I'm not worried about the thumb sucking and just hope that my daughter will stop when she is ready and won't be doing it in front of her friends at school.

Hi T., my son also sucked his thumb before he was born. We tried everything to get him to stop(our MD had us tie socks around his hands while he was sleeping). I even took him to the dentist when he was almost 4 for advice. It wasn't until he was ready for preschool that he decided to stop on his own. His teeth are fine and looking back on it now (he's 8), I think we made a big deal out of nothing. My son found security in sucking his thumb and he eventually grew out of it.

You really can't stop her from sucking her thumb since you can't take it away. I think I remember reading that permanent damage to the mouth/teeth doesn't become an issue until 5 or 6, so you've got lots of time. Focus on what you can control, which is what she does when you're around. I talked to my daughter at an early age about keeping her hands out of her inside-outside parts in public (inside-outside parts: eyes, mouth, nose, ears, bottom and vulva). These are all the fragile parts that belong to her and her alone, and it's not appropriate for her to have her fingers in any of them in public. (I also told her that no one else can touch these parts of her without her permission, and that if someone tries, she needs to tell me about it.) So, sucking your thumb and picking your nose (for example) are activities for the privacy of your own room. That way she can continue to use the thumb-sucking to settle herself down for a nap or at bedtime, but it won't become an pervasive habit that she turns to whenever she feels uncomfortable (and sucking your thumb at school causes problems!) If it's not an ingrained habit, then it's more likely to fade appropriately away. Putting a lot of energy around it, though, does tend to reduce their ability to stop. Try to be matter of fact with it when she's not in the privacy of her room, just like you are (I'm sure) about asking her not to stick her fingers in her nose in public! (My stepson was strangely encouraged to not just suck his thumb all the time, but to have his finger up his nose at the same time. Neither of his parents ever said a word about it -- you can imagine the response from his peers!) Good luck! And good luck in school, too.

As a former thumb sucker, I totally agree with Isabelle. Don't make it punitive or it will get worse. Don't tease or be harsh about it. My parents tried all sorts of negative things and all it did was make me more insecure and feel awful about myself, but it didn't break the habit.
If her habit does extend beyond kindergarten the orthodontist can put an appliance in the roof of her mouth that makes it very uncomfortable/ next to impossible for her to suck her thumb. That will break the habit if she hasn't already. My habit was broken because of braces, as my teeth straightened it wasn't comfortable anymore so I quite. At night it is an unconcious habit so I really like the advice to GENTLY pull out her thumb. Her teeth will realign themselves once she stops. My daughter had a big gap caused by pacifier use (I finally took it away at age four). The gap closed within months. I am trying to get my two year old to stop using a pacifier. I have worked with her about how to chew gum (she doesn't swallow it now) so I give her a piece of sugarless gum with zylitol (helps fight cavities) and it keeps her mouth busy. It has been a good distraction for the daytime. Hope this helps. Take care.

My mom use to put ivory soap under my thumbnail. Worked on me.

Good luck

I highly recommend thumb guards. Our peditrician told us about them and our daughter loved them because she got to pick a new color bracelet every day. It took about 10 days to break the habit, but she wore them for the full 30 days because she like the bracelets. They are devices that go over their thumbs (or fingers if you have a finger sucker)and break the vacuum seal. They are strapped on by colorful plastic bracelets and your child wears them 24 x 7 (like the ones from amusement parks). Here is the website: http://www.thumbguard.net/english/ourproduct.asp

My suggestion is to give up.
Why do you care if she sucks her thumb? If you're worried about her teeth, most kids get braces for aesthetic reasons anyway. You should be happy she soothes herself by sucking her thumb. She will (hopefully) always have her thumb with her. That's so easy for you - you don't need to always keep a blanket or pacifier with you, and she's not using YOU as a pacifier. You really are blessed! Go with it.
As a side note, I sucked my thumb until I was in 5th grade. I never needed braces, but coincidentally got them to straighten out my bottom teeth that were a touch crowded. Around Kindergarten I would only do it when I knew my piers couldn't see because I didn't want to get teased.
I only mention this to illustrate the fact that as soon as a few kids say something to her about it (and she's old enough to care) she'll stop on her own.
Don't push her - trust me - she won't be doing when she's 20!

My daughter sucked her thumb until 3 months before her 5th birthday. The pediatric dentist told me not to worry about it. The day before she started Kindergarten she had a check up and he told her it was time to be the "boss of her thumb". He told her that every day she didn't suck her thumb, that mom would put a sticker on her calendar. And he asked her to come back in 30 days to show him her calendar, and that if she did good, mom would take her to Toys R Us to get a small prize. I didn't think it would happen with starting Kindergarten the next day (that's a big thing) but she did. She only slipped two or 3 times, all when she was laying down watching TV, extremely tired. We didn't stop her from sucking it at night, that kind of stopped on its own. Though 7 months later, I still occasionally find her thumb in her mouth in the middle of the night (it's sub-conscious), and I just gently pull it out, and she doesn't even notice.
It's a difficult thing to stop, remember it's a comfort for them. The more you nag about it, the more they'll do it, so try and do something sly to get them to stop. 2 is still pretty young, so I don't think it's too big of a deal.
Good luck! Having been there, I know how frustrating and how hard it is!