Finger/Thumb sucking...how To Break the Habit??!!

I don't have any experience with this as my boys are under 2. But my nephew was sucking his thumb like crazy. They tried so many things. You know what worked?? They told him that if he sucked his thumb too long it would fall off. Then when he was sleeping she dipped his thumb in water with lots of green food coloring in it so that it dyed his thumb green. When he woke up he showed it to his mom, she said that it was getting ready to fall off because he was sucking it so much. He never sucked his thumb again - well, he would then he would catch himself and quickly remove it.

IDK if I would do that, but that is what she did and it worked for them!

Take her to an orthodontist! I was an orthodontic assistant before I started having kids. There are these appliances or retainers that are made to prevent kids from sucking their thumb. They attach to her molars and it lays up on the top of her mouth. But it has a part that kinda hangs down some so she can't get her thumb and fingers in the right position to suck on them. She can still eat and talk fine but just not suck. It works really well for little kids. The procedure is really easy. I placed the retainers in many kids, some of them were even excited because it was their very own special retainer. So if you really can't get her to stop I think this is the next step. Good luck.

As far as rewards to stop, I am not sure what you can do if the money thing that was suggested with quarters does not work and it may not since she already did the dollar thing. I would say go for the orthodontic retainer, or else just let her go until she stops(eventually she will), but make it mandatory that she wash her hands before sucking her fingers, especially at school. If she is going to do it, you can at least teach her proper hygiene. My daughter is going to be 5 and she still sucks a pacifier, my 2 year old never sucked anything. I have no idea why he didn't want one, and why she seems to have an insatiable need to suck, but I let her have it if it is clean. If she drops it she waits til it can be washed. Good luck!

You're on the right track with the money thing... but here's how to make it last longer... My dad gave me a quarter a day for not sucking my finger. I was not allowed to spend them yet, and I kept them in a clear container so I could watch my pile grow... I'm not sure how long he did this for, but I had a huge amount of quarters I was very proud to have earned... and then one day I woke up and he said, "You know, I'm not going to pay you quarters for the rest of your life. Starting today, if you suck your finger, YOU have to pay ME a quarter!" I never sucked my finger again because I didn't want to give up any of that money I had earned!! It will be easier for your wallet if you switch to quarters instead of dollars and do it until she earned maybe 10 dollars... then make her go a couple of weeks with the "now you pay me" before you allow her to spend the money. By then, she will have gone for so long without sucking her fingers that it will be done (hopefully) for good.

Honestly, I think it is her body, and there really isn't to much you can do about it without causing bigger problems. Of all the self-soothing mechanisms, this one is fairly benign. You ever seen a 30 year old suck his or her fingers? No, because they grow out of it. She will too.

I guess if you feel like you HAVE to do something about it, your pediatrician's advice is the best. Don't frame it as punishment, just as something you do in private. And try to teach her other means of self-soothing that are more socially acceptable.

Try putting socks on her hands............you could put them in hot sauce, or put hot sauce on them...........and put bandages on them.

Have you tried just ignoring her......is she doing it for attention?

Good Luck......and hang in there.....

'

Hi D.,

As a former thumb sucker my self, it's not too much that you can do to make her stop. She'll stop when she gets tired. My mom tried everything, from this nail polish stuff that was hot with a horrible taste( after 2 days I was used to the tase and it didn't bother me so much), bribes, threats, punishments. In the end it didn't make me stop. I was in the first grade when I stopped sucking my thumb. Mainly because none of my friends sucked their thumb, and my mom stopped making a big deal about. I didn't quit cold turkey. I still sucked it at night before I went to sleep until I was at least 8.

I have 3 children that suck their thumbs. All my boys do, ages 2 1/2- 9 years old.
When my oldest was about 5 years old his pediatrician told me that I had to get on him about stopping. By then I had already tried some "nicer" ways with no luck. My child's pediatrician was more concerned with my son's thumb sucking than his pediatric dentist. The dentist told me that he already needed dental work by now and that I should just let him suck it if he really needed it. He believed that kids quit when they are ready. And that forcing them to quit would cause them to be more anxious, etc.

I do want to add that the oldest has expressed an interest in quitting for 4-5 years. I have tried many things that were not harsh (wrapping his thumb up at night, etc) with no luck. I personally do not believe in punishing them but a friendly reminder could help. My oldest only sucks now when he is very tired or going to sleep. It's been that way the past few years.

I also want to say that he has seen an orthodontist and will be getting an expander at the end of this summer. She told me that they make them extra thick for thumb suckers. He won't be able to comfortably get it in there. So, this will hopefully help him quit completely. But he has been ready for a few years so maybe it won't be so bad.

Hope some of this helped. Good Luck!!

Our son is a thumb sucker - he'll be 4 in June, and our pediatrician's advice was not to worry about it.....yet. His advice was that most kids will break it by the time they're in school because of the teasing they get from other kids.

For him, it's a soothing mechanism. He only sucks his thumb now when he's tired or overwhelmed for some reason. He doesn't when he's upset.

My best advice would be to see if you can find out why she's doing it. Chances are, it's completely subconscious which will make it that much harder. We all have nervous ticks we do - for some of us it's nail biting or picking at our nails, for others it's chewing gum loudly, others it's tapping their fingers. This may be her nervous tick, and if you can figure out the reasons why she does it, you may be able to correct the behavior.

I wouldn't use punishment either (as you stated). Positive reinforcement is such a better motivator than negative for something like this.
If money isn't motivating her, I'd find what does. We're trying this approach with getting our son to go to bed on his own (not working so well) and staying in his bed at night (think we got this one nailed finally).

Good luck!