How to Stop a Thumb Sucker... - Boynton Beach,FL

I used to work for an orthodontist and yes sucking his thumb will effect his teeth. Here are some of the different things you can try to get him to stop. First you can wrap his thumb at night with medical tape and cotton balls. Make it really big so he can't suck on it. Or we would tell parents to put a sock on their kids hands and again wrap it with medical tape so they can't take it off at night. They usually only have to do this for a few weeks until the habit is broken. If he still finds a way to suck his thumb or you don't want to do these tricks we would also place a retainer in the child's mouth that enables them to suck their thumb. It works but it has to be glued on the teeth (so the child can't remove it) and can be scary for a child. Although I have done it on many kids and most of them are just a little scared at first but it takes like a minute to do the actual process of gluing the retainer in and then the kids are fine. And they stop sucking their thumb. So give some of these a try and if he still doesn't stop you might need to take him into the orthodontist.

You really can't stop him from sucking his thumb.

Our son is the same age and does exactly the same thing. Sucking his thumb actually helped a dental issue when he was 2 and knocked one of his teeth back during a fall.

We've spoken with our pediatrician about it (mostly when it's winter and becomes chapped for advice). His best advice is to not bring attention to it now - kids will do it soon enough, and usually that pressure is enough to cause it to cease.

Thumb sucking is a soothing mechanism - it's hard to replace, and my personal opinion right now is that it's OK since it helps him cope with stress, over tiredness, etc.

Good luck.

Dear Kristy,
I don't think you can stop a thumb sucker.
My daughter sucked her thumb and my husband hated it. The more he tried to punish her, the more she did it.
You can take a bottle away, you can take a pacifier away, but you can't take their thumbs away. They're attached!
If your son only does it while he's sleeping, it's just a comfort thing. You can try gently removing his thumb while he's sound asleep to give his thumb a rest.
I didn't get after my daughter for sucking her thumb. She only did it when she was tired, never in public or anything. My daughter got a callous on her thumb too, but it didn't harm the placement of her teeth.
She outgrew it.
None of her little friends sucked their thumbs. My second baby never sucked his thumb for a single second.
I wouldn't worry too much about it. If he only sucks his thumb when he's sleeping, he probably doesn't even know he's doing it half the time or understand what the fuss is about. He will stop.
Don't feel bad about it.

Hi Kristy, My 4.5 year old is a thumb sucker too. She sucks her thumb most often when she is tired or upset. We just constantly remove it, as well as a lot of talks about germs and being a big girl.

I think Andrea's post shows the habit can be broken with persistence. However, I have no intention of a retainer or wrapping. I think this is good will power/put your mind to it exercise.

Hi Kristy
I read your questions and saw responses that were sent to you but no one answered about the callus on his thumb. I have the same problem with my grandson and the thumb looks really ugly & it looks like its infected but its not. I will keep ready to see if anyone answers what can be done about the callus. My grandson is 1 y/o. Good Luck.
R.

My sister sucked her thumb until she was about sixteen, so yes, it may stop for some kids but as evidenced by my sister, some take it wayyy too far. It ruined her teeth, her self-esteem, and she was often made fun of in school. My mom tried the whole "aren't you embarrassed, you're too old for this?" but she was doing it unconsciously without ever realizing it and it got out of control, so you should probably consider finding a remedy for it soon, don't let it go for too long. I think kids around 3-4 years of age should no longer use pacifiers or suck their thumbs, but that's just my opinion. I am sure they have some bitter tasting substance (that's safe) for putting on his finger so he stops cold turkey. If you're unable to find the product in the pharmacy, consider asking the pharmacist or even your pediatrician, or try googling "stop thumb sucking" or something to that effect. Good luck!

Dentists insist it affects the teeth, but I have seen no evidence. My last pediatric dentist said that unless their fingers are always in their mouth for years on end, the shape their teeth take is affected by genetics and diet. That of course dentists and orthodontist will insist it does- they want your business. I have had 2 thumb suckers. I just reminded them every time I saw it to quit. My son quit around 5, and his teeth are nice and straight. My daughter still sucks hers occasionally and her teeth are fine as well. She's 6. When I see her, I just ask her nicely to remove it. Every once in awhile I tell her she's too old or offer to paint her fingernails if she stops. Put a band aid on his thumb and just keep reminding him. He will stop eventually. If he's already asleep, just pull his thumb out of his mouth. There are rare kids who don't stop, and the dentist can put something on the roof of their mouth to stop them. I had braces for 2 years, made my teeth all nice and straight. I quit wearing the retainer after 5 years because of headaches and my teeth slowly shifted back to pre-braces position. Genetics win every time. I have a friend who has had braces 4 times because her teeth keep shifting. Teeth will do what they are going to do, regardless of what you do to them.

There is a device that you can buy to put over his thumbs. I don't know what its called off the top of my head, a dentist or pediatrician might know. But after he falls asleep you slip this device over his thumbs and it makes it impossible to suck his thumb. Good luck and sorry I wasn't more helpful.

According to my pediatrician, you don't. My son is a finger sucker. He just turned 3 and shows no signs of stopping. Pedi says they all grow out of it eventually, usually by school age, and only in a few extreme cases does it cause damage to teeth.

I've heard from dentists I trust that it's more genetics than anything with the shape of your mouth and crowding, etc. leading to braces. Not thumb sucking.

For what it's worth, my brother and I were both nighttime only thumb suckers--me until seven, and him until ten! It was never a big deal. When my mom thought we were ready, we put away my blankie and I was done with it. I had the option to get the blankie if I wanted, but I never did.

However, my in-laws are REALLY, REALLY upset by thumb sucking of any kind. When my nephew was three or four, they really started getting on him about it. The more they pushed him, the more he would suck his thumb. He still does it now, in the daytime, at the age of eleven, especially when he's insecure. He kind of hides it, but the whole thing has made me swear I will never do that to my son, who is also a thumb sucker (my daughter never did).

And my son's slowly stopping--it's really only when he watches tv and sleeps now, and he's 2 1/2. He's just got better things to do with his hands, and he loves talking!

I would just let it take its course!

Cranial faults- people suck their thumb to relieve the pressure of cranial faults-contact the International Chiropractic Pediatric Assn for a referral to fix that, and he won't do it.
You can explain until the cows come home but there is physical reason he does it- and as you said only when he is sleeping- so don't, please, don't make him wrong for something he does in his sleep to fix a physical problem.
best,k

I had two thumb suckers and it was affecting their teeth ( more so the shape of the jaw) but the dentist recommended a product called Stop by Malvo. I could only find it online and bought it through Amazon. In one day they had stopped sucking their thumb because the product tastes very bad. My son whom I never thought this would work on stopped sucking his thumb and I only had to reapply the product 1 times for him and 2 times for my daughter. Stop costs about $8 and costs a lot less than a thumb guard. Hopefully this works for you and you find this helpful.

Good Luck,
L.

It all depends on what you want to do. I sucked my thumb (I think mainly at night) until I was 7 years old. My mom tried to get me to stop first when I was 6 by taking away all my blankies (cloth diapers). I simply switched to my blanket that I slept with every night. The next year the blanket was "forgotten" when we went on a trip and I refused to suck my thumb w/o it effectively breaking me of the habit. Btw, I did have braces, but my issues were hardly caused by my thumb sucking.

Ultimately it depends on why he sucks his thumb. As other people have described and I saw in my sister's best friend (who sucked her thumb until at least 13 and who did not have a super stable home life), sometimes it does become a crutch of sorts and that is when it's a real problem. Since you describe it as only when he sleeps, I wouldn't fret about it too much. He will probably outgrow it and stop when he no longer wants to suck his thumb.

My advice is to not try to stop it yet. He probably still needs to use it to soothe him to sleep.

We got our daughter to stop sucking her thumb, but she was almost 5 at the time, sucked her thumb all the time, and had a bad habit of pulling her hair out and suck her thumb while holding on to her hair Yikes! So, we were trying to stop the hair pulling, essentially and we felt we had the best shot by stopping the thumb sucking.

In our case, our daughter knew her thumb-sucking stigmatized her at school, so she was on board with quitting the thumb sucking! You really need the child to be on board to be successful.

We did a reward chart and gave her mega big rewards! For every day she didn't suck her thumb, we'd give her a sticker and 50 cents! For every week of no sucking, she'd get a present, for a month of not sucking, she'd get a BIG present! Then next month, we dropped the 50 cents a day, but kept the weekly gifts and a BIG gift at the end of the month. Then we were done! To remind her not to suck her thumb, we did wrap her thumb with medical tape. Initially, she'd forget, so as soon as the tape hit her lips, she'd remember and stop. We did keep taping her thumb for a long time, but the habit was pretty much broken right away--and so was the hair pulling! Yay!

I really think it was easy for her because of her age.

Again, 3 1/2 is kinda young to start this process. Wait until school age. If he's still sucking, you might want to try our method!

C.
www.littlebitquirky.blogspot.com

I just took a course on why children continue to have oral habits into childhood. It has to do with facial reflexes that have not been integrated. I learned exercises to do on the child awake or asleep. I already got a friend's 3 yr old to stop constant stuttering. It stopped after 4 times of the exercises. Check out Masgutovamethod.com. I agree with the woman who responded about cranial faults as well.