How Do I Break My Daughter's Habit of Sucking Her Thumb She Is 10 Years Old?

Hi F., I don't have any advice for you but my daughter, now close to forty years old and mother of two (thumbsuckers) admits that she sometimes wakes up and finds her thumb in her mouth. I guess it is comforting. I have 4 sons also and none of them were thumbsuckers. I know there is something you can paint on that tastes bad. Maybe you can have her nails polished and she will not want to ruin them . My best, Grandma Mary

Hi F., I have the same difficulties with my soon to be 8 year old daughter, she came out of the womb sucking her thumb and hasn't stopped! I have tried the lemon juice on her thumb, diversions, taking away privileges,etc. The only thing that seems to help but it is temporary is called Stop. My son's orthodontist gave it to her when she saw her sucking her thumb. It goes on like clear nailpolish and tastes bitter. Hope that helps-- M. H.

I can respond as a thumb sucker and a mother of 2 of them. First off, some kids do it unconciously in their sleep. I know because in times of stress, as an adult I have woken up to find mine in my mouth and I haven't sucked my thumb in 20 years. With my dtr we tried everything (rewards, gloves, bitter and spicy tasting stuff - didn't work), finally we put a thumb splint on her hand at night and it worked. With my son we just did a reward chart and that helped, however it would go in during the middle of the night. So when he was asleep I snuck up and dabbed vinegar on his thumb. It worked as a natural deterrant to his subconsious. There are also devices the dentist can put in their mouth, although I'm not sure they can do that with braces but you could check.

Hi F.-
You should look online for advice. I saw in a magazine I think it was One Step Ahead that there is a device to put on the thumb to stop thumb sucking. I think there are also bitter tasting drops (also used for nail biting) that you can use.
Hope this is helpful-
K.

Speaking from experience, as I sucked my thumb until I was 10, I remember my parents putting alum on my thumb. It's very bitter. I liked it the first night, didn't care for it the second night. They also put a glove on my hand. It seems like it didn't take too long for me to stop. Good luck!

I stopped sucking my thumb when I was 10 years old. I don't know if anything in particular helped. It was more or less peer pressure that did it for me. Of course, at 10, I only sucked it at night. But, I do remember my parents putting hot sauce of my thumb so I wouldn't suck it.

Hi F.,

I don't have this problem, and I'm shocked because I thought my son would go to college sucking his thumb!!!...for some reason, he potty trained and stopped sucking at the same time.

I THINK there is a device that gets put in your mouth to stop sucking, like little pieces of metal or something...check with your orthodontist about this...

Best wishes,
J.

My son is a thumb sucker but he is only 2 so I haven't tried to get him to break the habit yet. My friend said when she was a kid her parents told her that thumb sucking was only for at bedtime when she was starting school (5 or 6) and then she eventually was able to quit on her own when she was a little older (maybe 7 or 8 but I am not sure). I used to bite my nails as a kid but stopped around age 11. My mom never tried to make me quit--she said it won't work until I decided to make it work. How does you daughter feel about this issue? If you can get her on board so she wants to quit then you can probably get something to work. If she is fighting you or doesn't care it will be a lot harder. Maybe a reward system would help. Anyway, good luck with this.

try having her wear those stretchy fabric gloves. even in her sleep she (probably) won't like the texture and taste and they are washable so it's easy clean up. During the day try a simple bandaid on each thumb. She is old enough to just have the bandaids as reminders and her friends will just think she hurt them. She can even come up with a simple "line" (not a lie) such as: :I have rough skin I am trying to protect" until she can go without. A.

My son was a thumb sucker for a long time as well. He occassionally wil do it in his sleep. He has braces as well now but I dont think he does it enough to cause problems. Thankfully!
We were told to have him wear gloves on his hand, which didn't work to well.We were told we could tape his thumb or hand, which is usually what we did. We of course were told to put bitter tasting stuff on it but that didn't work either. The dentist can get you a device to have implanted in her mouth so she cant suck it but I dont knoe all the particulars on that. Hope this helps. Good luck.

F.:

Talk to your dr, when my sis got her braces at 11 yrs had the same problem and what the dr did was he put something in the roof of her mouth, I believe is called a "habit breaker". There were thin metal rods that came down and folded back towards her throat. Sounds torturous but it was completely safe and it didn't hurt her at all it just prevented her from nesting her thumb in her mouth and close her mouth shut to suck it cured her from the habit and allowed her to have her now beautiful smile. Hope this helps.

O.

I have a 21 year old sister who was a chronic thumb sucker. My mom would panic that she would never stop and that it would do damage to her mouth. Her pediatrician told her "you dont need to worry, she will grow out of it. no fears, she wont be walking down the aisle with her thumb in her mouth!". She sucked her thumb until she was almost 13...right before she got braces...my mother didnt want to put braces on her teeth until the thumb sucking stopped.
My daughter, now 11, was a thumb sucker too. She was actually sucking her thumb in an ultrasound picture at about 20 weeks. she sucked her thumb until she was about 6..i would talk to her about it and i simply asked her when she thought she might stop...she told me "when i go to 1st grade i will stop"...and she did, all on her own.

she will need to do it on her own, when she is ready.