What to do, what to do... I have tried everything I can think of to get my daughter to stop sucking her thumb. She caught on immediately when I painted her fingernails with the nasty-tasting polish and will now pick any fingernail polish off her thumbs before bedtime.
She only sucks her thumb when she's tired and/or at bedtime, but she has already lost two teeth (bottom) and she has more that are loose. I REALLY dont want to have to put her in braces in nine or ten years because I cant get her to keep her thumb out of her mouth.
She has already made her baby-teeth crooked from sucking her thumb. How do I get her to stop before her adult teeth come in and we end up with the same problem?
I showed my daughter pictures on the internet of what her teeth would look like. She did not like that one bit. She has finally stopped sucking her thumb. She sucked her thumb (same one) so much that she has a permanent knot on it. LOL... I may have to get plastic surgery on the thumb as well as braces if her adult teeth don't grow in straight!
My daughter is now 11 and still sucked her thumb until the dentist put a thumb guard in her mouth. I too tried everything. Since he removed it I have not seen her suck her thumb.
C.,
Let me start by saying I totally feel your concern. My daughter is now 7, and she sucked her thumb until about a year ago. Like you, we tried several different tactics to get her to quit, but to no avail. I happened to find a nail polish at a local store. The polish is white and has a label on it that has the words "bite it" in a circle with a line through it (as if to say "don't bite it"). I tried it on my thumb first to see what it was like, and let me tell you, I only put that thumb into my mouth one time. The taste was so aweful, and it doesn't wash off. There are many "stop sucking/biting" nail polishes out there that just taset bitter, but this one is totally different. The best thing about it is that it only comes off with nail polish remover, and it CAN NOT be picked off. My daughter agreed to use it not knowing what it tasted like, and within three days, she was completely done sucking her thumb... even at night. Now she struggles once in a while with nail biting and asks for it because she knows it will help her keep her fingers out of her mouth. Good luck with this one, I know by the end of our ordeal with it, I was ready to try anything to make her stop.
J.
Hi C.,
I just wanted to thank you for posting this question. My 4 almost 5 year old also sucks her thumb and she does it ALL the time. She doesnt have to be tired or bored... that thumb is always in her mouth. She also isnt partial to which thumb it is.We tried to go the "dont you want to be a big girl route", but to no avail. I think we will try the nail polish and see if that helps! Oh the woes of motherhood! Thanks again!
When my daughter was 3 we went to the dentist. He asked her if she wanted pretty teeth when she grew up. (I had talked to him earlier to start this process.) She beamed at him and said yes, he said her teeth were coming in crooked because she was sucking her first finger. He asked her to stop sucking her finger. We went to the fabric store and picked out different swatches of fabric about ¼ yard a piece. Then we went to a friend’s house (I had talked to her earlier too!) who helped us trace my sweet girl’s hand and we sewed some really cool sleeping mittens. We involved her in the whole sewing process. When it got time for bed she couldn’t wait to try her neat mittens so she could have pretty teeth. The first night was a breeze and after that there would be a little resistance at times but we kept trying to set up appropriate rewards for waking up with the mitten on. (Notice the positive note and not “reward for not taking the mitten off”). We kept the mitten on for about a month and gave her the option of sleeping without it. She didn’t want to quit and liked color co-ordinating her P.J.’s with her mitten. She wore the mitten for 3 months and decided to quit. She is now 10 and has those mittens in her special memory box. She still talks about how fun that was to make the mittens. She just got her braces off and probably won’t have to have them again. So don’t think that you will avoid braces – some kids need them and some don’t, you won’t know until you get there!
Good Luck!
I think i'll try Jamie's nail polish myself if i can find it, lol the stuff we used the kids picked off as well, and had to be applied several tiems a day even according to the directions. Our dentist suggested we put socks on our daughter's hands, she was 5 as well and had lost her two front teeth and we were all really worried that they'd come in wrong with her sucking her thumb, we let the dentist explain it all to her and she kept the socks on and we didn't ahve any problems. now i just have a finger biter and i don't mean his nails his skin all the way around his nails is raw and gross, lol. good luck
I sucked my thumb until I was 7. ALL my teeth were crooked. My mom finally took me to the dentist about it and I was fitted with an appliance on the roof of my mouth with spikes so I COULDN'T suck my thumb. I stopped AND it straightened up my teeth and my parents were glad because it was MUCH cheaper than braces!
