How to Stop "Thumbsucking"? - Chandler,AZ

M.
I had 4 kids now in their 20's 3 of them sucked their fingers. and 1 didn't and I had no problems with their teeth BUT my daughter that didn't scuk any fingers was the one that should have gotten braces.

I am a firm believer that chidren their fingers for other reasons. as much as I disiked the fingers in their mouths I let them go.

maybe try a compromise --- they can suck their thumb while they are in their room but not at school. I think you might have bigger problems if you force her not to suck her fingers.

I have a 6 year old thumbsucker. She only does it at night or if she takes a nap. I am actually thinking about trying these

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=24180523

with a reward system for how many nights she keeps it on. There are some things that she wants and I think if I combine the two, I might be successful. I'll keep you posted!

My sister sucked her thumb until she was in 2nd grade. My mom decided it had to stop, so she had my sister choose a reward, something she really wanted, that she would get when she stopped. She chose having her ears pierced. It took a few weeks for her to stop, but she did it on her own because she really wanted to get her ears pierced. What was most effective was that SHE chose the reward, so it was something she really wanted. BTW, I got my ears pierced after I quit biting my fingernails! Good luck!

I would never put hot sauce on my child! Suppose they would have a skin reaction? I think you can talk to her pediatrician as well as the dentist. there are devices that can be placed on the hand which makes thumb sucking impossible. Plus, if the doctor recommends it, then your daughter will know it's "necessary". Good Luck. We will be going through the same thing soon!

I think that sometimes thunbsucking can just be a bad habit (like biting your nails).

That was the case with my son. We had enough by the time he was 5 as well. I was concerned about his teeth, peer teasing and his health...I mean he didn't stop to wash his hands before he stuck that thumb in his mouth! YUCK.

Anyway, we were able to nip this in the bud over a weekend. We explained to him all the reasons he had to stop and made sure he agreed to the method we chose, which was to simply not allow his arms to reach his mouth by wrapping ACE bandages around his elbows.

This kept his arms straight and he couldn't let his thumb drift out of habit into his mouth during sleep or while watching t.v. It took maybe three days to reprogram the habit and he said he didn't need the bandages any more. He hasn't sucked since, not even in his sleep.

Make sure you take some pictures before you "cure" her. I kind of miss how sweet and blissful he looked sucking away.

We found a book called Harold's Hideaway Thumb. He tries to think of all sorts of ways to stop sucking his thumb. Then we had our daughter help think of ways too. We used ribbon, bandaids, etc during the day which helped. Nighttime was hardest.We got the stuff called Thumb that tasts bad. We told her how awful it tasted and she was afraid to put it in her mouth and never did. Also, the dentist told her that she had 3 months to stop or he'd put a devise in her mouth to stop her from sucking it. The combination of those things worked for us.

We took our daughter to the dentist and he told her she would have to stop, so it wasn't Mommy or Daddy being the bad guy. We gradually removed the thumb sucking. First we identified when she would suck her thumb, (in the car, watching TV, when she got tired), then we broke her habit on each one separately. We started with the car, and made a deal that she could only suck her thumb at red lights. It took a few weeks and all of a sudden she wasn't asking to suck her thumb at red lights, we could drive without her sucking her thumb. Then we made a deal that she could only watch TV if she didn't suck her thumb. If we caught her, we immediately turned off the TV. Once she was pretty good with that, then we talked about not sucking her thumb at night. Throughout all of this we would do special things/treats when she made progress. She got to pick between wearing mittens or socks. She chose mittens and we would put a piece of athletic tape around her wrists so she couldn't take them off. After about 20 days she asked to not wear her mittens anymore. We tried it and she didn't suck her thumb. We also worked with her daycare and they came up with a secret word - her's was dinosaur - to remind her to remove her thumb. And during nap time, if the teachers saw her sucking, they would gently remove her thumb. They were so helpful and protective of her not getting teased by other children while trying to break her habit. Of course we had the incidences of her hiding to suck her thumb and there were set backs but it all worked out. Good luck and be patient.

dipping thumb in jalapeno "juice" & letting finger nails get really long...

I was a horrible thumb sucker as a kid. I did it til I was 7 or 8 I think. What my mom finally did was to tie little socks around my hands lightly with some string and that did it. It was just a habit for me that was hard to break. I can't remember how many nights we had to do that, but it eventually broke the habit.

The only way I've been able to deal with it is to pay attention and every time the thumb goes it, I tell them to take out. I can be a lot of work, but if you are consistent, they will stop.

Thumbsucking needs to stop because it can cause horrible dental problems for her. My sister sucked her thumb for quite a while so much so she had buck teeth in her permanent teeth.

My little sister sucked her thumb forever. We tried all of the bad tasting stuff too, but the only thing that worked was tabasco sauce!!! It might be worth a try!

Myself I have never had to deal with thumbsucking.
I have heard one person talk about hot sauce on the thumb.
Another had daughters nails done pretty and said if you get them done pretty you can't put the thumb in the mouth or you will ruin them.

Thumbsucking is a self-soothing behaviour that arises from the need to soothe oneself. Remove the need and the behaviour will disappear. Trying to force her to stop doing something that makes her feel better when she feels bad is the best possible way to reinforce the behaviour for two reasons:

1. enjoyable behaviour that is pressured becomes persistent (the 'you aren't the boss of me' response) and,
2. if she's doing it to alleviate anxiety, making her more anxious will increase the incidence, not diminish it

You could teach her to replace this nervous habit with another one, but that's hardly a sensible approach. That's like teaching a baby who needs mom's warm loving arms that a blankie is 'the same enough' and then trying to take the blankie away because of impatient with the child's neediness.

I'm not sure why you think her permanent teeth have anything to do with this --the suction (particularly vigorous suction done frequently or for hours on end, like through the whole night) cause dental damage by distorting the upper jaw's development... whether the teeth are in the jaw or out of it.

You do want to stop her if you can. I had one daughter who sucked her thumb and the only thing that stopped her was when I said "Oh no, you're teeth have moved!" they were moving and she was old enough to care. She was eight and stopped immediately. But she had to have an expander to widen her mouth back up since her thumb sucking pushed up the roof of her mouth. Then she had to have braces right away because one of her permanant teeth wouldn't come down. She almost had to have surgery to bring that tooth down but thankfully the expander widened her mouth enough for it to come down on it's own. But we tried everything from the time she was 6 months old. I would say to stay consistent and try everything. Something is bound to work. I sucked my thumb until I was 8 also and had to have surgery to bring down a permanant tooth and braces for 3 years. It's worth it to try to stop her... good luck! I'm sure you'll find something!

we took our 5 year old to the dentist and her scared to telling her he would have to put something in the roof of her mouth that would cut her thumb if she didnt stop sucking it. He said it so much better then that but she never did it again. it worked thank goodness. but she ended up with braces due to thumb sucking. so get to the dentist. asap. good luck.

Hello M.:
You could tell her that the Dentist said that she could get canker sores from having her fingers in her mouth (which is true) and that it is the new rule from the dentist that she can't have her fingers in her mouth. This way it is the dentist's rule...not yours. Maybe that would help.
Heidi

My daughter was a thumb sucker. Since her 1st visit to a dentist at 3 yrs she was told she she would have to stop sucking her thumb at 4. This was reinforced at her next dental appointments as well --- that thumb sucking would alter normal formation of her permanent teeth. At 4 1/2 she got her first loose tooth. She remembered what we told her. When the habit of sucking her thumb kicked in she automatically noticed her wobbly tooth and she wouldn't do it. Since then she has lost her tooth and she no longer sucks her thumb.

All 6 of the kids in my family sucked our thumbs til about the 4th grade. Yes, it does push out the teeth but once she stops sucking it they go back to what they are supposed to be. None of us had braces and all of our teeth are pretty straight. Why would you take something away that makes her feel better? If she gets made fun of at school she wont do it there!