Thumbsucking! Almost 3 Yr Old Daughter

This is a tough one. My 8 year old sucked her thumb till she was 7 years old and one day she just stopped needing it. Every pediatritian & dentist told me the same thing. "Don't push her to stop, it will happen when she is ready". You'll find it is much more annoying to you and your spouse than it is to anyone else. Just remember, you are dealing with a little ego that is precious and you are the one molding it.

Hello D.!

I had two kids (out of the 7) who thumb sucked. We made sure that we kept their hands productive with hands on activities as they had breaks from the "ginger" paste, which they actually loved. Yes, one of them, we tried the polish. We reminded ourselves to become patient as well.
We noticed that it was those activities and socializing with other home school kids helped wean them off the habit.
Make sure there are no other stressors that is triggering the habit.

Hope this helps!
Dr. Maria M.
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http://drmona111.cellularhealthplan.com

My 4 y.o. has been sucking his thumb since he was 2 months old. Gave up the pacifier. Anyway, he is both a thumbsucker and nose picker and rubs his boogers on the top of his nose. He's weird. Anyway, his dentist recommended chewy toys for him. I'll be getting that next week from his speech therapist.

I sucked my fingers for a long time. It was a comfort for me, but I eventually grew out of it. I say she will grow out of it. My dad tried to get me to quit but it wasnt until I realized that other kids werent doing it that I quit. My son doesnt have this habit, but I understand first hand. By the way what church do you go to? It wouldnt happen to be CIC? Just curious because my pastor always says blessed and highly favored. Good confession!!

she is doing all that to comfort herself. because she is 3 you should be able to talk to her and ask her what is wrong. my daughter had a similar pattern before going to bed or when she was tired. all you need to do is figure out what is triggering her to do these things and help her find other things to do such as holding and petting a dolls hair or if you really want the thumb sucking to stop give her a passy (yes i understand she is three) to stop her from sucking her thumb and a passy is a lot easier to take away than a thumb. Hope I helped a little bit. A.

Ahhhh D.,

I remember doing the EXACT same thing myself when I was young. It went on until I was 7, then they put some spikey thing in the roof of my mouth and that ended it. It was around 1967 so they probably don't do this anymore. My mom tried everything and none of it worked. I'm sure there are newer methods for treating this but don't let what other people think bother you about this. Every kid has their way of coping. I wouldn't worry overly much until she's a little older. I turned out OK and it went on until age 7.

Love Wii Tennis too.

T. C.
Spa Girlfriend Parties
www.spaescapescottsdale.com

D.,
My son (almost 8) went to a dentist and he has a retainer in his mouth that actually prevents him from sucking his thumb. (It's about 300.00)Although it seems to me like he replaced it with picking his nose!!!! LOL!!

As for the @ home version, try painting her nails it makes it taste bad enough not to suck (don't tell her why you are painting her nails). You will need to put on new coats to make it stay bad tasting. It's a good way to help stop but not let her feel "pushed".

You could also try carrying around hand sanitizer. I used to tell my son that his hand was REALLY germy and not to put his thumb in his mouth, until I gave him the cleaner or he would get sick. Once on he didn't want to suck his thumb. He then only sucked his thumb at night. Obviously not completely fixing the problem.

Thumb sucking is a hard one to stop - it's not like you can take a thumb away like you can a pacifier.

Good Luck!

I happen to be an advocate of thumbsucking! Strange, huh? My daughter sucked her thumb til she was 6ish, I guess. The dentist kept trying to get her to stop, and asked me about it. I told him I'd rather pay for braces than for therapy. Sure enough, she's a healthy, happy confident 14 year old--and guess what? She doesn't suck her thumb anymore! Please don't let it bother you. There are things that are so much worse. Let your babies be babies. It really does fly by! I think thumbsuckers are some of the most contented babies/kids on the planet. They know how to soothe themselves~that's worth it's weight in gold right there! They'll outgrow it. Just sit back and relax. It really is pretty cute, I think.

Hi D.!

My daughter is 5 and we used the Thumb Guard. See this link for more info:

http://www.onestepahead.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId...

As they say 21 days breaks a habit and this worked for her. She wore it 24/7 and no more thumb sucking. It's around $75, but I figure what's $75 to having dental problems and braces later.

Our dentist (and family friend) told us to let our daughter go until she was 3 or 4. Just before she turned 5, we got her to stop by using a product called "Stop the Bite" by Hoof. I found it at Wal Mart in the nail care isle. You paint it on like nail polish, but it taste really nasty. And it worked awesome. We had tried "Thumb" -she washed it off, and we had an appliance made to keep her from getting her thumn to the roof of her mouth - she fould a way around it. We were considering the thumb guard when another mom on this site recommended Stop the Bite. It was soooooooo much cheaper ($2.74 or $2.47). We started 6 weeks before her 5th b-day and told her if she stopped by her b-day, we would go get our nails done. On occasion I have fould her sucking her thumb and I put on some more product, even in her sleep. We have been thumb free for almost a year now. Her adult front teeth are pretty staight, her speech has improved, but we are seing the orthodonist this month about her pallet. But, 2 out of 3 is pretty awesome! Especially since we pretty much figured that braces were in our future for both our children due to genetics.