Thumbsucking - Round Rock,TX

I sucked my thumb until I was 14 years old and then I finally decided to quit on my own. My mother tried everything with me and nothing worked. She tried the nail stuff and I learned that I could wash it off and then it wouldn't taste bad. So I just think that he will end up wanting to stop on his own. But since he is so young you could probably try the nail stuff and it does taste bad. He doesn't know how to wash it off so he won't want it in his mouth. Good Luck! I would try to get him to stop ASAP so he won't get older and still be doing it cause it will be harder then.

There's this product that is supposed to be great for thumbsucking called a thumbguard (http://www.onestepahead.com/jump.jsp?lGen=crossSell&i...) but it's pretty expensive. Like most of the others have said, I wouldn't worry too much about it until he's a little older.

My little girl (will be 5 in January) still sucks her fingers. It has dramatically decreased with age, but when she goes to bed and when she sits down to relax and unwind that's what she does. I remind her to take her fingers out of her mouth and she usually does when I ask her to. It gets to be a habit, and we all know those can be hard to break. If he hasn't outgrown it by 5 or 6, they make a device that fits over the 2nd set of molars. The orthodontist puts it in. It doesn't effect eating or speaking, just gives the thumb a little poke when it goes into the mouth. I know there is also a device that you can put over the thumb that is plastic and not very nice to suck on, you can get it off but he can't. Call your childs dentist to order one. Good Luck!

I had a friend with the same problem. Her son sucked his thumb until he was 3 and she was fed up. She finally started telling him that if he continued, his thumb would turn blue and fall off. A few days after telling him this (almost daily) her son went to bed. While he was sleeping she dotted his thumb with a little blue food coloring. The next morning he ran into her bedroom to show her his thumb. She said "oh my, well it's started. you'd better stop today or it might not be there tomorrow." She never saw him suck his thumb again.

I am a SAHM of three. My oldest son was a thumbsucker. He sucked his thumb until he started kinder. So I say he was about 5yrs. Once he saw all the other kids around he didn't want them to know he sucked his thumb and he stopped on his own. I don't think it is such a big deal that he sucks his thumb. He is only 2 1/2 and that is his sense of security. He will outgrow it in his time. Talking from experience because I sucked my thumb until I was 12. Now that's alittle too old. My parents put socks on my hands, hotsauce on my thumbs, etc. Nothing would work. I stopped when I was ready and he will to. I may have stopped sooner if they didn't focus on it so much. How could I outgrow it if they were always remind me of it. Give him some time, it's still early.

If he is still doing it by the time he is a teenager or in college then worry about it then. Chances are peer pressure will be the best deterrent. Offer distractions when you see it happening. Don't make him feel self conscious about it though. That would make it worse.
Good luck,
C.

Hi A.,

Have you tried to use a safe but not pleasant tasting substance to put on your baby's thumb?

Good luck, I hope that you will find a solution....Sorry that I couldn't be more help.

Hello..My name is T. and Im a mom of a thumbsucker...LOL
My son is 6yrs old and still sucks his two middle fingers, he also started in the womb, i tried giving him a binky but he would just spit it out and put those fingers in his mouth....its so funny b/c every picture i have of him hes sucking those fingers.
Have you tried giving your baby a binky?
But i think i got comfortable with it cause it was his comfort, and kept him quiet.....as long as he had those fingers in his mouth he was ok...that child never gave me problems, when he would wake up in the middle of the night he would never cry, just stick those fingers in his mouth and just look around, he would play with my face and thats how i knew he was up...yes my baby slept with me...!!!
Maybe put those mittens on his hands....that might work for your baby, didnt for mine that boy found a way to get to those fingers...it was like a bad addiction those fingers...LOL

I have an ultrasound of my son, now 9, in the womb sucking his thumb and holding his ear. He wouldn't give up either even as he was coming out, thus ensuring several stitches for me. We tried everything - even hot sauce. Didn't do a darn thing other than give him an affinity for Mexican Food. i figured if it was that much of a comfort, why take it away?

I was a thumbsucker (and ear holder)as well until I was in first grade. He finally gave it up around 1st grade as well. Peer pressure at that level seems to make the most impact. Just relax and encourage him not to do it, but don't flip out if he doesn't. He'll take it out by the time he tries to kiss his first girlfriend!

My son chewed his nails. I went to the store and bought a little bottle of some stuff called THUM. It is like a clear fingernail polish that you paint on his thumbnail and it tastes aweful. It's definately a deterrent. Secondly, distraction is a very good idea.
I also agree that if the sucking will probably stop by the time he's in school because of peer pressure. He will not want to be teased.
Good luck

your post didn't really say if you had tried anything yet or not. there are things you can put on the nail or finger that might discorage sucking, I was going to suggest hot sauce...till I though about how little ones like to rub their eyes... talk to your pedi and see if they have any suggestions.
my little sister had what was basically a dull metal fork placed in the roof of her mouth when she was 5 or so to discourage her finger sucking(she did the two finger thing as well) I don't think it took long afterwards for her to stop sucking... I know they must have taken that thing out but for the life of me I can not remember how long she had it

I too was a tumbsucker until I was about the third grade, and the only thing that broke me of it was the orthodontist put some contraption in my mouth so that my thumb would not fit in there comfortably. None of the "tricks" my parents tried worked. And they tried everything!! I remember reading an intersting article on this a while back though. It was written by a doctor, in fact I think I read it in the waiting room at my doctor's office. It said that thumbsucking in babies and young children is completely, 100% normal, and most children will stop doing it on their own by the time they are 4 or 5 years old. But what causes them to do it past that? A study was done on late thumbsuckers and found one thing they all had in common - the parents had tried at an early age to get them to stop. So, many well-meaning parents have actually encouraged thumb sucking by trying to forcibly take the thumb out of their children's mouths. At this age, I think you should let him do it and don't put any pressure on him to stop.

There is a special thing I believe it is in the baby section of the store if not ask the pharmacist you put it on the child's fingernail makes it taste bad when they put it in their mouth otherwise everytime you see it physically take the thumb out and say something along the lines of that;s not good or yucky something like that.

I dont have any advice on thumbsucking, but am interested in your preschool. What age do you start at and how many kids do you have?
Thanks
K.

Hi A., my son also use to suck his thumb. Since birth until he was about 4. I still catch him sucking his thumb while he is asleep and he is 7 now! I never tried to get him to stop and he''s k now and he just grew out of it on hos own. Be paitient and your son will out grow it also.

wow i didnt know their were so many of us that sucked our thumbs throughout our childhood!! (i did till 12 only at night!) my son is about the same age and is attached to that thing!! ive tried too! and i really dont want him to have any problems with his teeth!! i have been througgh 2 sets of braces and about to start my third! i dont think the thumb sucking caused me to need 3 sets but im sure it did play a role in how my teeth grew in! if u get any great advice please share!!

My 2 1/2 year old son is also a thumbsucker! We have tried EVERYTHING and nothing has worked so far, his pediatric dentist said it is normally not a problem until the hit 5-6 and you start worrying about their perm teeth, it they are still doing it then or if it becomes a serious problem sooner, your dentist can make a device that goes on the roof of their mouth, the still eat and drink normally but it makes sucking on something uncomfortable. IT DOES NOT HURT THEM, just makes the thumb sucking lose its apeal.

Unfortunately, I can say from personal experiance that there isn't much you can do if your little one is determined to suck his thumb. I sucked my thumb until I was 9 years old (only to sleep at night) and my mother tried EVERYTHING! Yucky tasting creams, fingernail polishes, putting gloves or bandaids on after I fell asleep.... but a habit is a habit and just like smoking, drinking, or biting nails you have to REALLY want to quit before it can happen. The best advise I can give you is to keep working on the idea that big boys don't suck their thumbs and as he gets older he'll really want to strive to be a "big boy" and will start doing his best to keep the thumb out. What I finally did (at a much older age than I would want any child to still be sucking his/her thumb) was I would force myself to stick my hand under my pillow at night when I would fall asleep.... to this day my hand is under my pillow at night. Good luck to you as I am fighting the pacifier battle right now with my 3 year old. Wish I had better news for you but a determined child will do what they want and unlike the pacifier you can't just take his thumb away if all else fails! :o/

I'm also the mom of a thumb sucker, and I was too - until Kindergarten. My advice - don't worry & be patient. We tried many things to prevent my son from sucking his thumb, none of which worked. The same thing with my own mom - nothing worked until I decided for myself, that it was time to quit. School is a wonderful way of working things out, that parents can't. Peer pressure is a powerful motivator, and the first time I heard thumb suckers being made fun of at school (even though I only did it at night, and never in public), that was it for me. For my 5yr old son, he also knew it wasn't something he would ever tell his friends about, and began to feel it wasn't what "big boys" did. We helped him reach his decision to quit, by giving him an incentive. He was able to get a new pet (he chose hermit crabs) once he'd gone a month without sucking his thumb. It was a piece of cake for all of us, b/c he was old enough to reason with. I know you may be worried about teeth. My son's teeth all came in very early, and our dentist reassured us that if he quit at least before he was well into school, we should'nt worry about any long-term damage. (His teeth are beautiful and straight now, two years later.)

I must also say that some kids just have an oral fixation. Since conquering the thumb-sucking, my son has overcome nail biting and lip chewing. Kids are hard to keep up with, aren't they? :) Good luck and hang in there. At least our kids never give us a chance to be bored!

Sincerely,
M. B

I remember when I was younger there was this stuff that was like nail polish that you painted on the fingernails and it tasted really bad. I had a friend who sucked her thumb until she was 13 and her mom broke her of that habit with this stuff. I don't know the name of it, but I'm sure you can search on the internet for something like it. It's nontoxic and just tastes bad to break the child of the habit. I'd try that.