My son is thumb sucker. He has been sucking his thumb since he was about 6 months old (he is now 18 months). He only uses his thumb at nap/bedtime. However, he sleeps so much that is about 15 hours a day!!! Anyhow, I noticed that the nail on his thumb is really looking pretty gross. I asked the Pedi and he said not to worry and that it is not uncommon for their thumbs / thumb nails to get icky if they suck their thumbs. Anyone else noticed this with their child that is a thumb sucker?
My oldest sister is, well I will say, an adult with an adult child even, and she still sucks her thumb at night. She has PERFECT teeth--no braces or anything, and she has all 10 fingernails! My mom tried it all to get her to stop, but my sister prevailed.
K.
Not to scare you, or anything - sucked my finger so much when a kid that my fingernail on my thumb fell off -- I remember my mom having to soak my finger in epson salt - -not sure what difference or healing that provided. All will be ok, regardless - I never had any problems as a result (long term). Not sure how or when I stopped I was much to young to remember -- Good luck, convincing yours otherwise,
K.
I'm with you there. I kept thinking my daughter would out grow it, she is now 6 and still does it! People I know and pediatricians have told me this is normal. I hate to differ. It worries me that her nail will stop growing or grow in bad. Or that her teeth will come in bad. I've tried having her sleep with mittens on, but she would take them off. My co-workers told me about some finger pricker, that is supposed to poke their finger when they put their thumb in, but no one knows where to find one. A man from church actually told me that his son did not stop until he was about 12! And the boy has healthy teeth and nails, so maybe there is reason for hope. Go figure.
J.,
I don't have any "magic" for you -- just some possible reasurrance. My son, who is now almost 21, sucked his thumb for many years. Yes, it looked horrid, callused, nail damaged, etc. And, like your son, he only did it when tired for comfort. Finally, after trying everything that came my way, I just let nature take its course. He did, indeed, stop sucking his thumb. Yes, he did have braces; but, so did both of my younger children neither of whom were thumb-suckers. I would encourage you to watch his thumb just to make sure it stays free from infections (the human mouth is a dirty place).
Good luck!
my daughter is a thumb sucker too and she'll be two next month. She started this habit in the womb and when she was born, she had skin missing from her hand where she had sucked so hard! We took the pacifier away at 6months, but the thumb sucking habit didn't decrease. My mom's a pediatric RN and I talked to her, my pedi, and did a lot of research on my own. Basically, all the experts say to leave it alone and that usually the child will stop when they go to school as social norms from their peers will influence them to stop the habit. Paying attention to it now can only cause more stress for them and make them want to suck the thumb even more since it is a comfort mechanism. Around age 3 or 4 is when the literature I've read says it stops. But, there's also some cream you can get called control-it that's all natural and is for preventing nail biting but works for thumb sucking too.
