Thumb Sucking - Norton, MA

try putting pepper on the thumb

My daughter will be 5 in August and always sucks her thumb. Our pediatrician says it is something she will just grow out of and not to make a big deal of it.

Hi S.,
It may be that your child would benefit from more opportunities to chew. Slightly chewier foods can help, such as raw vegetables or briefly steamed ones, peanut butter with nuts, raisins, cranraisins, whole apples with skin, little mandarin oranges,chocolate covered and frozen bananas on a popscicle stick, cheerios without milk, thick milkshakes or fruit smoothies drunk through a straw. And as for working on "no thumb" charts, I suggest that you pull back and stop commenting on the thumb-sucking for a while, unless the little thumb is painfully raw. Best of luck.

I would back off as well, for now. Maybe try gearing up for a break by asking him/her to give it up when he turns 5? My daughter was a CONSTANT thumb sucker. She said when she turned 4 that she'd give it up... that lasted about 10 minutes. Then she said she'd stop when she turned 5. Well, the day before her 5th birthday, she stopped cold turkey. I could not have been more stunned! Yours may not go for this, but I think it goes to show that they have to be ready and willing to try or it won't work. When my daughter pleaded, "But mom, I only suck my thumb because it makes me feel good," it nearly broke my heart.

Both my children were thumb suckers. What worked for me was having thier Pediatric dentist tell them that they cannot such thier thumb anymore because it's going to hurt thier teeth. To my asstonishment, it worked for both my son then my daughter! It might be worth a try. Good luck.

Hi! I was an avid thumb sucker as a kid & now I have a 6month old who has the habit, which she may or may not grow out of. Have you tried the products they make that you apply to the nail that have a sour taste? Other than that, I have no other suggestions. Good Luck!!!

The thought of giving it up is probably stressing your child out. She/he (you don't say which) doesn't seem ready to give it up. Maybe back off for a little while and see if it decreases on it's own??

Hi!
My daughter was a thumb sucker until she got a pallet expander at age 8. They also have an apparatus to stop thumb sucking but not until much older than 4.5.
Ignore it as best you can! You may be able to set limits on where thumb sucking is OK, for example, only in the bedroom, carseat or sofa. You might say something like " I see you are sucking your thumb. That is something we do in our room. Would you like to be in your room now or keep playing" You must be consistent if you try this approach. Good luck and try not to worry too much. (Please do not permit your child to speak with the thumb(or paci) in mouth as it impedes speech development! )

My recommendation is to let it go. 4.5 is still very young and thumb sucking is a comfort measure. If you make a control issue it's going to backfire.

Hi there,
I had no problems with my teeth and had the habbit until I was 12. My daughter on the other had ended up with a space between her two front teeth so large she could put her thumb in it. We ended up making Mr Socko. We decorated a sock and she wore it on her hand at night. That helped for a few weeks. Well until she poked a hole in it for her thumb. We finally ended up going to the dentist and getting a habit gaurd place. She kicked the habit with no adverse effects. We didn't start to try to break the habit with her thought until she was about 7 years old. Before that it was her way to comfort herself and feel secure. Good luck !