My 6 year old son still sucks his thumb. It's kind of amusing because he will hide to suck his thumb. He sleeps every night with his thumb in his mouth. It was great that he did this when he was an infant because it kept him calm he didn't need a pacifier, but he's 6 now, when do kids give this habit up? He will be starting first grade in the fall and I keep telling him that kids will laugh at his thumbsucking. I took him to a dentist who checked his teeth out and his teeth are fine. If I had a dollar for everytime I say, "get your thumb out of your mouth", I'd be rich! Any advice is appreciated.
He will stop when he is ready. My brother sucked his thumb when he was little too. He is now 32 and when he is sleeping his thumb still goes up by his mouth. However, when he was in high school he cut half of it off in shop class.
If I had to guess it is a comfort thing. Maybe you can find something else for him like a blankie. If he doesn't do it in public and hides when he does it then I really wouldn't think it was a big deal.
God, I sucked my thumb for a long time, way older than 6! Eventually I just grew out of it.... I think I was like 15. But even then when I would get sick or have a bad day I went back to it. I'm 32 now, have always had straight teeth w/o orthodontia. I don't think it was necessarily ideal to go to 15 but still, he's only 6. When he doesn't see anyone else sucking their thumb he'll want to stop on his own.
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As a past thumbsucker myself *grin* I say if it ain't broke don't fix it!
Ok, I didn't stop sucking until I went to college! *gasp* I didn't want my college roommate seeing. Hah!
I did miss out on some things. . .My parents refused to get me braces until I quit so guess what I never got?
I also didn't have alot of sleepovers.
Did I turn out ok? I think so. Yup, I have a gap in my teeth but nothing serious enough to make me go get braces now.
Oh and none of my kids suck their thumbs!
I sucked my thumb and my parents tried everything. I stopped on my own. Especially when in school you hear kids making remarks about thumb sucking, it kind of pushes you to not be one of those kids that get made fun of for it (I'm only saying this from personal experience). I wouldn't tell him "get your thumb out of your mouth" anymore either. He's not listening. Just let it be :) When he's ready he will stop.
I'm going through the same thing with my daughter who is 6. The dentist also said her teeth are just fine. I have the nail polish stuff, but I'm too chicken to try it on her. If I see her doing it, I just tell her to take her thumb out of her mouth
This may not help you but it's what I tried with my daughter...you might be able to find something that is equal...
Daughter loves to have her finger nails polished, (and at 6 still gets caught with it in her mouth)...I made a deal with her five days without sucking her thumb and I would paint her nails. I know she still does it at night but she won't do it during the day. I figure in her own time she'll let go of it.
I'm in the same boat with my DD. If you get a magical answer that works please let me know LOL! Just know that you are not alone. :)
I coaxed my dentist into saying that if my daughter kept it up her teeth would be crooked. We then talked about braces and how they can hurt. Just one short talk.
Then we just talked about how big girls don't suck their thumbs, and what she can do instead. She still has her blanket, so we discussed how soothing it is to hold it close to her cheek. How she can also hold her fav stuffed animal close to her face too. She seemed to approach it almost like a smoker (trying to quit) would. She dropped one habit at a time. First not at home, then not in the car, and then not at night.
I honestly think I just got lucky, but these were the things we did/talked about before she quit. We actually didn't even know she quit until we were driving in the car one day and I noticed she wasn't sucking her thumb. I asked how long it had been and she said it was a long time ago. Once I thought about it, I couldn't remember the last time she did. Gave lots of praise, it was so exciting. Best wishes!
our pediatrician suggested folding thick newspapers and roll it around
our dtr's arm so her elbow couldn't bend and she couldn't get her thumb up to her mouth. we did that in the evenings and when she went to bed. Eventually, all the thumbsucking stopped, both day and night!!
I used to work for a pediatric dentist and she recommended a device called a thumb guard. If it gets bad enough the dentist can make a retainer with probes on it that stick the thumb when it is inserted into the mouth. Good luck.
http://www.thumbguard.com/Thumbguard.html
http://www.dentalgentlecare.com/thumbsucking.htm
I'm interested in the responses you get for this one. My son, also (almost 6) still sucks his thumb. I haven't been that worried about it because he doesn't do it much... if he's tired in the afternoon (occasionally) and always at night but only a few minutes until he falls asleep. However, today he went to the dentist and they recommended that we put some pressure on having him stop. It wasn't his teeth as much the top pallet on his mouth that is starting to deform from it. The dentist said that it will go from a comfort habit to an addiction from this age onward, and cause problems later with his teeth. Sounds pretty dramatic to me, but I'm no professional on it...
It feels like the more pressure that's given to stop, the more resistance there is to it. I'll look forward to you answers!
My son sucked his fingers and when he was about 5 I told him that he was getting older and set some "guidlines" for when he could suck them. It was mostly when he was tired, so I said that when we were reading books before bed, when he was in bed, or watching a movie before bed it was o.k to suck his fingers. We did NOT suck them in public or outside. I used germs as a reasoning for this (I didn't want him to feel embarrassed or like he was doing something "wrong").
I worked for him. He does not suck them any more at all. He is 7, but it has been a while since he has.
I really wouldn't worry about when he is sleeping though, as he isn't aware of it and can't really do anything to change his behavior when he is asleep.
Well, my cousin sucked her thumb till she was much older. They don't necessarily out grow it. I'd suggest stepping in and breaking him of the habit. I've heard that they make a bitter tasting spray you put on their finger and they won't like to suck on it. But maybe that's for a younger child.
Maybe try a rewards chart. When he's gone a day without sucking he gets a sticker and when he's got 5 stickers taking him somewhere fun he wants to go.
At night you could put gloves on his hands. Can't imaging that sucking of a gloved thumb would be all that great.
Just keep working with him. I think that eventually he he'll see that the other kids don't so he won't either.
My daughter is 7yrs and she does the same thing. She sucks her thumb when she is tired, scared or nervous. When she started 1st grade last year, I did let her teacher know that she did it during times like that. Funny thing is she never sucked her thumb in school. Though, my daughter did admit that sometimes, she would place her arm on her desk and lay her head on it (you know, to cover her face) so she could suck her thumb. I have tried and tried to get her to stop...no luck! UGH!
