Thumb Sucking - Palmetto,FL

My son sucked his thumb and totally stopped on his own a little after his second birthday. I never said a work about it. My mother-in-law always told me we should do something about it and I never thought it was a big deal. I think she can do it for awhile without you being worried. The teeth thing takes much longer to kick in, I wouldn't worry about it yet. With my son, if I talked about it and made a big deal, I'm sure he would still be sucking on it just to do it!!

They do make a product to put on their fingers/thumbs and they won't put it in their mouth. My daughter took a pacifier until she was 14 months and it was affecting her top front teeth pretty badly, we took it away and they straightened up with a couple of months. But the Dr. always told me, you can take away the pacifier, but you can't take away the thumb!
Good luck!

None of my children were thumb suckers, I did offer the pacifier to them only 2 would take it. However my sister's two little girls both sucked their first two fingers (not the thumb) they both stopped on their own when they were ready. The oldest of the two girls did have a slight problem with her front teeth at first when she quit but that too corrected itself over time.
I have heard of parents putting something on their fingers that tasted bad to keep them from putting their thumbs into their mouths. I would just wait and see before worrying myself too much right now.

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That's a tough one. I had three out of four that sucked their thumb and I couldn't break them. When they were a little older and had a measure of understanding, I told them the affects of it and two stopped on their own. For example, I showed my vain daughter pictures of how her teeth would look and she stopped immediately. The oldest girl is the very mature one and she just set a goal and gradually stopped. The third one that never really stopped sucking her thumb clearly needed it as comfort and I asked her not to do it in public then I asked her to only do it at bedtime. She is 16 now and every now and then if I check on her while she is sleeping, it's in her mouth but never around the house or in public. They all just grew out of it or decided to stop on their own and their teeth are fine. Also, I used the pacifier with all but not past the age of 2. I found that they either liked the pacifier or not and they would pretty much just throw it out of their mouth. It doesn't replace that thumb. I hope this helps a little. Just know that you are not alone in this battle.

Don't you wonder why she started now?! My son used a pacifier only for sleeping and it always stayed in his crib. I started taking him to a dentist at 12 months old and our dentist said at 18 months old he needed to be done with the pacifier because it could change the placement of his teeth. Within about 3 days he completely adjusted, but it was a rough three days! His teeth are beautiful and I feel that was good advice.

I would recommend that you take your daughter to a dentist and get their recommendation. My son loves going to see the dentist and I think it's because he started so young. Personally, I would be vigilant about stopping the thumb sucking (use a thumb gard or whatever else is out there now). I would imagine that it would be easier for her to stop now rather than waiting when it's become more of a habit.

I have no 1st hand experience but my neighbor's daughter started after 2yrs becuase she had a baby brother in the house! I would prefer a pacifier to a thumb as the former is much easier to break, the thumb you have to keep pulling out or wait til they grow out of it!
I just threw our last pacifier in the trash and my son is 100% weaned....at last:)