Thumb / Finger Guard Success???

Well I may be out of the majority, but I have two avid thumb-suckers and the magic age for us is 4. I feel like it is a self-soothing device and the dentist has said it isn't effecting either of their teeth. I believe in picking my battles. At 4 you can reason with them. We have a now 7 year old and at 4 we started to ween (sp?) her. We started with only letting her suck her thumb at home, then we limited it to her bed (she had to go sit on her bed if she wanted to suck) then just for bedtime. Allowing her to go sit on her bed and suck was a beg help for us because it made it her choice to stop. My 3 year old is still sucking her thumb but I can already tell she is doing it less and less - and it's a good signal to us that she is tired or upset. Good luck with whatever you do!

My pedi and my dentist told me not to be too concerned until age 4. Many kids break the habit on their own. My son used to suck his thumb all day long, and then it morphed in to only doing it when he was tired or upset and now he only does it when he's trying to sleep. If you are wanting to try something that isn't quite the choking hazard, try putting an ace bandage around his elbow. I would use a diaper pin on the back of it where he can't reach. It will make it uncomfortable and difficult to bend his arm. This worked for my son for a while, until he figured out how to undo the safety pin. (Our dentist told us to try this first). We tried the sock and my son just pulled it off before we even left the room. I bought one of the hard plastic thumb guards and my son hated it. He said it was very uncomfortable and it was making nap and bed time miserable in our house. And I have to admit, it did look like a torture device. So I backed off and decided to wait until he was more ready to quit. Now we are using the thumbster http://www.amazon.com/Stop-Thumb-Sucking-Thumbusters-Gree... We are having a great deal of success with this. It's soft and comfy and he likes that he got to choose the color. He can take it off, but doesn't. I have been happy with this purchase. We have been using it for two weeks and I think the habit is almost broken. He is 4 1/2. I am not sure how it would fit on a baby and I would be a little concerned about leaving a little one unattended with it, but when he gets a bit older it may be an option. GL!

Two of my three children sucked their thumb so I completely relate. With that said, I do understand your concern about germs, but 18 months is really too early to try to make him quit. 3-4 years old is really the best time to work on that, if he hasn't given it up on his own by that time. Once he hits 2 2 1/2 and if he's still sucking his finger, then you can work on "when" he can do it. With my children, I didn't allow them to go around in public sucking their thumb. It became an occasional habit, usually when they were very tired or upset, and when they went to sleep. I never invested in an "official" thumb guard, but with my oldest child who had trouble kicking the habit at sleep time, we did create our own type of thumb guard and it worked. But she was 7 years old so I wouldn't at all recommend that for an 18 month old because of possible choking hazard.

Just keep antibacterial hand wipes with you and frequently wipe his hands. My children didn't wind up being any sicker than any other kid because of their thumb-sucking habit.

Wash his hands.

I would really be cautious about putting something that could choke your son on his fingers to prevent self soothing at 18 months. I think it is a little early to worry about this anyway, and I would never give an 18 month old something desingned for a 3 to 5 year old when you know he is going to try and put it in his mouth.

M.

C.,
He is way to young to be concerned about this. You are lucky he can sooth himself to sleep. I have a daughter that is 34 and she sucked her thumb until she was 8. Finally peer pressure got to her. We all need a few germs. We are way over concerned about germs. They make us healthier.Don't waster your money on that guard thing.
N. Cox
Mom of 7 Grandmother of 12

i wouldn't worry about it yet. i think that around 18 months to 2 you can start to establish an "only at betime" rule. But i think kids have to be ready on their own to stop sucking their thumb or fingers.

My middle son was a thumb sucker and stopped on his own when he was 2. I know my son's doctor said not to worry about until he was 4 or 5.

My son sucked his thumb all the time. We started by breaking the day time habit by putting socks on his hands when he would do it (he was 3 or 4 at the time). Later we used the socks at bed time to break the sleepy time habit.

before you purchase it try vanilla. It smells wonderful but tastes awful. Rub a little on his finger and see if it works.

C., dont worry about it. Hes not old enough for the concern. My youngest is 5 and still sucks her thumb at night. We have had 2 dentist tell us that until the adult teeth come in its not a big deal.

However, I have tried everything to get my daughter to stop, nasting tasting fingernail polish, gross tasting stuff on her thumb, wraping it with a bandaid. Nothing worked. I have not gone the guard step yet but I have heard from many friends that it was the only thing that worked.

We just lost our first toothe so I am now considering it. Good luck, but dont worry just yet. Also, dont worry about the germs, if anything he will be immune to things, My daughter is hardly ever sick and we actually caught her licking a door knob once. YUCK