Finger Sucking - Del Rio,TX

I was a nailbiter when I was young but I think this home remedy that my grandmother used when I stayed with her one summer should work for finger sucking as well and it doesn't involve peppers. You will need to two things. A can of alum powder and a washcloth. Alum powder is on the spice aisle at the grocery store. It is used for canning or pickling.
My grandmother would keep it on my fingernails and if I put them in my mouth it was like sucking on 10 lemons at once. It doesn't really have a flavor per se but it is VERY tart and yucky! She would keep a damp washcloth with her whenever we went anywhere. If I put my fingers in my mouth I had to keep the washcloth in my mouth in place of it and in public!! It only took a couple of days and I never did it again.!! Good Luck!

In the interest of helping even a little I am going to reveal a family secret. I sucked my thumb until I was 12.

Nothing worked to dissuade me, including peer pressure, I just learned how to hide it better. It is a soothing thing and an incredibly difficult habit to break once it has started. This is why when my children showed signs of wanting to suck on a finger or fingers as infants, I immediately encouraged them to use a binky instead as I could wean them from that and eventually just take it away...something a wee bit difficult to do with fingers.. ;-)

The only reason I was able to stop was when I was at the orthodontist, they informed me they would not fix the crowding of my teeth until I stopped as it would cause their work to be useless and my parents would have spent all that money for nothing...

After that I wore bandaids making sure the sticky part was on my nail...this was harder to get off once the bandaid was gone and tasted awful. It helped me to kick the habit like nothing else.

I hope this helped you out in some way... ;-)

Good Luck...

By now it is not only a comfort, it is a habit. There are two things you can do now. Wait until she grows out of it, or stop the habit. There are two things I can think of. The first is just reminding her with a key word. It can be "germs" or "fingers." Once I google imaged "bacteria" and showed my girls what was on their fingers. The other thing is more severe...tabasco. The only problem with tabasco is that while she is playing, she can get it in her eyes or on her toys...I would try the inventive scare tactics about what is on her fingers.

I also had a daughter that sucked her fingers,I tried all of the above including jalapeno's but nothing worked. Did you ever think she does this to get your attention? Leave her alone, you'r mking way too much out of this, concentrate on really important issues so as not to focus on her finger sucking...she will outgrow it soon enough and you'll wish she was 3 yrs. old again!(finger sucking and all)mine did.

K.,

Don't know that I have anything new to add that other moms have not mentioned, but I also have a 5 year old boy who still sucks his thumb at home. When I tried to get him to stop he became more anxious so I figured I would rather pay for braces than therapy! It is often a way for them to calm themselves, so one thing that might help, especially if she does not feel pressured, is to help her learn other ways of self-soothing. My son covers his ear with his blanket sometimes and I have taught him some imagery, some deep breathing etc.

It's a comfort thing, so if you take away the finger sucking, be sure to replace it with something else to comfort her.

Also, rather than make such a big deal about, just tell her she's too old for public finger-sucking and that she can only do it in her room. She'll soon get tired of running off to her room to stay there for the duration of each finger-sucking episode. This also takes away the "forbidden" aspect of it. And your dentist is right, she'll stop when she hits school.

I would try to have a secret signal between your and your daughter, such as you patting your thigh. This is her signal to stop sucking her fingers. Your daughter probably doesn't even realize she is doing it. She might like having a secret signal with Mommy, so play it up! I tried this with a student of mine and it seemed to work, but he was older. Best of luck!

From the way you make it sound, it appears to only bother you. Maybe she's doing it "so much" because she senses that it bugs you so much. A lot of kids "suck" their fingers/thumbs as a source of security. I would not necessarily say 3 is too old for this. She should grow out of it eventually and yes peer pressure at school will definitely have an impact. As long as you keep her hands clean, what's the big deal? Later on, yes it can be a problem for her teeth.

My daughter did the same thing (thumb) and I tried all of the different things you did, even jalepeno. She just sucked it more. Finally, she stopped during the day (on her own) and only did it at night. I ended up getting those little fuzzy stretch gloves and taping them on her hands so she couldn't take them off. That did the trick.

Just a thought.... Maybe you should not make such a big deal of it and she will stop.

Hi K.,

I have a 2 & 7 year old (girls)that both suck their fingers. I guess for me I don't view it as a problem. Their finger sucking has in no way damaged their teeth which is a greater concern for me. In the beginning I did try to stop the 7 year old, the more I tried to stop her the more she wanted to suck on those fingers. I eventually just left her alone, didn't even try with the 2 year old.

When I was a child I also sucked my thumb. No form of anti thumb sucking methods my mother used worked. No peer pressue worked. One day I just decided I was going to quit and did. My teeth didn't buck, I have never had to wear braces and I turned out perfectly fine.

I hope in some way this will be a help or encouragement to you.

Hi K.. My 3 year old sucks his fingers too, ever since he was in the womb (have a sonagram of it ha!ha!). However, he seems to do it less as he gets older. I have two suggestions. My son has a "blankie" and he almost always sucks his fingers when he is carrying it so I started leaving it in his bed when he gets up. This has drastically decreased how often he sucks on his fingers. So if your daughter usually has a security blankie,teddy bear, etc. see if you can get her to leave it behind sometimes. My second suggestion is a finger guard. They sell them at www.onestepahead.com just search for fingerguard (spelled just like this). It's expensive ($75) but it is a rubber type guard that covers the fingers making it uncomfortable for them to suck on them. Goodluck and let me know if it works...I plan on using this if my son is still sucking his fingers next year!

I have a 4 almost 5 year old that still sucks his finger. When he turned 4, he stopped doing it constantly and now only does it when he is sleepy. We have asked the pediatrician how to make him stop and were told to leave him alone. Hounding him about it will only make it worse. We have tried nail biter, hot sauce (the response we got from this was "It tastes good, can I have some more."), wrapping it in a band aid. Nothing works. I can tell you however, since we have quit bothering him about it so much, he does seem to have slacked off a bit. Just hang in there!!!

I am in the same boat, but with my 3 year old son. We have told him that he can suck his fingers when he is in his bed only. I does have slip ups when he's tired or upsett, but usually just the reminder is enough.

why does it have to stop now? my son does it...but my pedi said it was a phase. it's not harming anything, so why punish her? if you are too hard on her about it she might act out another way.

I don't remember having peer pressure to stop, but maybe there was some. The jalopenos didn't work to stop my finger sucking, because I would grab some ice to suck on and run around the house until the burning of the pepper stopped. I do remember that I was already in school when I stopped. I had to lay on my hands during the night to stop; I kept waking up and then putting my hands behind me again to stop it. So of course when my own child sucked her fingers I didn't even worry about it. I could see that it was mostly when she was sleepy and it was a comforting thing. She stopped before she even started school (better than me). She has Down syndrome and the dentist said that the sucking and thrusting motion of the jaw muscles probably helped keep her from having a receding jaw that you often see in Downs.
Linda C

If peer pressure works try play dates, take her to McDonalds to play or the park where there are lots of other children. Maybe a mothers day out program. My son was out of diapers and weaned early. I lost my sitter to relocation and a friend with a son the same age as mine (3) offered to keep him. Her son was still wearing diapers and still sucked a bottle. After a few months her son gave up the bottle and soon after the diaper. Thank God it did not go the other direction.