how to deal with thumb sucking

[musicalgrl]

My 3.5 year old DD used to be a bedtime thumb sucker, but it's escalated to the point where it's on an off all day long. We've had a couple of instances recently (think public bathroom) where her hands REALLY needed to be washed, and the thumb was in the mouth before I could get her to the sink. I am thoroughly grossed out and also concerned for her health. What can I do to discourage this habit?

[lalasmama]

As a former "thumber," I generally recommend laying low on the attempts to control thumb-sucking. Why? I promise you, I found more comfort sucking my thumb than annoyance with parents asking me not to suck while at xyz. In other words, I was willing to suck and ignore my parents' begging, or demanding, that it was a "bed time only" thing.

A few "light" rules may work with a 3.5yo--"No sucking thumbs in the bathroom, because bathrooms are dirty."

FWIW, gross but true, I sucked my thumb everywhere up until I was in kindergarten--in the garden with dirty hands, at the river (IN the river!), and, likely, yes, even nasty public bathrooms, I am sure. .... And I was rarely sick. I think my body just got used to fighting off the germs. I didn't start getting "really" sick (ie, asthma, tummy issues) until after I stopped sucking my thumb.

[pinkmomagain]

FWIW, gross but true, I sucked my thumb everywhere up until I was in kindergarten--in the garden with dirty hands, at the river (IN the river!), and, likely, yes, even nasty public bathrooms, I am sure. .... And I was rarely sick. I think my body just got used to fighting off the germs. I didn't start getting "really" sick (ie, asthma, tummy issues) until after I stopped sucking my thumb.

My middle dd was a thumbsucker and I also feel that her great immune system is due to her thumbsucking!

[baymom]

I think it's a hard one! Both my kids sucked their thumbs. DS was highly motivated at age 3 to fill a sticker chart of each hour he didn't suck and then to pick out a toy. Our ped recommended a sticker per hour as it was a manageable amout of time for a 3 year old, as opposed to a full day. He gave up sucking in a week, amazingly. DD was 4.5 years old before she gave it up completely (after about 3.5, she only sucked at bedtime or if she was really tired). No sort of external motivation worked on her and she only stopped when SHE decided she wanted to. DH and I finally had to just laugh about it, because that's her personality and how she is about all aspects of her life.

I agree with PP to just not bring too much attention to it and think about how strong her immune system must be!:tongue5: Maybe think about ways to motivate HER, but accept that she'll stop when she's ready to.

[twowhat?]

DD1 was a serious thumbsucker. We couldn't get her torticollis corrected because of it (she only sucked the left thumb and her head was tilted to the left to suck on her thumb all the time). So, the thumb had to go. But - we did it when she was only a year old (by painting that bitter stuff on her thumb).

At your DD's age, I think I'd just wait until I could reason out of it or until she wants to stop sucking and is on board with methods such as painting her thumb with bitter stuff as a reminder. It was hard enough to go through that with a 1-yo. I don't think I could go through with it with a 3.5yo!!!

Maybe just keep hand sanitizer with you? And as a bonus, hand sanitizer tastes pretty bad:) Maybe that way you could at least discourage the habit when out and about?

[chays]

We were in a similar boat. DD used to suck her thumb only when she was tired. Then, it slowly got worse instead of better. By 2.5 she was sucking it constantly. All of her preschool pics had her thumb in her mouth.

I bought these thumbguard from one step ahead - I never thought they would work. We called them her "bracelets". OMG - IT WORKED! AMAZING!!!!! We did end up having to do both thumbs because she realized when she couldn't suck the one she wanted, then she sucked the other one.

It was heartbreaking though. She was so upset. I had to sleep with her for 2 nights because she just couldn't comfort herself. But it was SO worth it. Once she learned how to sleep without sucking her thumbs, we were home free. We totally followed the instructions to.the.letter, but those thumbs never went in the mouth again. I have friends who tried when the kids were older, but it was much tougher.

The thumbguards are amazing and psycologically - I didn't "do" anything to her, she was just unable to get comfort from sucking. I cinced them tight only for the first couple of nights. After that, she stopped trying to get them off. They were loose enough that I could slip them on and off easily. Good luck! IIRC, they run small.

http://www.onestepahead.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=984&cmSource=Search

[mackmama]

I'd try the thumbguard a PP mentioned. I was a thumbsucker, and my mom painted my thumb with the bitter stuff... and I just got up and washed it off after she left my room. I'm not sure your DC is old enough to do that but, just in case, I'd try the guard.

[WatchingThemGrow]

Try mavala stop. Amazon sells it. Worked perfectly for 2 boys in one application!

[Piglet]

Mom to 3 thumb/finger suckers...

DS1 - we resorted to bribery/sticker charts/lego sets/etc. and the end result was that he chewed on his shirt instead. At age 11 he still has his fingers near his mouth even though they are not in his mouth.

DS2 - he sucked his fingers and had no issues from the dentist about messing up his bite. I remember telling him he had to only do it in bed or in his carseat, so anytime he started sucking them I told him he had to go to his room. I have no memory of making him stop outright, but he doesn't do it anymore.

DD - sucked her thumb and her bite was being impacted so I tried to get her to switch to her index finger, which, much to all of our surprise, she liked more than her thumb. In the end she was begging for earrings and I used that as the bribe. She hasn't sucked her thumb/fingers since last summer when she got her ears pierced.

So take my advice to be - try the bribery route but it might not work or try to ignore it and that might work eventually. If the dentist is worried then you can try to push harder. In the case of DS1, he needs braces and was a thumb sucker so I mentioned it to the orthodontist as a "oh duh" mommy moment and the ortho actually told me that the thumb sucking may have improved his bite since he now needs to expand his upper jaw further to fit his adult teeth and the thumb could have actually been a good way to push out even further as a kid!? Go figure!