"9 Year Old Still Sucking Thumb"

I would like advice on this issue as well. I have a 9 year old sucking fingers and a 11 year old sucking her thumb. Please HELP!!!!

Hi K., I'm a mother of an 8 month old baby boy, and my wonderful husband of 15 years has always told me that he had used hot sauce on his other kids fingers to keep them from putting their fingers in their mouths. I don't know how well this works for I have never heard of this before. If you try this I hope that it works for you. Good luck.

L. S.

We used vinegar to get my daughter to stop sucking her 2 middle fingers (instead of thumb). She hated the smell when it got near her nose and the taste wasn't so pleasant either. After a few days she was over sucking her fingers. Hope this helps.

About me: SAHM of 3, a 9 yr old son, and 8 yr old daughter, and a 2 yr old daughter. Married to my high school sweetheart and very in love.

my little brother is grown and he just a year ago stopped sucking his thumb and believe me my parents, babysitters, and grandparents tried everything. he will stop when he wants no matter what you do

Ever read the Berenstain Bears "Sister's Bad Habit"? She kept bitting her nails which now was a habit and she didn't realize it most of the time. What the Bear parents did was give her money each day and if she bit her nails she had to pay it back to the parents. Money was a great motivator. Use coins so they can hear it jingle in their pocket throughout the day as a reminder not to suck the thumb. lol. You may have use a wrap of some kind on the thumb to know if he sucked on it when you weren't looking. If the wrap is gone or looks different you know he used the thumb. My six year old keeps putting his fingers in his mouth for some reason. I worry more about where is hands have been than him actually putting them in his mouth.

i agree with catherine....100%

First determine if it a bad habit or if he is having a psycological problem. If he is feeling insecure with any thing that is going on in his life, a bully, a new sibling, a move, etc; you will have to use talking to solve those problems and the thumb sucking wil stop on it's own.
If it's a bad habit you can try taking something away every time he's caught or if it is time specifc like when he is riding the car or watching t.v., you can reward him every time he doesn't do it, "thumb no more" topical treatment, and regular reminding in conjonction with you removing his thumb from his mouth. He's 9 and should be old enough to understand that consequense, good or bad, accompanies every action.
Good Luck!

They have some really nasty tasting stuff to keep people from biting their nails that you could put on his thumb nail to keep him from sucking his thumb. I believe you can get it at any beauty supply store.

My son did the same. He is now a married man with two children of his own. What did I learn? The best advice I can give is to just let your son do his thing. The fact is that time, and peer pressure, will take care of it. Remember that as a mom, you can only do so much (no matter how much you want to do). And our child's thumb-sucking isn't about us - it's not even some deep psychological thing our children bear. They just suck their thumbs. So don't make a big deal out of it and he won't either. Give it time and time takes care of, and heals, all.

I sucked my finger (actually) well into my older childhood, and I think the reason is, my parents split up when I was four, and my mother was stressed out ever after. It was my comfort thing. If I could have advised my mom the way I can send this note to you, I would have told her to find us all a good family therapist.

Therapy is great for lots of reasons. It doesn't mean you have anything to be embarrassed about. I think we could all use it at some point or another.

Whatever you do, don't just deal with the symptom by forcing him, one way or another, to stop sucking his thumb. There's a reason *why* he's doing it, and stopping sucking his thumb won't solve that part of it. He needs support and love.

Good luck! Hope this helps.

L.

It takes 2 weeks to make a habit, and 2 weeks to break a habit. That was the piece of information my mom used to break me of thumb-sucking when I as 9.

I had to go for two weeks without sucking my thumb in order to get the Barbie horse, Dallas (does anybody else remember Dallas? LOL) She told me how long and why and what I could get. Then she helped me find ways to remember not to suck it. I think I settled on tape, because it was fun to wrap around and actually hindered sucking by poking me on the roof of my mouth.

When the two weeks (plus a few extra days at the begining for when I forgot and sucked), she took me to get the horse. I played with it for about an hour, then stuck my thumb back in my mouth...

Mom nearly cried as she took the horse away for another week.

When I got it back that time, I got to keep her.

My husband sucked his thumb until he was 13 yrs old. He finally got tired of doing it so he stuck that hand under his mattress for about 2 weeks and finally stopped. When he gets tired of it he'll stop. It's a habit and sometimes a security blanket. Just give him time.

I sucked my middle two fingers on my left hand until right before I turned 10. It was my "security blanket". I wasn't depressed or needed therapy... it was a habit. I had, and still have, an oral fixation and it was my comfort to fall asleep. My daddy would put hot sauce, vinegar, tape a pencil to them... everything. I finally just quit one day and haven't done it since. My teeth are perfect and I don't have any marks or showings that I sucked them for that long. I say just let it go and he'll quit. He won't be going to high school wanting to suck his thumb in the middle of class... so don't worry about it.

K., most of these moms are right. leave him be. It is not hurting his teeth,. this has been proven. he isn't disturbed as one mother suggested, he taught himself to selfsooth as a baby using this method. My sister STARTED sucking her thumb at 3 because the kid next door did. Now at 40 if she is under an enormous stress her hubby says she does it in her sleep. He'll stop when he;s ready. It unconsciously brings him comfort and relieves stress. why would you want to take that away from him? Tell gparents, aunts uncles etc that they are to stay out of it, and NOT speak a word about it to him , you are the mom and you are handling it.

just leave him along he will give it up on his terms if you try to get him to quit it will make him do it longer my older son was born sucking his thumb and the doctor told not to try and get him to quit he also starved cause he couldn't suck both his thumb and the bottle he stills sucks it in his sleep sometimes and he is 43 just leave well enough alone my mother painted my thumb with all kinds of stop sucking stuff I just gritted my teeth till I got it all off my right thumb is funny shaped because of it but I might not have sucked it as long if my mother didn't put all that stuff on it he might be insecure that sometimes causes a child to do it it all might just be a habit and don't try hot sauce cause that could make him sick or burn his mouth and later in life he might not be able to eat hot sauce good luck