Ok, all you wise Mommies out there, I need HELP! Our son just turned two and has the HORRIBLE habit of thumb sucking. It used to be only when he was sleepy or bored, but lately it has become all the time. He has really bad food allergies and eczema too. Anyhow, lately his poor thumb is bright red and the last few days the top of his hand, above his thumb, has been open sores that keep getting bigger due to him sucking it so much and so hard. I know it has to be from his teeth, but I am at a loss as to what to do in order to get him to stop. So...all you mommies out there that have had children that did this and got them to stop...Will you PLEASE share what you did?
Thanks in advance!
I just threw in the fact that he has allergies/eczema due to that is going to limit what I can do as far as putting things on his skin. We have all of that under control and know that the sores are not from that. We have removed all allergy triggers from our home. I only say it is a HORRIBLE habit as I know that it can be one of the hardest to break; I am well aware that it is soothing to him. We have had open sores in the past before we know about all his allergies and stuff that got infected and that is why I am wanting to stop it now before it gets to be something worse on our hands. To me the logical thing was to try to get him to stop sucking his thumb. I read online that you can do bandaids/athletic tape wrapped around the thumb/hand, but I know him and he will be able to get that off.
We do see his pediatrician today for his 2 year check up, but she is a new one and does not know all of his history. (we had to change due to recently moving to a new town). Sure, she has his records, but you only can get a feel of some things so much on paper without seeing it first hand. Anyhow, I do plan on showing and asking her what she suggests.
Anyhow, thank you all for your responses...I know that this too shall pass!
Hopefully, you will get it all under control (lol!). If and when you decide he really needs to stop sucking the thumb, there is a great device by T-Guard Thumb Guard.
Here is a link for Amazon. It's not cheap, but if nothing else works, this should.
http://www.amazon.com/One-Handed-Thumb-Sucking-Treatment-...
As I said, hopefully this will pass and you'll be on to new and equally fun challenges!
A., 2 is a stressful year. I wouldn't even try except for the open sore on his thumb. You might tell him that he has to wait until the sore is better to suck his thumb and just remove it when you see it without saying anything. You might also try diversion. when building with blocks or doing puzzles it is hard to suck your thumb. Be careful with those disinfecting Purell type hand santizers as ingesting it can give your son alchohol poisoning.
A mitten on his hand at night after he has gone to sleep may also give it some time to heal.
Good luck.
Well... I know this is going to sound like its going against the grain... Here goes... If he has open sores from sucking his thumbs (open sites of irritation and potential infection) then perhaps you should reintroduce the pacifier. After all, that is what the pacifier is for and it can be sanitized, you can control when he gets it. You can then focus on phasing him off the pacifier when he is a little older and more mentally mature (aka: more able to reason with).
It sounds like he is going to suck on something... The question is whether you want to be in control of what he does stick in his mouth... Good Luck!
.
Have you tried wrapping his thumbs in medical tape. Since you probably should put a bandaid on the sores you could always go over it w/the tape. It tastes yucky & may keep him from doing it. Although he MAY figure out how to peel it off, if you keep after him & slap his hand & say "no!" when he tries to either suck his thumbs or peel tape (or whatever you may try), perhaps it'll get him to stop eventually. You could also add "big boys don't do that!" & maybe that will help too. That's all I could come up w/that may be different than the usual 'stuff' that some may suggest putting on his thumbs like hot pepper sauce, etc. Good luck!
I am so sorry you think it is ugly!! I don't agree. I think it is beautiful to see a baby suck their thumb.
My son sucked his thumb. He is 18 now. It did adjust his teeth but not drastic. At two there are so many changes they are adjusting to. There will be cycles where they do it more, then THIS TOO SHALL PASS!! The older they get the less they do it, mainly just to sleep. The less you push the less they will do it. Remind him KINDLY that only babies do it and he WILL GROW OUT OF IT. My son did get the red thumb and the callous, and between 2 and 3 it was really bad. Be carefull what you put on it, it will go in his mouth. Just remember they are only small once, enjoy these times, they go by way too fast. Before you know it, they are graduating and moving out and you will want that beautiful thumb sucking baby back!!! Good Luck and God Bless!!!
I had to keep trying to take out the thumb and say it looks bad that is ugly don't do it and after 100 times finally she stopped. It is just exhausting to do it but you have to until they realize what they look like. I aslo would let her see herself in the mirror. This process took a month to completley stop. Lots of talking believe it or not they are listening to you. Good luck.
Our duaghter did the same. He teeth a re out of line now, and she is going to speach therapy likely because of it. It never really bothered me that much but drove my husband nuts. When she was about 3 we started making an issue of it. I would tell her to take it out when I saw it, and she would. I would praise her where I noticed it not there. My husband took the approach of slapping her hand when he saw it. I didn't agree with that, but he didn't listen. Between the 2 of us though she does not suck on it anymore. Occasionally at night I will see her with it in her mouth as she sleep, but not usually. Honestly, I think the hand slapping is what did the trick.
I agree with Frances. I have 2 1/2 year old g/b twins and my daughter sucks her thumb and didn't start until she was 12 months. It started out that she would only do it when she was tired but it just got worst. We took her to the dentist about a month ago and he said the samething. Don't worry about it right now. She will outgrow it. About the sores my daughter did get those pretty bad and I put neosporin on them and I had to make her wear a sock on her hand. During the day I kept having to tell her leave the sock on and at night I had to stay in there until she feel asleep just to make sure the sock stayed on.
Hopefully this helps.
Hi,
My 2-year-old sucks his thumb too. It is all cracked and calloused because of his sucking. The dentist could tell that he sucks his thumb from looking at the roof of his mouth, but he said that it's really unlikely that we'll be able to get him to stop. He said to try gently asking him to remove it if it bothers us, but not to make a big deal of it. I guess most kids outgrow it when they're 3 or 4 and peer pressure starts to work on them. Others he said end up needing a tooth guard at night to finally break the habit, but he didn't seem to think it was worth the struggle that would ensue if we tried to make him stop now. Could you put something non-toxic on his thumb to help it heal (like vaseline or something to seal out the saliva) and try asking him to remove it when it's really annoying you? I know this isn't the advice you were hoping for, but it's all I've got. Hopefully some mommies with older kids will write in with something more helpful!
As hard as it is to do - just ignore it. If you make it an issue, he will cling to the habit. It's usually transitional - even if it seems like it's lasting forever. Contrary to what some people may tell you, he's not doing any damage to his teeth. The palate won't harden enough to be affected by thumb-sucking until after his permanent teeth come in. Just check in with his doctor about the sores and what you should do to make sure they don't get infected.
I don't know how old they have to be to get it put in, but the dentist can put a basket in the top of their mouth to keep them from sucking their thumb. This worked for my step son, but my step daughter actually had to have hers changed out and they put a more agressive one in that had little "pokies" on it to poke her thumb if she stuck it in her mouth. It didn't work....she's obstinant and took pride in still sucking her thumb even though her parents put that in there. I will say get a handle on it now. My step son sucked his thumb until he was seven, but the basked worked for him (the one without the "pokies") but my step daughter is going to be 11 in two months and still sucks her thumb. They finally gave up and took out the basket. The one thumb that she sucks most of the time is like mush....it grosses me out. Plus, this is how they get sick is picking up germs and putting them in their mouth. They don't realize how bad that can be....viral meningitis can start merely from a cold germ that somehow found it's way to host in your spine...I know, because I had it and this is how they said I possibly got it. Also, the 15 year old boy that recently died in the South Houston area from meningitis, well, his parents were told the same thing. Good Luck!
You need to put some medicine on his hands for the eczema. My daughter had it real bad on the back of both hands. You can buy some cream over the counter. I think anything with cortisone in it--maybe Cortaid. That may taste bad enough that he won't want to suck his thumb. If that doesn't work, I think there's something at the drugstore you can put on his thumb just for that purpose. My kids are grown now, so I don't really know what's out there now. Ask the pharmacist.
A., I thought I would put in my 2 cents worth of advice as well. I've had 3 kids, all 3 sucked their thumb (as did I - could it be hereditary?) Anyway with the first we put the yucky tasting stuff on at 18 months and she stopped. This was against the advice of my pedi, who said that she would just pick up some less socially acceptable habit. :-)
With the second one I said we'll just let it go, until she stops on her own, and she did, around kindergarten. It didn't affect her teeth at all according to her dentist. She was my best sleeper.
The third one quit when he got a bad cold and, and I had to nurse him to get him to go to sleep. (which I didn't mind since he was my last one)
In retrospect I would suggest you let it go; you can put Aquaphor on the thumb, which should help with the dryness, and soon our humidity will be back and it won't be so bad. Our little ones are little for such a short time, and they need something which helps them comfort themselves. Believe me, he won't do it forever.
My grandkids all have pacifiers, but I don't say a thing....
Have a great day!
S.
Hi A.,
Two's can really be a challenge- thunb-sucking is another challenge- I had one of those and what I did was put something that was really bad tasteing on his thumb- like paprika or hot chili sauce- ...
The allergies and eczema can be taken care of by other means-
first I would detox my home- get rid of all the chemicals in my cleaning and laundry items- I can give you more information on how to do this without spending any money if you PM me- I can also give you the name of a product you can use that has been hospital tested for the excema- I am not trying to sell you anything- just want to give you the information so PM me and I will give you the links where you can get this information.
Blessings
Are you sure the sores on his hands are from thumb sucking? Could they be from the ecxema? You refer to it as that HORRIBLE habit....HORRIBLE to you maybe, but COMFORTING to your son. My daughter sucked her thumb until she was 12, then she stopped on her own. Yes, we tried to stop it but she had a reaction to the stuff I put on her thumb. The dentist assured me that she was not damaging her teeth, and she never had teeth marks on her thumbs or hands. His food allergies or the ecxema could be the culprits of the teeth marks. The thumb sucking gives him comfort and security and he'll eventually stop it. You have move important things to worry about with his other two problems
I know this will sound completly off the wall. Just let him suck his thumb. I now have my youngest 22 in April. She still secretly sucks on her thumb and I just don't get too upset over it. When she was born she was unable to use a pacifier. It gagged her, I nursed her for about 18/19 months and she was the very best baby ever. Always sucking her thumb. Out of my three she was the healthiest also. I used the dental appliance, the ointments for the thumb, another dental installed appliance, braces, you name it and we tried it. Parents need to relax on some issues and decide what is best for the well being of their child and not what is best for peer presure. When he becomes older he will realize what is socially correct, when he gets involved with activities that use his hands that is when the child decides to stop or only do this in the privacy of home or his room. Do treat the open sores but realize that some things just can not be changed and it is something the child will have to react to and not you. I also had two that used pacifiers until about 3 and I think I like the thumb sucking best. Good luck to you and your little boy.
