How do I stop my son sucking his finger?

Question

My son is almost 10, he does it when he is tired only. He will often leave the room when sked to not do it, I have tried the nasty nail bite stuff and he washes it off, gloves he takes off as well as taping them. Other than sawing off his finger I have run out of ideas. Most important reason for stopping him is the buckling of his teeth and the disapproving looks I receive from his dentist.

Answer 1

Make him stick his finger in his butt first. That should cure him.

Answer 2

Am in exactly the same stage as you with my son, he is 10 in 2 months time and is still sucking his thumb. The reason I wish him to stop is that as his teeth protrude then he is at risk of damage to them, in fact they are already quite chipped and cracked.
After talking it through with him, he is trying very hard not to and generally does not suck any it anymore except when he is tired.
For most techniques you will require the patient to want to stop sucking his thumb.
You can get the dentist to make a brace with either a ridge or a piece of wire built in so that it is not comfortable to suck their thumb, This can be a fixed brace or a removal one.
The fixed ones can sometimes cause more distress than they prevent and the removal ones will often get "lost" by the child so that they can continue their sucking habit.( happened to me)

The Antinail biting paint on stuff was tried and it too dissappeared!

The best method I have found is by using elastoplast plasters, the "hairy" ones. These are used in conjunction with elastoplast tape.

A plaster wrapped around the thumb is a very good reminder not to suck their thumb and fairly un-noticable during day time.

At night the best thing to do is to tape their thumb to either their first finger of their middle finger or any other combination. if you use heavy duty sticky bandage tape, and enough of it, he should not be able to remove it easily,every time. If you tape up his other hand as well he should not be able to undo it( and on a plus side it stops them playing on Playstations!)

The advantage of doing this with a 9/10 year old boy is that you can make a game out of it. As bed of bed time routine you create " the Claw"! Ok, maybe that's just my kid but it worked for me and was very successful and stress free for the boy.

If all this fails then you will just have to wait, orthodontic treatment to correct post habit occlusion can be performed at any age.

Answer 3

If he really wants to stop sucking his thumb, I'll bet he is only doing it in his sleep. For daytime, all the suggestions about something bitter will serve as a good reminder. For night time, I suggest that you wrap an Ace bandage around his elbow(s), but JUST tight enough to keep it from slipping down. The idea is to make it so that if he tries to reach his mouth with his thumb, the Ace bandage will tighten up enough to prevent him from doing it without using a lot of force. He is not likely to do this when he is asleep.

Of my three kids, the one who wouldn't quit sucking her thumb until she was 8 or 10 turned out to have the best bite and best smile of them all - without braces. Lip pressure is an awesome force. Once she actually quit, it was only a matter of a few months before it was obvious that her teeth were being pushed back down where they belonged.

So, take heart. He might not need braces after it is all said and done. I'd start saving, though.

Answer 4

I experienced the same problem that your son has. I sucked my finger until I was 13 years old. Eventually, he'll do it in front of someone and either be embarrassed and stop, or he'll notice that there's nothing wrong with it and contiue on. If he only does it when he's tired, that's when you need to stop him from doing it. Continuing to tell him to stop will do nothing. You need to sit him and down and tell him some of the things that will happen to him. I had braces due to my ucking, and the finger that I sucked on is now flat, and the nail does not grow properly. Also, I do not swallow correctly anymore, because my finger was constantly hitting the roof of my mouth, which is now worn down. My dentist has warned me that if I continue to swallow the way I do, I will eventually wear down all the skin off of the roof of my mouth. I'm rambling, bleh. But yes, just try and talk to him about it.

Answer 5

You cannot stop your son from sucking his thumb. It is a comfort mechanism he uses. I would not try to hard to stop a behavior which makes him feel safe and comforted. He will probably stop, but not when you think he should. The dentist needs to leave it alone. After all, if anything, it will give him more business.
To your sweet little son. Happy thumb sucking.

Answer 6

I don't know if they still make it but there used to be a bottle that looked like fingernail polish and it had a very foul taste but it was nontoxic and it worked very well
You just paint it on to his fingernails and finger tips and when he puts them in his mouth he will take them right out bugt do not use anything else because if he were to put his hand to his eye then he could burn his eyes

Answer 7

I am 11, and i did that untill first grade, if he does that when he sleeps go check on him once in a while while he is sleeping and if his finger is in his mouth, take it out without waking him up, because then he might get used to that and not need to suck his finger.

Answer 8

Strat by telling him that men do not suck their fingers and if he wants to be a men, he has to stop. Then you can try the chilli in the mouth every time he disobeis you! But if you put too much salt cut it.

Answer 9

Its his fingers and his teeth, let it go. If you don't, the emotional damage you are doing by making him feel bad will be far worse than anything that happens to his teeth. He can always wear braces later. Or, he can spend the money on therapy resolving why he hates his mother when he is in his twenties. Your choice.

Answer 10

Some day he will accidentally do it in front of a friend or someone who will embarrass him about is and he will stop. I really don't think you can stop him now. You should have used Tabasco on it when he was young. Now I think it is too late.

Answer 11

i no this might sound very cruel but this is how my parents stop me from sucking my thumb is by saying that the dentist will have to break my jaw if i continue. this might sound VERY mean but it works because he will think about his jaw being broken every time he sucks his thumb

tmswainyboy

REMEMBER tell him that if he stops now he dosent have to have his jaw broke. it worked on me but try everything elce first.