Stopping Thumb Sucking Before It Begins

Maybe you meant the 3 1/2 month old had found his thumb? 'cause it says 3 1/2 year old....baby?..... they have some stuff you can paint on it to make it taste bad

Hi Alicia,

I find putting a toy in each hand keeps them involved with some thing other then his thumb. They do have that bitter stuff that comes in a fingernail bottle but if they rub their eye or any mucus membrane it is extreemly painful. You may want to give him sugar free pop-cycles or homemade milk cycles to suck on. I was told my son would grow out of it, but he still, at 29, sucks his thumb in his sleep.

Good Luck ~ F.

Alicia:

You are wise in feeling you need to break his habbit of thumb sucking. It doesn't get better but worse in time. They do have some things at the drug store or you could come up with something to put on his thumb which will make it taste less desirable. I wish I had the trick for you but never found one. I can tell you do anything you can now that I have had to pay $3,000 out of pocket and that was with good dental insurace to cover the rest of his braces but he needed significant work to correct his palet which the thumb sucking mis-aligned!! After a while his thumb will start to make his teeth grown out of alignment as well as create an over bite since the upper jaw is being pulled by the thumb sucking. They do have bite plates but he is too young for that. I would suggest you take him to a child dentist and see what they suggest since they know better than anyone what the thumb sucking will do to his teeth down the road. I know it looked cute back then and I did try to break his habbit but essh... now having to pay for it has hit the pocket book hard! Best wishes to you and hopefully someone can offer a remedy that will help!

I am assuming that there is a type-o above and you meant to say your 3.5 month old son, not your 3.5 yo son....right????

I have a 3.5 yo son and he was a paci sucker from the get go. I have a 14 month old daughter she is a thumb sucker through and through. At 3 months she found her thumb and there was nothing I could do to get her to take a paci or anything else for that matter. After spending lots of money on different paci's in an effort to get her to stop sucking her thumb, I finally gave up. In the grand scheme of things I figured being a thumb sucker wasn't so bad. I just need to set aside more money for her to possibly have braces later :(.

My daughter also wouldn't take a bottle until we FINALLY found the right nipple. It is the Gerber Orthodontic Nuk nipple...the small mouth one. Nothing else worked, even other orthodontic nipples from different brands.

Good luck!

Dear Alicia:

If you're talking about a 3 1/2 MONTH old, can't you just nurse him every time he does this so that his attention shifts? Nurse the heck out of him and play a lot of those peek-a-boo and clapping games so that he uses his hands actively, not passively.

I agree with your mom, I would want to avoid the habit of thumb-sucking just because it's hard to break. But, just so you know, whether or not your child needs braces in the future has little to do with thumb-sucking. Not only has the ortho told me this but neither of my children were thumb or binky suckers and they both needed and have braces. It's strictly hereditary (Baby might inherit your little mouth and daddy's big choppers or daddy's shark teeth and mama's wide gumline, etc.) and most kids nowadays require them.

Best wishes,

M.

I agree with Penny. I have a 21/2 yr old and a 16 month old and one sucks their thumb and one sucks on 2 fingers. SO BE IT! That is the way they soothe themselves since I never used a pacifier because I hate them.It is a habit that CAN be hard to break, but may noy be hard to break as well. There was a article I read where a study was done between babies that sucked their thumbs,etc and those that used pacifiers and those that sucked their thumbs were happier babies. I am not quite sure what that means, but goes to show everyone has their own opinion. I see nothing wrong with kids sucking their thumb,fingers,etc. It does not mean that they are any weaker or anything from other kids-it is SIMPLY their way of soothing or calming themselves. L.

Hi Alicia,

I wish I had advice for you... I don't... what I wanted to tell you was that my son is a thumb sucker and has been since he was 4 months old (he is now 3 1/2) and it is really really difficult for us to get him to stop! At first I thought it was cute and was a great way to pacify, but now I can't get him to stop. I think maybe you can try keeping him busy (especially his hands) and see if that helps. Maybe even telling him that we don't put our hands in our mouths, only food (these are things I have tried and it works temporarily but not long term.. however, mine has been sucking his thumb for a long time, maybe if you do it now before he starts to form a habit it may help).
If you get any other advice, I would love to hear about it.

Lots of luck,

N.

Ignore it. Something is making him anxious and he's trying to calm himself. You might ask him if something is worrying him (use more descriptive words) and see if that helps.

i know you don't want him to suck his thumb and i know the reasons cause i felt the same way. My son took a pacifier and still does at night (he is 2.5) and my daughter, 9.5 months sucks her thumb. My son started sucking his thumb when he was a baby and i replaced it with the binkie, i thought it would be easier to take away..haha!
My daughter ONLY sucks her thumb at night or nap time. She sometimes puts her thumb in her mouth while awake or throughout the day and i take it out. Now she is only doing it in her crib. She can self pacify, she has been sleeping through the night since 5 weeks and she is happy. Why take it away?! She can't loose it and she always knows where it is! unlike the pacifier. Every time i had an ultra-sound (which i had them all the time cause i was high-risk) she was sucking her thumb. :)
If he is happy, i would let him. Maybe not during the day but maybe at night, to keep him happy and sleeping well!
Just a thought. Do what is best for YOU and YOUR family!
Good Luck
A.

why don't you want him to suck his thumb! what is the real concern? i know mother's who pray for a thumb-sucker..a self-soother. what a blessing! my daughter has sucked her thumb from the beginning and for that i am thankful. i don't chase pacifiers, try and talk her out of her feelings, or try and distract her with my idea of how i think she should look. i sucked my thumb until i was well into double digits at night time. i am now 38. i never had braces and my teeth have always been beautiful. i never missed out on anything from sucking my thumb, never got beat-up or made fun of, and guess what? i don't suck my thumb any more!

Oue 2 year old (#2) just started doing this, but it's his hand and fingers....because that's what he sees his baby sister (#3) of nearly 3 months doing. He's copying. We tell him "yuck" and hand him a towel, napkin, etc to dry it off. It's a phase.

Our 5.5 year old never went through it when #2 showed up....but then again #2 didn't put his hand in his mouth.

My baby started putting his thumb in his mouth at that age, too. I was determined to not let him suck it (I can't afford braces) and every time he started to put it in I pulled it out. I would hold him, play with him, kiss his hands, offer him a pacifier, and it kept him distracted. He's 15 months now, and still occasionally puts his thumb in his mouth but I promptly pull it out and distract him.

You seem divided within yourself on this issue. At first you say that you want to avoid it if you can, however, shortly after, you say that it is your mother that says avoid it. Be careful here. We all love our moms and appreciate their advice but, in the end, YOU are the mom now and what you say for your kids goes...no if's, and's, but's or well intentioned mothers! So, after that, my question to you is: why do you want to avoid it? From my point of view you are fortunate. A child who sucks his/her thumb is a child who can self-sooth. I think thats a good thing. Our daughter is a thumb-sucker and when it is bed time, she pops her thumb right in, snuggles with her blanket and is out. Our son has not found his thumb yet (6 months) and he cries and fusses and crams his blanket and fist in his mouth as he tries to get to sleep. I always have to go in his room and make sure that he hasn't fallen asleep with a wad of blanket in his mouth. It's frustrating and he is so close. Ironically, unlike you, I am sooooo hoping that my boy will find his thumb! :) And, if you are worried about his teeth, there are braces. It seems like nowadays everyone gets them so he won't be unusual or odd. But, my opnions aside (just like Mom!), I think that for a three month old, you are already doing everything that you can to help him. You want to be gentle with them at that age and I am not sure that there is that much more that you can do. I know there are products out on the market that look like nail polish but they are actually just a bitter liquid that you paint on the thumb and the taste discourages the child from sucking. However, I am not farmiliar with the age limit or if there even is one. Whatever YOU decide, best of luck!

I seem to remember my son using a pacifier for a very short time, like 6 months. When we thought he could do without it, we tossed it and that was that. My youngest on the other hand discovered the thumb. She loves it. She uses it to self sooth all the time. I really don't think she would go to sleep without it. I have just started researching things I can put on her safely to discourage the thumb sucking. I have to say, I feel guilt doing anything because I sucked my fingers until my first boyfriend asked me if I knew I sucked them when I slept, and of course I didn't know that I still did(embarrassing). I would say maybe try a paci instead of letting the thumb become a habit and then you can toss it when you decided that it is time, or you can let your son do what he will and he might just stop around 3 or 4 years like most thumb/finger suckers. They say only people dealing with trauma will continue to suck past the toddler years(who knows)

it's not his need to suck but a way that he can calm himself down. Let him suck his thumb it's not the worst thing in the world as we all need a way to feel clam within ourselves and if you try to stop it could cause frustration despite what others might say it's OK!

child therapist

Well, it sounds like it is actually your baby who is thumb sucking... My daughter discovered her thumb at about 4 months, and I thought it was soo cute, but she takes a pacifier and lost interest in her thumbs and fingers pretty quickly. The recommendation to stop, or take away, a pacifier is about 9 months. My daughter is 14 months and only gets the pacifier if she is contained by me, the car or stroller, or at nap and bedtimes. She asks for it sometimes, but she is doing fine without it. And no thumb sucking...
Good luck
R.

Did you mean your three 1/2 MONTH old has started sucking his thumb? I wouldn't worry about it. It's great he has found his hands...the thumbs connected, he's going to put it in his mouth and suck it too. I heard it's a sign of intelligence to self sooth. Who knows if he will even continue doing it through out being a toddler. There's so much more to explore as he develops right? My son is the same age and I couldn't think of anyway to stop it if I wanted to...I couldn't imagine trying. He also likes he's pacifier so maybe that's why it concerns me less. I never even see kids sucking there thumbs anymore. Weird uh? I doubt if it's because parents "stop" there kids from doing it.

I'm agreeing with you on this. Stop it before it starts.

At 3 1/2 months old he doesn't need to suck anything, My hubby and I agreed that thumbs were out and we both hated the binky thing. Some Parents never take the binky out.

Watch for signs of when he does it. Is it sleepy times, board times, or mad. Then try to teach him how to deal with this time diffrently. Put socks on his hands when he sleeps, or even durring the day. Most baby's suck their fists because they are hungry. Maybe you could try wet & cold wash cloths where he can chew on them and they have water that he can suck out. This will also help with teething and the cold feels good on their gums. Good Luck! J.

Alicia ~
For starters I am sorry to read that so many people who posted can not read. I had the same problem here a couple months ago, on the same topic. My daughter started sucking her thumb at 5 months and I have not been able to get her to stop. I take it out, distract her, tried Thum (peppery stuff) and nothing works. Don't bother asking a dentist their opinion; of course they are going to be an advocate for a screwed up mouth. (my husband and I have perfect teeth and never needed braces) I have not given up the fight. I still offer my daughter a pacifier, take her thumb out of her mouth, distract her, etc. If you find anything that works, please let me know.
You may want to try 'mittens' if he doesn't know how to take them off yet.
GOOD LUCK!!!!