Any Suggestions???

Okay, so my son has sucked his thumb since he was in my belly...SERIOUSLY!! We have an ultrasound pic with his thumb going into his mouth!!!! And he is four now, and I've been trying to get him to stop sucking it..we've tried nearly everything...does anyone have any suggestions???

My daughter took a pacifier and when she turned two I took it away and she did surprisingly well, but the thumb is a LOT HARDER TO GET RID OF!!!!

How about the clear nail polish that doesn't taste good. It's for nail biters, but you could ask the pediatrician.

Ashjoy wrote:

How about the clear nail polish that doesn't taste good. It's for nail biters, but you could ask the pediatrician.

I've actually tried something called Thumbs(or something like that) which is pretty much a clear nail polish with cayenne pepper in it!!!! It stops him for about twenty minutes and then it's right back to it...which I don't understand...b/c one day I got some on my hands and then went to bite my nails(I KNOW...BAD HABITS ALL AROUND) and it tasted horrible...I didn't bite my nails when it was on my hand:)

I wish I knew. Our daughter is 7, and I have been trying different things for years. I would love some suggestions also.

Has he been to the dentist yet?

perhaps a check-up at the dentist and some suggestions from them would help. I never had any thumb-suckers. I had a nail-biter tho and the only way I got her to quit was a bribe and threats!

Garsy

Garsy wrote:

Has he been to the dentist yet?

perhaps a check-up at the dentist and some suggestions from them would help. I never had any thumb-suckers. I had a nail-biter tho and the only way I got her to quit was a bribe and threats!

Garsy

He's not been to the dentist yet, but I was just getting ready to make him an appt! Maybe that will help him some! Thanks Garsy:)

My daughter was the same way Jess. She stopped sucking her thumb right around 4. I tried all kinds of things, but in the end what I think worked was... During the day if I saw she had her thumb in her mouth I would tell her to take it out and quick distract her with something else and at night I would tuck her in making sure her hands were tucked in the blanket. Also she was really big on the idea of being a big girl at that point and when she found out that babies suck thier thumbs I think she decided herself she didn't want to do it anymore ( she's hard headed that way lol ).

Stacey, that's funny b/c I told Lucas only babies suck their thumbs and it didn't seem to help, but maybe he'll start doing better...and I'll try that when he's sleeping, and maybe during the day I can distract his hands with something else!!!

Thanks for all the suggestions girls!

My son was a thumb sucker too. We tried everything and couldn't get him to stop. Finally the dentist referred him to the orthodontist who put a contraption in his mouth called a crib. It was a rough few days after that but it did the trick.

Good luck!

Jennifer, I didn't know they had that! Callie, my oldest, has braces and Shelby, my thumb sucker, was with me one day while she got them tightened. The ortho looked at Shelby's teeth and said that they were way out of alignment because she sucked her thumb. He didn't mention that, but I am going to find out.

Danielle, it made such a difference in his alignment too. Within a few weeks of his thumb being out of his mouth his teeth started dropping down into place. It's certainly worth inquiring about.

Wow, great information Jennifer...thanks for that!

The professional consensus on thumb sucking is that it should decrease during age four and stop by age 5. Not all thumb sucking causes equal harm, three factors affect the outcome of damage. These are Duration, Intensity and Frequency of the habit. Higher the three, higher will be damage to teeth.

If a child stops thumbsucking before loss of baby front teeth and permanent front tooth eruption, most or all harmful effects disappear within six months.

As far as cribs go, the ideal time is when upper front baby teeth become loose, just prior to eruption of adult or permanent front teeth. Prompt thumb removal at this time allows permanent teeth to assume a much better position than waiting until their full eruption to break the habit. Improvement in front tooth position is typically noted within two weeks after crib placement. It takes four to six months for the open bit to close and the front teeth to straighten. However, the brace is left on nine to 12 months, a sufficient time for the habit to be a distant memory and relapse potential minimal.


Some parents try home remedies to break the habit. Some try placing gloves on their children before bedtime. Others paint thumbs and fingers with various foul-tasting substances, while still others wrap bandages around the offending digits. Yet all of these measures are typically easy to overcome and are usually unsuccessful, because thumbsucking is a deeply ingrained behavior. One option is to have him suck his thumb sitting in front of a mirror daily for few minutes, this is a biofeedback technique which has been found to be useful. Thumb sucking can also be caused by stress and anxiety.

Good Luck!!