Finger Sucking - Indianapolis,IN

Hi C....
I know your concern all to well! Out of 6 kids, I have 1 finger sucker. All the rest took paci's and were off them at a year. Anyhow, my daughter is going to be four on April 20th, my husband and I have talked to our peditrician and he said not to worry about it. She will stop when she is ready. I felt a little frusterated at the time but have come to grips with the fact that this is one thing I have minimal control over. In ex., the only time she is allowed to suck her fingers is when she is in bed. That has worked well. Sorry I don't have any magical cure but they will stop eventually.

GOOD LUCK!!

C.,
My nephew is a thumb-sucker. He was even born with a callous on his thumb because he sucked it in the womb! He is 5 now, and he still sucks his thumb. His mom & dad don't have a problem with it. They say he will stop when he is ready. I know it is frustrating for a grandmother to see her grandchildren suck their fingers/thumbs (it is for my mother, too). But, try not to let it bother you and just enjoy your grandkids. They will eventually quit doing it. Hope this helps!

A. M.
www.homewithmykids.info

Hi C. ~

As a former thumb sucker, I can tell you that my parents tried in vain to find a way to stop me from sucking my thumb. I still chuckle when I recall some of the stories about their efforts to change my ways.

The important thing is that I did stop! I was about 7, but I did stop, and I didn't go to college still sucking my thumb and holding my blankie. I'm pretty sure that the thing that finally made me stop was peer pressure. I remember my friend calling me a baby. Funny ~ she wasn't my friend for long. Once she ridiculed me into "growing up," I saw how controlling and bossy she was, and found better friends. LOL.

My daughter was 6 and still sucking her fingers and her two front baby teeth fell out so the dentist said we needed to get her to stop because her teeth would be messed up forever otherwise. So, we had an appliance made and put in her mouth that would not let her suck her fingers, a sucker, anything! Worked like a charm and after 6 weeks it was removed. Cured! As a side note my son was a thumb sucker until he was 5 and he quit sucking it sponatenously on his own. I asked him if he stopped and he said yes a few weeks ago. LOL. Oh, both my kids did the habit when they were bored or tired mainly.

L. Etta, mother of a 6 year old girl and an 8 year old boy.

Good morning C., I have to smile when I read these emails. I think I was probably 13 when I quit sucking my thumb. Mom tried to put everything on it but nothing worked I guess until I was ready to leave it alone she just to love me ;-) I also was 18 before I quit wetting the bed so I must have not matured as quickly as others. I am now 68, married almost 50 years and am a very happy person, and look back on my growing up I can see why parents worry over things like this but it is something that I couldn't help and I don't suppose neither can your grandchildren. Just be thankful they are healthy. Hang in there it will happen when they are ready.

Have you tried putting bitters on the fingers and thumbs? It tastes bad, won't really hurt the children, and has worked for some of us. My brother liked it, but then he would take a bite out of a bar of dial soap and eat it. He was strange, but then he ended up in West Point, what can I say? (Just adding a little humor here.) Seriously I would try the bitters. Another thing my mom did was to put socks over hands before bed and tied them neatly in place. That kept thumb sucking down during the night.
And I know what you mean about finding jobs ater 50. I am 57, have been job hunting for over a year now. It isn't just finding a decent job, it is finding a job at all!

Finger and thumb sucking is a security blanket for the children and a very bad habit.My sister did this until she was almost 8 years old, that is when her friends at school humiliated her into stopping.Nothing my parents did helped her, they even put hot sauce on her thumbs, she developed a like for it.She was insecure about who she was and got stressed easily.If you watch the children closely you can determine what is causing this insecurity issue and fix it and the sucking should stop.
You said a decent job after 50 is difficult to find. Any job that you give a honest days work for a honest days pay is worth having. It doesn't matter what you are doing as long as you are doing your best.Jobs and Money are a huge issue right now with so many buisnesses going belly up.You may have to lower your living standards to make ends meet but at least you will be trying to do your best, Creator will do the rest.

I would research this one on the internet. I hear women on here all the time say that no matter what their parents tried, they never stopped for them. The first time I saw my kids do this when they were really young, I pulled it out and told them no. They never developed it as a habit because I didn't allow them to. I have a couple of friends whose kids suck their fingers and it drives me nuts! So, I believe that if you stop them early enough, you can keep the habit from forming. As far as breaking them of it now, they probably do it subconsciously now, so there's probably nothing that can be done, but it's worth researching on the web

I haven't had to deal with it, but my cousin's son sucked his 2 middle fingers for a long time. He got pretty sick one time and asked mom why he felt so bad. She told him that there are germs everywhere and when he sucked his fingers, those germs got in his mouth and made him sick. He never sucked them again.
I don't know if it will work, but it's worth a try next time one of them is sick...
The oldest should be seeing a dentist about it. They can put an apparatus in his/her mouth that will poke the thumb/finger anytime anytime s/he inserts it.
There are also liquids:
http://www.usavitaminshop.com/mavala-stop.html
and guards like this:
http://www.onestepahead.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId...

Well, I had the same problem with my kids when they were younger. You can try to put a sock over their hands when they are at home. I tried every kind of sauce there was......it didn't work.....although I do believe they have some now especially for that. You need to ask them why. Especially the older ones.

I'm sorry to hear you were laid off. I was too in Dec. I found a great work at home job and I'm loving being home. if you're interested in more information, let me know. Good luck with the grandkids. I have 8.....

I used to be a thumb sucker and I have an overbite and crooked bottom teeth because of it. I've mostly out grown it because I know it would make me look silly. There might not be much you can do for the younger children but the older one you might be able to use a little vanity to get them to stop. At 13 kids are just starting to notice the opposite gender, perhaps telling them that it's effecting their teeth and bite might help.

Just a little more information, thumb/finger sucking is a comforting mechanism. It's a very instinctive. I've been told that I sometimes still suck my thumb in my sleep. I've found that the nights my husband says that I had been, I'd also been dealing with a lot of stress in the previous days. It seems that when my brain is finally off in sleep my instinct to calm and soothe myself that way kicks in. There might be other stresses in the children's lives that they are using sucking on their digits to soothe.

Good luck in the job hunt.

I secretly (during a nap) painted my daughters thumb with a nail polish specifically designed for just such things. It tastes nasty. She woke up from the nap, sucked it once or twice, told me it was yucky and never sucked it again.