Thumbsucking - Los Angeles,CA

Sadly, I sucked my thumb until I was about 6 years-old. My parents were at their wits-end and finally tried putting Tobasco Sauce on my thumb every morning. From what I recall I had the habit 'licked' in a week. To this day though, I'm not very fond of red Tobasco Sauce.

I used a product called "Stop by Mavala" on my 3 year old and it worked, she does have the occasional relapse so you gotta keep using the stuff. I'ts a hard habit to break. You can find it on Amazon for $8.00.

My friends son would chew his nails all the time until she explained to him that he was basically chewing on poop. Not from his own personal hygene, but everything that we touch has germs on it and those germs could be on his fingers.
I hope this helps
B.

I had 4 children who oll suched there thumbs. nun of developed a that problem. they are all in their 50ts and doing just fine. the problem is something else. .Why don't you consult a Dr if your so consuned She might grow out of it. A.

my son was a thumb sucker and my daughter sucked her finger. We tried many different approaches but the one that worked was I put a mitten on their hand at nap and bedtime. we had to tape the mitten on so they would not pull it off in their sleep.It took about 2 months
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Mary Lou
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I bought my friend's daughter a bunch of pretty nail polish and nail stickers w/jewels etc. She stopped sucking her thumb and biting her nails to avoid ruining her pretty manicure! With my son, I had to be a bit more serious because he was biting his nails to the point where they would bleed from being too low! I used clear nail polish which smelled nasty going on and I told him if he chewed his fingernails anymore it would make him sick. It worked well because he stopped chewing and the clear polish helped his nails stay strong while they grew back properly.

Hi M.:
First and most important,do not make the mistake of (issuing punishment)for thumb sucking.Most older children that continue to suck their thumb are suffering from some type of stress,boredom,or frustration. Punishing them will simply escalate the problem.The most important thing you could do, is attempt to find out exactly what her insecurities are,and help her to resolve them. Dr Benjamin Spock,says that in the older child,where thumb sucking has become an empty habit ,that parents are urged to calmly remind them when they begin doing it. Other cures involve bitter liquids applied to the thumb.The Dr also cautions parents against using restraints as such devices,only frustrate the child more.In all cases,children require emotional support.I don't know what guard you used previously,but there is one ,called the (thumbbusters) which a father developed,for his daughters who all were thumb suckers.You can find it on line. I hope this helped a little M.. The most sound advice I could give you, is talk to your daughter privately,and try to find out what her insecurities are,and let her know, that you want to help her,so she doesn't have alot of problems later with her teeth.If its as simple as (bordom) maybe you both could find something to busy her hands.I wish you and your darlin daughter the best.

Dear M.,

I am in the process of trying to break two kids from sucking their thumbs. My five year-old daughter and a four year-old friend (I have a daycare). My daughter is doing wonderful with her thumb guard. I caught her sucking her thumb today, but she does want to quit. The four year-old is doing terrible, he finds a way to get that thumb guard off. The difference.... my daughter is ready we have had many many conversations about why she needs to quit. The entire family is involved and we constantly remind her and support her. She does have an incentive, two actually, getting her ears pierced and a new bicycle. The trick is we have kept the experience positive and I waited for her to show signs of being ready. I would tell your daughter that you want her to quit, but she needs to decide she's ready. Just like anyone with a bad habit, you can't break it if they are not willing. I have a friend who sucked her thumb until she was 15, its a shame because she is so pretty except for her horrible teeth.

Good Luck!
N.

A pediatrician told me that the only thing he has ever seen that works...that I used for my 2 sons...is an appliance that is cemented into your child's mouth so they cannot get their thumb up to the roof of their mouth. A dentist has to apply it. It costs about 500 dollars. Insurance may cover it. THe child keeps it in for 6-8 months but it worked!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Order a product called Mavala Stop and paint it on her nails. It tastes nasty, which is the point.

Give her something to do which might replace this desire. Maybe try gum once in awhile.

Perhaps get her in gymnastics. The social interaction, and the physical activity will keep her busy.

WE tried hot sauce on her thumb, etc. At school they talked about the danger of smoking. She wanted her Grandpa who had smoked for 20 years to stop. They made an arrangement. He would stop smoking if she stopped sucking her thumb. She agreed. Grandpa said it would be harder for him because he had smoked longer than she had sucked her thumb. It worked and her grandpa was smoke free for 15 years before he had a heart attack. We feel she extended his life and helped herself too.
Good Luck.
When you can help someone else the meaning of sacrifice is so powerful.
C.

I know what you are going through. My daughter will be 6 Aug. 28th and she still sucks her thumb. Her front teeth are just starting to come in. This Thursday we will be going to the dentist so he can apply an appliance to the roof of her mouth. This will prevent her from sucking because she will not be able to create suction between the thumb and roof of the mouth. It will cost us apprx. $200.00 but my husband and I feel it is less than braces. I can ask my dentist what is the name of the appliance. Feel free to call me. ###-###-#### D.

I was a thumbsucker, myself, until I was around 8 years old. My mom tried and tried to get me to stop. She told me that preschools didn't accept kids that sucked their thumbs...I didn't go to preschool. She tried that nasty liquid stuff, but I still sucked my thumb. I did have a lisp, and ended up going to a speach class in 1st grade. I wonder if you could do some research on the internet and find some speech exercises to have her practice daily, or maybe find a speech pathologist to get some exercises for her.

In my case, though, I was extremely lucky and never needed any orthodontic work.

Chances are, you're going to have to let her stop on her own.

Hi M.,
I know this sounds too simple but it has worked for many kids I know. Sucking her thumb is for security. Have her tuck her thumb in her hand and cover with her fingers. It gives the sense of security that being in her mouth does. Good luck!

I sucked my thumb quite stubbornly until I was nearly 7. Nothing my parents could do would persuade me to stop-I really think it was an issue of my asserting myself. Then I saw an interview on television with a woman speaking who had severely bucked teeth. It absolutely appalled me and I stopped immediately. I don't know if you have a resource where you could show your daughter this possibility; maybe your dentist's office might have a flyer on braces that would show examples. Of course, it's quite possible that the woman in the interview had never sucked her thumb, but I drew my own conclusions, and since it was a matter of my own decision it stuck. P.S. I did end up with slightly bucked teeth, but no lisp!

I'm an orthodontist and work with many kids who suck their thumbs. I suggest you have a consultation with an orthdontist to find out if the habit has created an openbite or crossbite. If so, she may need an orthodontic appliance to correct the bite. In cases like this I often add some loops to the appliance to make it more uncomfortable to suck the thumb. It almost always works. I have 3 kids myself, ages 3, 6 and 8, and one sucks her thumb. Good Luck.

Hi M.-

That is tough! My daughter finally quit sucking her thumb at age 9 by using the thumbguard, but we also tried an appliance that the dentist adhered to the roof of her mouth. It is lind of like a retainer, but has spikey things on it so the kid's can't get a suction. It didn't work for us, but I know of two friend's kids that it did work for.

Good luck!

Hi M., unfortunatly aside of tying that handbehind her back there probably isn't much youcan do at this point, you allowed it to go on so long it's now a habit,jst like smoking when youhave done it for so many years,it becomes a habit. The only thing you can really do now, is discipline her. does she do this at school, I;msure at 7the other kids muct make fun of her. J.

Dear M.,

The only thing that helped with both of my (one sucked his thumb, the sucked her two fingers) little suckers was to get rid of the trigger, just like they tell a smoker who is trying to quit that if he smokes with his morning cup of coffee, to get rid of the coffee, etc . . . My children had "night-nights" (burp rags) that they used when sucking their thumbs. With my son, his father noticed around the age of five that he sucked his thumb more when he had his night-night. The night-nights disappeared, the thumb sucking tapered off and stopped. I ended up doing the same thing with my daughter four years later with the same results. The only thing I can think of is to get rid of her trigger if there is one.

Good luck,
B.

Are you sure the lisp is caused by the thumbsucking? Usually such behavior is an early sign of obsessive compulsive behavior. May I suggest since she is already seven that you have her evaluated by a psychologist who specializes in children and see if there is a clinical problem here. When a child resists all efforts with positive or negative rewards there can be a CHEMICAL reason in the brain for the behavior. If the psychologist through testing finds a diagnosis then you can have a referral to a neurologist or psychologist for further evaluation and possible treatment with (I hate to say this) medication and/or behavior modification. If other members of your extended family have behaviors like compulsive hand washing, nail biting, addictions, etc or other problems like mood swings or depression, there could be a family gene. She may need speech therapy for lisping. I know what you are going through. The school district may be able to provide the testing for you. Ask for an IEP, especially for the speech problem and if she has any learning problems, now is the time to get an evaluation. Warning; If you get rid of one compulsive behavior it is often replaced by another. You need to get to the root cause.

I am the mother of two beautiful girls also. both of them were thumb suckers. My older daughter started when she was 5 months old and she sucked her thumb so much that she would get minor yeast infections on her hand. With her bribary worked. We told her that she wouldn't have her 6th birthday party if she didn't quit. It took a couple of months for her to break the habit completely.

My second child was a different story. She never got the infections but the habit lasted until she was almost 11. She would talk with her thumb in her mouth. The whole family was constantly reminding her to take it out. No bribary worked with her. I talked to her doctor about having an appliance installed in her mouth that would make her stop. The appliance is cemented in around the upper teeth and it fits against the roof of the mouth. It stays in for 6 months and it costs if I remember correctly $500. It is drastic but from the reviews I read it works. I didn't have to have the appliance installed though, instead my girls were getting ready for braces and we were told that they would need to have pallate expanders installed and that this should do the trick for the thumb sucking. And it did. Immediately. I know $500 is alot of money but not much compared to all the dental work she may need. I wished I could've told you that I found an easier solution, but it just wasn't easy.

Good luck,
L.

Hi Michele,

I sucked my own thumb until age 5. What finally worked is that the dentist told my parents to inform me that I would have many cavities due to thumb sucking and would have to spend hours upon hours in the chair getting drillled. Every kid's nightmare!

Best,
S.

I don't know if you want to take these measures, but you can ask your dentist about a habit device, which is installed at the roof of the mouth. My daughter's had 3 prongs on it which point down, preventing thumb-sucking. She wore it for 6 months, and told everyone that it was a retainer. Her urge to suck her thumb dissipated in about 3 days, but the dentist wanted to ensure the habit would not return. She's been thumb free for about 1.5 years. I can't say that I loved this method. Sometimes food would get stuck in it. Once she bit her tongue on it, which must've been very painful. But it worked. The habit device, however, didn't work for my son. He was 3 when it was installed and he broke prongs off.

Before you look for a solution you have to find the problem on why she is doing this,.. is she tired, stressed, hungrey, does she do this to relax her self, to get attention.. start writing down when she does this the most, then you can start changing her habit with what she is doing when the thumb goes in the mouth, threatening her won't work.....

Good Luck

My sister sucked her thumb until she needed braces. She wore gardening gloves around the house and to bed. She finally stopped.

Hi M.,

As embarrassing as it is, I sucked my thumb until I was a little older than your daughter. I came from a wonderful and loving home where my parents tried everything to get me to stop and failed. I was comforted by it and just didn't want to stop--I remember the exact moment when I stopped, I was trying to find a comfortable position to sleep in and discovered that if I took my thumb out of my mouth I could assume a very comfy position. And so I did and never sucked my thumb again. Maybe some kids just like to suck their thumbs, or drag their blankies, --whatever. I say just let her suck her thumb-- don't talk about it, she will let it go when she is ready. Two girls, how darling!