Thumb Sucker - Louisville,KY

my 7 and 5 year old still suck their thumb. My 7 year old will not do it in public. I catch her with it when she is tired or watching tv. Same with my 5 year old. It's mostly when they are tired. They will stop sometime. You can't really make them stop. They will stop when they are ready

I was the thumb sucker, complete with twirling my hair. Nobody at home did anything to get me to stop. They ignored it completely because really - what can they do? I was quite aware it was not appropriate at school, and eventually I switched myself to biting on pencils, pens, chewing on the inside of my mouth (cheeks), my hair (when it was long enough) and sort of sucking on the skin over one finger - hey - at least it wasn't my thumb.

Oh - and chewing gum. I was the kid teachers allowed (encouraged?) to chew gum in class. Now when I teach... yes... there is sometimes a child I also allow to chew gum in class!

As for stopping at night - that came even later.

Did I need braces? YES. But so did one of my brothers, and he never sucked his thumb, nor did he use a paci.

And no - I didn't suck my thumb in highschool (ha ha - at least not in public!).

By the way, I have no idea what your daughter deals with in life. I was very very stressed - physically with a legs/back problem and lots of allergies, AND I was stressed emotionally as well. Few kids I know suck thumbs in class at 7 or 8 years old, but the ones I know also are stressed. Of COURSE, that does NOT mean that is the case with your daughter - I have a VERY small pool of children I know (myself included).

how many high school kids do you know who suck their thumbs?
khairete
curious S.

Oh dear. I'm sending you positive thoughts and hugs! My daughter is closing in on 5 and still sucks her thumb at night, only b/c I forced her to stop during the day. I have surveyed a lot of thumb sucking parents (b/c I always used to get stopped when she was little and people would say, oh I love thumb suckers, I had one too! Ugh.) and they all said their kids were much older when they stopped. They were like between 8-14, as your daughter is. Many of them said, just as Jeanie did, that they stopped when kids at school started making fun of them, but they still did it at night.

I only forced my daughter to stop (well partially I admit b/c it annoyed me) mostly because my 2 y/o son started watching her do it and he started doing it! Oh NO! I had to nip that in the bud b/c I sure didn't want two thumb suckers on my hands! ;)

I straight up bribed my daughter with a cupcake party. I let her choose one of those fancy cupcakes from those cool cupcake books and we set a date and had some requirements and then we had a big party with all her friends. Honestly it worked, I was sort of surprised, but it did. If you're in the market for a strategy, you may consider that one, at 8 I'm sure she'd still be impressed by amazing cupcakes! As I said, I do let her suck it at night, mostly b/c I knew I wouldn't be able to regulate it, so I figured that was my "compromise".

I used to work at a pediatric dentist and here is something close to what they would recommend to stop thumb sucking. I would also talk to your dentist or orthodontist.
http://www.amazon.com/Thumb-Sucking-Today-TGuard-ThumbGua...

I sucked my thumb until I got braces - then it was much too painful (would bite into the skin and bleed). Haven't done it since. BUT, I have 5YO who is a thumb sucker and I have an involuntary salivary response to the sight of her thumbsucking - much what I expect a smoker who has quit would have to the sight or smell. Additionally, my last visit to the labor ward netted some incredible nurses - and when they found out I used to be a thumbsucker they would go on and on about the number of young mothers they have that come in and suck their thumb once they're dead asleep....so I'm not sure it's an addiction that ultimately CAN be completely controlled. GOOD LUCK!

edit: As an afterthought, I agree with Jeannie W. I sucked my thumb out of habit, of course, but also comfort. I was stressed due to my home life and had severe allergies, and after the thumbsucking stopped, I too switched to pencil/pen biting, fingernail biting, hair sucking, chewing on my cheeks and tongue.... it stopped by high school though....well, not the pen chewing. I chewed pen tops since we weren't allowed to chew gum. LOL!

If she wants to stop I recommend http://www.yourhandaid.com/

My daughter used it the summer before she started kindergarten and it worked very well. She attended daycare at the time and the workers commented it was the only brace type device they had ever seen work, all the others the kids found a way to take off or suck around.

I used a paci as a baby, but never went to the thumb!
My sister was STRICTLY thumb! haha Until she was in kindergarten and my brothers saw her sucking her thumb on the bus! then she stopped
My daughter sucks on a paci, and she's 2 1/2yrs. I don't let her do it in public, just when she's laying down for bed, but I'm not going to force her to stop using her paci (until she's much older at least!)
I think every kid has their quirks (I picked the skin around my thumbs....still do!) and I don't know why! I guess try and let her know that it's not something big kids do, and that it will only ruin her teeth! Maybe offer some alternatives. that's a toughy!

My 4 year old is a thumb sucker. We now make him wear gloves (they came with his bike helmet and pads--they are the gloves w/o finger tips). He actually likes it and it works!

My daughter was a major thumb sucker! We started with simple distraction methods, then tried the nail polish Malvala Stop. This worked for about a month. I made a chart and she put stickers on it every day she let me put the polish on/didn't suck her thumb, at the end of the month she was rewarded with a mani/pedi. This was around age 6. Well, it didn't last long and she was backing to sucking her thumb (even with the nasty polish on!!). We consulted our pediatric dentist who recommended a dental crib. We didn't care for the idea at first and held off doing it, but her thumb sucking was literally changing the shape of the top of her mouth. Her top teeth were being pushed out and apart, and her bottom teeth were moving back. I could put my pinky finger in between her top and bottom teeth with her teeth together! She had regular dentist appt and the measured distance of her moving teeth just kept getting worse. We did the dental crib and it's worked wonders!! Don't get me wrong, it wasn't always fun. She had a hard time going to sleep for a while since we basically took away her soothing mechanism, but she learned to adapt, and overall it was worth the money and temporary discomfort. She's 7 1/2 now and no more thumb sucking! She had it on for about 9 months and her mouth/teeth have completely moved back to where they are supposed to be. She even commented the other day about how much better her teeth looked! Good luck with whatever you decide to do!