6 Year Old Thumb Sucker

My sister in law had this problem and nothing seemed to work untill she implimented duc tape. I know it sounds a little harsh, but the bad tasting stuff didn't work and bandaides came off to easily... so she put duc tape on her thumb. it was a little more extensive then this though.

In the mornning she would give the chance of no tape and no sucking, but as soon as she caught her sucking her thumb she put duc tape on. Then the next thumb went in and it got suc tape.... every finger that went in the mouth got duc tape. Eventually it worked. Not over night, but it worked. If she is in school you might try it over spring break... or this summer.

I have heard, from many parents and adults who used to suck their thumb, that the child will suck their thumb no matter what you do. I have found a solution in a "Love and Logic" book. Make it "no big deal," but if you want to suck your thumb, do it in your room. You may suck your thumb all you want...in your room. Eventually, the room becomes very boring. The only way to come out is to stop sucking the thumb. The key is to make it NO BIG DEAL! "Oh, sure...you may suck your thumb...in your room." Obviously, make the time OUT of the room really fun and where she would rather be. Just an idea. Best of luck.

A woman at my son's daycare told me her grand daughter sucked her thumb till she was 7. She just wouldn't give it up till she was ready. My son was an avid thumb sucker from birth (and probably before birth) and he was finished with his thumb by 5. He was in pre-school, and then kindergarten, and they would constantly remind them their thumb should not be in their mouth (and they did their best to keep their hands busy). They only allowed it at nap time (after hands were washed). At 5 or 6, it's easy to explain to them why thumb sucking is a bad idea. They don't care about their teeth or palate. But if you help them clean their hands, and clean under the nails and show them that even clean looking hands has yucky stuff under the nails, and they are putting germs and dirt in their mouths, the yuck factor can help put a stop to it. You can also say you don't want their friends to make fun of them (peer pressure), so if they have to keep the thumb, leave it only for nap or bedtime. Making an issue of it only seems to make them want to do it more. One way or another, they all outgrow it eventually.

As a thumb sucker, the more pressure I recieved the more resistence i put up. Just leave it alone. It is her comfort thing. I used to do it only when i was tired. So make sure she is well rested and eventually you will notice that she will do it less and less. Unforunately it is still very hard to fall asleep with my thumb. Please love and support her and don't put any pressure on her. Just make sure she keeps her hands clean.

M.,

How much time do you spend with your 6 year old? Most of the time a child who sucks their thumb is insecure about something and needs that extra encouragement and reassurance. My daughter is 4 years old and I know she's insecure when she sucks her thumb. We are in the middle of potty training her and this is a whole new feeling for her so she feels insecure about her world therefore sucking her thumb. Try to find out what she feels insecure about and then work on reassuring her that everything is ok. Hope this helps, God Bless.

http://www.amazon.com/MAVALA-Stop-Biting-Thumb-Sucking/dp...

I understand there's psychological stuff to be seen to, blah, blah, but in the meantime she's doing it serious damage to her mouth. Sounds bad. My kid would still be sucking her thumb if we didn't use the stuff my friend gave me the rest of, the Mavala Stop. She didn't come close to using the whole bottle and she stopped her little girl's thumb sucking and her own nail biting! I thought my daughter would never stop thumbsucking and she was five, and it was DONE in two weeks. And we still have quite a lot left. The gap in her front teeth has gone from about 5mm to 2mm in less than two months. Her teeth were loose, not anymore.

You might want to look at how much attention your girl gets, but that's probably not the problem. It's just a habit that needs to be broken and it needs to be broken before she starts loosing her baby teeth. If not you will have an orthodontic nightmare on your hands.

If you really think it's psychological, talk to her and ask her why she does it. If she has no answer, keep asking. Eventually it will come out, if there's anything TO come out. In the meantime, physically, it doesn't matter why, it needs to be dealt with.

I was somewhat surprised that all of the responses universally agreed that thumbsucking is bad and something that must be stopped, so I thought I'd throw in an opposing view. I grew up sucking my thumb and my parents never tried to discourage me. In fact, I remember my mom encouraging me to suck my thumb when I was upset to calm myself down. It is a wonderful self-soothing mechanism and I can't imagine the trauma I would have felt if someone tried to force me to give it up. I had to come to that on my own and I had to really want to do it.

As for the teeth, it did not cause any noticeable problems with my teeth, except that I did have a gap. I later had problems with TMJ that I don't think was related, so I ended up having braces in my 20's. It's possible that my bite was off in part due to the thumbsucking. But I figure most kids these days are going to need orthodontic work for one reason or another. Could it be possible that your daughter's oral problems have nothing to do with the thumbsucking?

My infant daughter is a thumbsucker and I am very glad. I know it will provide her with years of comfort and she will be able to calm herself, which her older brother has a very hard time doing. While I will not actively encourage it the way my mom did, I am not going to try to stop her, but let her grow out of it on her own. If she needs braces as a teenager, then I will probably use that event as a backdrop to talk to her about the benefits of giving it up, if she hasn't already on her own. Anyway, just a vote for gentler, child-led approach to quitting (or not quitting).

I just wanted to recommend you consider going with the idea that your daughter can suck her thumb, but only in her room. My sister sucked her thumb for years, and that's what finally made her stop. She was old enough to know that she was missing out on things by being stuck in her room, and she trained herself to not suck in front of other people which eventually led to her stopping all together. If your daughter likes to be with other people this could work for her without causing a huge power struggle.

I have heard of people putting pepper, hot sauce, vinegar, something the child does not like on their thumb and they will not suck it. Or you can also probably get the nail polish used to curb nail biting and she won't want that either. It is funny how the 5-6 age is bringing a whole new world of questions with it! Good luck!

Here's some professional advice. From the book I recently read on parenting
"Keep your active and engage her hands as much as possible. Try finger painting or any activity that requires your child to hold on(swinging, rocking horse.)

Engage your child in song and conversation when possible.

For little girls, offer to paint her fingernails, but tell her that a good manicure will be ruined by sucking, or she has to choose between the manicure and her thumb sucking ( & be prepared for the fact that she may choose her thumb,& be OK with that).

Bring other family members into the mix. Have your child call an aunt or a grandma to report her progress in breaking the habit.

If all else fails, go back to the doctor or dentist & speak with her about prescribing a bitter ointment or a mouthpiece that stops sucking at night."

I really hope some of this helps, and everything will work out. But the key thing, just like the other user said: do not make a big deal out of it. Remember, your child observes & absorbs your reactions(especially, at this age, it's important), if she sees you dramatize then she knows what makes you upset, & more than likely she'll continue doing it.

Try dipping her fingers in white vinegar a few times a day. This may deter her. Of course, some kids actually like vinegar, so you could try lemon juice too.

My sister did this, and it turned out that her palate was high and the thumb sucking helped her breathe; she ended up with an appliance to spread her palate--my mom had to turn a key a 1/4 turn every night for a year. Check with the dentist since it's impacting her bite, etc. Your pediatrician may have some ideas, too. Years ago there was terrible tasting stuff that was put on the fingers,I'm not sure how effective that was. It sounds like this started as a comfort measure, but now it's a habit to be broken; you'll have to find a substitute. Does she go to school? Peer pressure is harsh but effective sometimes. Maybe having a friend over for a special day if she goes without the thumb for X days. Put a mitten on her hand when she's sleeping. It takes like 3 weeks to break a habit...

Obviously your daughter started sucking her thumb as a sign of insecurity with your second child. The problem is, once it becomes a habit it's VERY hard to stop. But you absolutely MUST stop this habit. The first step is to spend as much quality time as you possibly can with her. That's the most you can do to curb the insecurity. Don't make a big deal of it, and certainly don't punish her for it, it really doesn't help, only makes the insecurity worse.

My daughter (who is 8 1/2 now) has been sucking her thumb since birth and has basically deformed her mouth. She now has a palatal expander with a built in habit breaker in her mouth (which cost thousands of $$$). She would STILL suck her thumb in her sleep and ended up breaking off the habit breaker piece of her expander. Believe me, you want to stop the thumb sucking before it gets this far.

We tried everything, the nasty tasting nail polish (called Mavala Stop), bandaids on her thumbs, socks and gloves on her hands, an ace bandage around her elbow to keep her from bending her arm up to her mouth. None of it worked, but these would be the first things to try.

If your daughter is making the effort to stop sucking, you can try Thumbusters, which are fabric thumb covers that she wears all day. These only work as a reminder to stop sucking, so if she's not already trying to stop, they may not work. My daughter would suck the cover and all on her thumb, so they didn't work for her. They cost about $13 each on amazon.com. I haven't priced them anywhere else.

We are now using thumb guards (aka T-Guard) which are medical grade flexible plastic covers for her thumbs that use a bracelet, like the kind they use in hospitals, to secure them. They are not cheap, but if nothing else works, this is a last resort short of having a dental appliance installed in the mouth by an orthodontist. The cheapest place to find the thumb guard is on amazon.com, at about $45 each (they cost up to $80 each elsewhere). We had to get two of them since my daughter sucks both her thumbs. The total cost for both thumb guards with shipping was $99. Just look up "thumb guard for thumb sucking" on amazon and you will find they come in different sizes. There is one specifically for 5-6 year olds. My daughter has only been using them at bedtime (they're made to be used 24/7), since she has stopped sucking during the day, but already it's made a huge difference (it's been about a week). She can tell she hasn't sucked her thumb in her sleep and feels very proud in the morning. I wasn't thrilled about spending $100 on these things, but it's better than having to pay thousands more for another expander, and they seem to be working...finally!

Good luck breaking your daughter's habit. I hope this helps some.