Thumb Sucking Concerns

My daughter (13 months) is a thumb sucker too. I am also trying to get rid of it . My problem with this girl is she uses both her hands.
Here is what I did with my elder one while she was sucking her thumb and it had started looking like a piece of meat. First of all I use to hold her hand and stop her for sucking her thumb , apply lanolin it heals . I used " Thum Liquid 0.2 oz" it stops thumb sucking and nail biting, available in CVS and on Amazon for 3 bucks. As soon the thumb heals brush it on the thumb day and night .
It will take atlest 15 days , but she will stop thumb sucking forever. I know it is really hard , but I could not bear to see her thumb so I got rid of it completly.

Hope this helps you .

Hi H.,

First of all...hurray for you for letting your child do what comes naturally...suck to self-soothe! How wonderful that your little guy, like mine, is able to comfort himself without your constant intervention.

My guy's thumb also went through stages of looking like raw meat...yuk! I think we DID use Lansinoh, as someone suggested, and/or a little hydrocortisone. Here's the "trick": put it on at a time when he isn't likely to need or want to suck. That way it can seep into the skin and do its job without being licked off. Maybe before a meal?

It worked for us, and at about 2 1/2, he just gave it up all by himself. We just noticed one day that he never seemed to suck his thumb anymore. Months later, the skin was perfectly healed.

Good luck!

T.

Hey H.,

My daughter was hooked on her pacifier. I never had a thumb sucking problem but I was thinking what about the cream they sell for breast feeding moms when their nipples are cracked and sore. If it can be put onto nipples of breastfeeding moms then it can't be harmful if ingested. I think the olive oil is a good idea my only concern is its going to make his thumb taste even better LOL!!! Good luck!!

Lanolish, it's what you use on your nipples when you breastfeed...it's not harmful.

If he won't quit cold turkey, then tell him to switch fingers. When my daughter was 3 she started school full time and I was worried that kids may make fun of her and her thumb was morphing. The nail doesn't really grow and it was like a callous? Anyway, I told her (nicely) to change fingers or else her thumb might go away. She switched to the pinky, but it wasn't satisfying enough so she switched to the index finger (aka pointer) and she sucked it until age 5. And I learned something, it was a good move b/c its the thumb that does the real damage to the teeth. She doesn't have poke front teeth b/c she switched. With my boy it has been a bit more difficult (he's strong willed) but we're getting there.

Coconut oil - it stays on well like lotions.

Hi H.,
Why don't you try Lansinoh? Women who breastfeed use it ease dry, cracked, bleeding skin around the nipples and it is completely safe for infants. It will probably do the same for your son's thumb and will be safe for him. You should be able to find it in any drugstore and if I remember its not expensive. Good luck to you.

I use my left over lansinoh.

Call your doctor, A friend of a friend's LO had the same problem and her doctor recommended something to put on the thumb but for the life of me I don't remember.(SORRY) I am not much help but I do remember there being a solution. GL!

Hi-
My 20-month old daughter is a thumb sucker too- her thumb currently had a blister on it from rubbing against those front teeth and for a while switched to sucking on her index finger (I assume because her thumb was bothering her.) Our pediatrician reccomended that we try to switch our daughter to a pacifier, the two main reasons being the damage she's doing to her developing permanent teeth and the idea that in theory we can take a pacifier away at some point and we'll never be able to take her thumb away. She still spits the pacifier out at some point in the night and ends up with her thumb in her mouth, so we're not exactly succeding in fufilling the pediatrician's reccomendations, but I thought I'd pass them along in case they're helpful for you. Good luck!