Okay my daughter is fixing to be 4 in March, how do i get her to stop sucking her thumb???

Question

She has never taken a pacifyer, she has always sucked her thumb, the dentist says we need to get her to quick cause it is cause her teeth to bowe outwords. we have tried things over the counter for thumbsuckers and it don't seem to bother her, we correct her when she does it but it only makes her mad. we have told her that big girls don't suck there thumbs. She is on Ritalin and can't have sugar so we can't give her candy or suckers to suck on instead of her thumb. we are at are wits end, can anyone help me? PLEASE!!!!!!!!

Answer 1

My dentist put a thing in her mouth.. it goes on the roof of her mouth and doesn't leave room for the thumb.. also it teaches the child to swallow and keep the tongue down. Thumb suckers have learned to swalllow around their tongue and everytime they swallow, they push against their teeth, which in later years can cause problems with the teeth alianment and formation. This devise is painless and only annoyed my daughter at first... it took her 2 weeks before sucking her thumb was to much of a nuisance... It is still in and the devise will stay in until it gets to small for her mouth... it normally stays in a year and it not visble... it is like a mini rolling pin on the roof of her mouth and is clear

Answer 2

I don't understand why people get so upset about this subject. My daughter sucked her thumb all the time. When she started school, she did not suck it the whole day, but the minute she got into the car, that thumb would go in her mouth. One night when she was 11 or 12, I walked into her room and she was sucking her thumb. I have no idea when she stopped. I never worried about it. She was an otherwise healthy, happy little girl. She is now a happy adult with a baby of her own. There are so many other much more important things to worry about when raising a child. I think nagging her about it is much more harmful. My advice, don't worry so much about it and just enjoy your little girl because it is very true that they do grow up fast.

Answer 3

My daughter is 4 1/2 and still sucks her thumb! I need help too! I know there are products over the counter you can buy to put on their thumb, but I haven't tried them yet. Let me know if you hear anything useful!

Answer 4

Don't stress too much about the doctor saying thumb sucking will damage her teeth. Some doctors and dentists love to say this even though there isn't evidence to support it. The teeth, gums and bone structure are not weak. She’d have to suck her thumb well into her 8th or 9th year for damage to be an issue.

First and foremost, it's not that big of a problem in the grand scheme of things. If you could go forward in time and have to deal with an obstinate teenager or experience the stress of a runaway child or a child who gets into drugs, getting to go back in time to a thumb sucker would provide immense relief.

The decision to stop sucking her thumb will have to be hers. If the decision is someone else's, she won't stick with it. She'll revert to it in her sleep and when she's stressed.

Express your concern about germs getting in her mouth and tell her "I only have one of you (say her name) and I don't want you to get sick. When you feel like you need to suck your thumb, make sure it's clean." Show her how to properly wash her hands and make sure this is part of her routine – the rule is no sucking on a dirty thumb. Don’t keep her from cleaning her hands and accommodate her desire to wash her hands if she wants to. By giving her permission to suck her thumb, you'll find she'll do it more often for about a week and then it will taper off. All she really needs to know is that she's an okay person in your eyes. In this, be aware of your facial expressions. Be pleased with the child she is right now (you don’t get another shot at this, ever), tell her “well done” when she washes up, and have nothing to say about the thumb sucking itself.

Until she gets to this point, distraction is key. Provide her with opportunities to keep her hands busy and keep track of what interests her most. Try finger painting, playing with pudding in the tub, filling an inflatable pool with bubble bath (or empty it and provide a bowl of pudding), provide crayons and large pieces of paper (tape them down to the table for her), helping you fold clothes (don't judge her performance, just instruct and let her go), drying plastic dishes you've washed, playing in the dirt, etc.

Distractions you should not use would be food or artificially sweetened drinks. Don’t reward her when she doesn’t suck her thumb – just don’t even mention it. The less attention you draw to it the better. Thumb sucking is not a criminal behavior so don’t give in to the temptation (or the advice of others) to treat it that way.

Hot sauce or other things on her thumb will only teach her to dislike you. She may well stop sucking her thumb, but the cost to both of you is high and not something you can ever take back. If you wouldn't do it to yourself or another adult, don't do it to her.

Girls with ADHD are a slightly different breed of child. They don’t often respond to consequences the same as other children. Hot sauce won't make her dislike her thumb, only the hot sauce. Rewards won't make her like keeping her thumb out of her mouth; she'll only like the rewards -- and will get upset when she doesn't get them because she won't understand the connection between not sucking her thumb and getting a reward. Many children might get the connection, but your child likely won't because the ADHD brain doesn't work that way.

Instead of setting yourself up for disappointment, expect that she will do certain things a different way and do your best to learn her way. In this, you’ll learn how she learns and you can use this to teach her. We all have a different way to get to the park. Some walk, some run, some bicycle, and some do somersaults or jump on a pogo stick all the way there. Find out how she gets there and you’ll have way more success dealing with her.

Source: Mother and Disorderly Child

Answer 5

To start as a dental hygienest thumb sucking doesnt cause bowing unless she is bitting into her thumb and you would be able to tell cause she would have cuts on them. But I sucked mine til I was 18 when I had my first child and even when she do stop she will still do it on her on as a comfort thing.

Answer 6

try putting some hair glue on her thumb with a little hot sauce and back pepper,if that doesn't work try to start a thumb sucking behavior chat to reward her with something other then candy,like stickers.

Answer 7

Put her in charge of catching herself suck her thumb. Get a piece of poster board and make a reward chart and buy a bunch of stickers. Then put her in charge of rewarding herself by catching herself trying to suck her thumb, stopping, and putting a sticker on her chart.

Answer 8

Get the special nail polish to get kids to stop biting their nails. Paint it on her thumb nails (tell her it's regular polish.) It'll taste so bad that she'll wuit putting her thumbs in her mouth.

Answer 9

we have also been through a nightmare with my neice...but then i gave her a sudden shock ..what i did i took a knife , called my cat to sit near and i threatened her that if she suck her thumb again i will cut her finger and give it to feed the cat. from then she got really scared and never did that again even in in deep sleep!!!!!

Answer 10

lol, alright I'll tell you what my mom did to my sister when she was about that age. She actully wrapped duck tape around her thumb so she couldn't get it off. It's kinda weird but it worked. Good luck