How do I get my 2 1/2 year old to stop sucking her thumb?

Question

My daughter will be three in May and I would like some ideas on how to get her to stop sucking her thumb. My oldest never did this so it is all new to me. She has a special stuffed animal that she drags around while sucking her thumb. And she only does it when she is tired, but its been enough to make her front teeth protrude. I would like her to stop doing it by the time she starts Pre-school in the fall. Any ideas out there?

Answer 1

never had that problem with my kids... the way to curb a behaviour you do not approve of is to make that behaviour not "fun" for her. Try that pepper nail polish to make it taste bad? Possibly make a huge big ole grand sceene when she takes her thumb out to re-enforce the positive aspect of not sucking on it. Good luck

Answer 2

My stepdaughter is almost 5 and she sucks her thumb too. A while ago her mother put hot sauce on her finger and honestly…it scared the living hell out of the kid. She’s scarred from hot sauce….we pulled it out the other day and the kid had a meltdown. So of course, every child is different, but this didn’t stop her from sucking her thumb. She turned to other fingers…. However, recently we’ve tried stickers on the thumb. For her we bought princesses. Buy him something like Spiderman or whatever he enjoys. Bandaids also work too and give him one warning to stop sucking the thumb then put the sticker or bandaid over it. If he sucks the sticker or bandaid, it’ll taste nasty. My stepdaughter kept telling me that the sticker was hurting and itchy. So I told her I’d do it too and let her know if it was really itchy or if she was just trying to get me to take it off. Well, I woke up with my sticker still on my thumb and told her it didn’t hurt me at all. She was a little mad that she didn’t get away with it. She often comes up with excuses that it hurts her, that she promises she won’t suck her thumb anymore and the key is to NOT feed into it. Just this alone has made her more aware that she’s sucking her thumb and as much as she loves Princesses, she doesn’t like the sticker because other kids ask her why and she gets embarrassed when she has to say why. This has worked for us quite well. However, nothing happens overnight…. Best of luck! It’s quite the battle

Answer 3

Is it imperative your daughter stop sucking her thumb now? My son is almost 13 and he still sucks his thumb when extremely agitated or tired. so maybe I am not the right person to answer this as I am Pro thumb sucking LOL……Although my son sucked his thumb it was never an issue in my home, other people made it an issue which I came to notice made the thumb sucking worse. So in saying it was not an issue and that my son still sucks his thumb on occasion I do have some tricks to make her at least cut down. Although my son has always sucked his thumb it was never a full time thing so his teeth never suffered, so even though your daughter will get another set of teeth it may be a good I idea to get her to cut down at least. Praise her when you do not see her thumb in her mouth. Tell her you cannot understand her words to pull her thumb out ( I am sure she speaks around it at times). When she is sucking her thumb do not make it an issue. NO PEPPER NO BANDAGING. Allow her to talk to you about it, be honest with her. Tell her it hurts her teeth and that other people and children may be not very nice and even hurt her feelings a little bit if they see her sucking her thumb at Pre School.
It is a very traumatic time and you do not want to make it worse. Just be there to help her through it. In the end (I know this sounds silly but, if she cuts right back to only sucking her thumb when tired or to calm herself that would be a huge step and trust me it is not enough to harm her forming teeth and jaws so would it be so bad to let her go on that way? It may be something you have to consider.

Anyway good luck


Angel.

Answer 4

Thumb sucking, carrying things, having special blankies, prolonged bottle habbits, and bed wetting are all signs of insecurities. Try to make her feel as secure as possible. Try to prevent argueing with your spouse or others in front of her, changing daycare, moving, talking about stressful issues in front of her, and having her watch high action cartoons or movies (which involves increased concentration).

At her age I wouldn't worry about it for one her baby teeth won't shape her adult teeth. Many children suck their thumb until they are in first sometimes second grade. That is excessive. If she gets worts or scabs on her fingers then you might want to ask advice from a doctor. But until then she is probably just trying to get her other teeth that are coming in to feel better.

Answer 5

thumb sucking soothes your child. if you want him/her to stop i would just be sensitive to how you go about doing it... make sure you don't ridicule her, or make her feel like she is bad or wrong for sucking her thumb... because kids internalize these messagees. developmentally speaking, 2-3 years old is a normal healthy age to be focused on thumb sucking....

i thought this info my also be useful for you:

"Roughly one out of every three children, ages 1 to 4, will suck his or her thumb at least sometimes. About one in five children will still be doing so at the age of 5 or older. The habit is typically harmless if the child does it occasionally, such as during "tuck in" at bedtime, or in association with a stressful event.

But older children who suck their thumb or finger chronically may need guidance from parents and a dentist to stop the habit. That's because the chronic sucking habit can cause the child's permanent teeth to become crooked.

"The kids you worry about are the ones who suck their fingers while watching TV and while they're in the car and while they sleep and oftentimes, during school. These children can develop dental problems," Ramsay says.

If you're in doubt, discuss the matter with your dentist. You may be reassured to learn that if your child is tapering off the thumb-sucking, there is probably no need for treatment. That's particularly true if the child still has baby teeth.

"If the habit stops before the permanent teeth erupt, dental problems are usually self-correcting," Ramsay says.

Oftentimes, children themselves will want help to stop. It has to do with social acceptance. Studies have shown that children are less likely to want to sit next to or be in a class with another child who is sucking his or her thumb.

If you think your child has a problem, you might want to ask an orthodontist for advice on some of the following methods to deal with the habit:

Initially, you might try ignoring the behavior. In other words, don't give the child attention when he or she thumb-sucks. Some children unconsciously suck their thumb in order to get attention, even if it's disapproving attention.

Put an obstacle on the child's hand. You might try a sock or glove, possibly secured with tape. You can also buy specially designed mittens, or a plastic thumb-guard that makes sucking difficult.

Provide rewards. You might mark a star on a calendar when the child goes without thumb-sucking for a day or leaves the sock or glove on all night.

Your orthodontist will also give you advice about how you can gradually phase out the use of these methods to keep the habit from returning. In some cases, it may be appropriate for your orthodontist to install a device inside the child's mouth that interferes with the thumb or finger entering the mouth. The device hangs down from behind the upper front teeth. It allows the child to eat, but interferes with thumb-sucking. The appliance may need to stay inside the mouth for six to 10 months to be effective.

hope this is somewhat helpful...

Answer 6

Buy Stop Bite, which is located in CVS by the nail polish isle. Tell your child if she would like her fingers painted with nail polish, just add a bit to her thumbs so when she tastes this, she wont suck on em.

Answer 7

I don't supposed you know anyone who'd missing a thumb do you?
My grandpa broke his niece from her thumb sucking. He showed her his hand (with missing thumb) and said, "I used to suck my thumb. One day I was sucking on it and sucked it clean off my hand!". She took her thumb out of her mouth and never sucked it again.
We finally broke my oldest who was my only thumb sucker. His front teeth fell out and a friend of my mom's told him that his teeth would grow back in gold if he kept sucking his thumb. He stopped.
Creativity is the only way you'll get her to quit. We even got No-Bite that is like nasty tasting fingernail polish to get my son to quit sucking his thumb but it didn't work.

Answer 8

My son does the same thing and he's also 3 and a half.
I just started using a product called Nail Biter (made for beople who bite nails) from walmart.
It tastes like crap and he hates it.
I sometimes have to run after him to put it on and he gets upset.

Answer 9

My brothe sucked his thumb until he was 4. My mother stopped pretty quick by rubbing down his thumbs with a horseradish paste.

Answer 10

try putting something that see finds distaste full on her thumb just make sure its non toxic. we used bath soap on our sons and after trying to suck his thumb twice and getting a bad taste he stopped.