My eight year old son, sucks his thumb. First of all he did not start sucking his thumb till he was 2 years old when we moved from Tucson to Sedona, we moved back to Tucson about 4 1/2 months later. His pediatrician said he would grow out of it when he started school. We are still waiting, we do not believe in punishing him, by taking toys away for sucking his thumb, which our family members have suggested. He says he wants to stop too, but he can't. He normally sucks his thumb while he watches TV or before he goes to bed, and when he is upset, it is his way of soothing himself. Any suggestions on how he can stop.
If you want to help him stop try "Stop the Bite" made by Hoof. You can buy it at Wal Mart in the nail care isle. I only costs about $2.75 and taste really bad. I used it with my 4 year old and she stopped sucking her thumb almost over night. Also, try to talk with him and see if he can come up with another way to sooth himself when he is upset.
My daughter is 5 and we used the Thumb Guard. See this link for more info:
http://www.onestepahead.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId...
As they say 21 days breaks a habit and this worked for her. She wore it 24/7 and no more thumb sucking. It's around $75, but I figure what's $75 to having dental problems and braces later.
I have an older lady friend that told me that her son sucked his thumb til he was 11! They tried everything and nothing seemed to work. They finally threatened to tell all of his friends that he sucks his thumb. Well, he stopped!
Hi!
My 5 siblings and I all sucked our thumbs until about the 4th grade and the youngest until much later. I don't feel that there is anything wrong with it, it is a comfort for them. If he gets teased at school he won't do it there and who cares if he does it in the comfort of his own home. This probably wasnt much help but this is my opinion on the subect.
A.
I don't know if this will help, but it might be worth a try. My daughter who is almost 3 sucked her thumb from the time she was a baby until about 4 months ago. I didn't know what to do- I didn't want her to keep up this bad habit forever and ruin her thumb. She would suck on it until it was raw and cracking and bleeding. Also, her fingernail is a little messed up, and that was only 2 years of sucking on it. I didn't want it to get worse as she got older. I tried putting things on it like vinegar and bandaids. That didn't work. So I decided to wrap her thumb with gauze and taped it up good. We did this at bedtime, because that is when she would suck her thumb. It took a couple weeks of doing this to break the habit and she does great now. But you might consider wrapping both thumbs. She only sucked her left thumb, so that is the one we wrapped. But then she started to suck on her right one. So we wrapped them both. Also be very positive and supportive. I learned real quick that getting after her about it made it worse. We would tell her what a "big girl" she is for not sucking her thumb. Praising and encouraging her was a huge factor in her quitting. For us that did the trick. Good luck- it wouldn't hurt to try it.
Such is the bane of teaching our children at a young age to "self soothe". If a child is soothed by a parent, they slowly become independant and require less soothing. One never becomes less independant of one's self. When we insist that our babies soothe themselves, they creat habits that are hard to break. So this message is for those who have children young enough to try and not let your child become dependant on their thumb or some other weird habit to soothe themselves.
I have a 10 YO niece who sucks her thumb, her 6 YO sister tries so hard to get attention by asking for pitty by crying in the night or getting so upset and throwing up. I know why these children do this. It is because their parents insisted on letting their children self soothe.
Hi-
I was a thumb sucking girl until I was in the 4th grade. Not only did I suck my thumb, but I would "pull fuzzies" off a fuzzy blanket too. My mother was not supportive of the thumb sucking and fuzzy pulling, but it was when she finally just let it be that I stopped. I don't really remember WHY I stopped, but just that I did. I do remember that we moved from a house where our bedrooms were far apart to a house where they were closer together. I was able to feel closer to her and thus more secure. I do remember that I began the thumb sucking at the age of 5, right after my pediatirican molested me. Maybe there has been a trauma in your sons life that you are not aware of. (my mom was not aware of my molestation even as I tried to tell her in my little girl way- until after I told her when I vividly remembered following my marriage) There are topical yucky flavors that you can put on your sons thumb if you're really anxious to have him stop, however, if it is comforting that he seeks, he'll be likely to find it elsewhere, in food or having control of something.
I'm no psychologist but I hope personal expeience helps.
Good luck!
My recommendation is -leave him alone. First of all, if he does it to comfort himself in times of stress and he is being threatened with punishment, he will obviously be stressed. Secondly, I have a 20 year old son who sucked his thumb until he was 12! He sucked his thumb at bedtime, and when upset. He stopped on his own and had absolutely no problems with his teeth. He also had a very mature attitude about it. When he was in kindergarten,we went on a field trip on aschool bus and on the way back he was tired. He laid his head in my lap and was sucking his thumb, when the boys in front of him started teasing him. I ignored them and so did Alex, for about 5 minutes, he finally sat up and slowly took his thumb out of his mouth and said "Why don't you guys grow up and get a life" and them put his thumb back in his mouth and lid his head back down. I also have a sister who sucked her thumb until she was 12 and again, it caused no problems. Don't worry about it! Tell the other people not to bother him about it either. He will stop sooner and be under less stress without all the pressure. Good luck!
Hello, my name is Clarise. My daughter had the same problem only with her pacifier. Once she tured 2 we would come up with helpful activities that would keep her entertained so that we could get her off the pacifier. It worked after a couple of months. Maybe by keeping his hands busy with a fun project will help him and you
I wouldn't worry too much about the thumbsucking. My daughter use to suck on her thumb up until she was in third grade and then all of sudden it stopped. She started to write stories about anything in third grade which I think was another outlet for her. I had tried hot sauce and other stuff, but that didn't stop her. So, he may need to find something else that takes the place of sucking the thumb. Something where he is not consciously thinking about sucking the thumb. I don't know what that would be in his case, but I know my daughter stopped sucking her thumb in third grade, but then she picked up nail bitting.
And she has great teeth, better than mine and she's 21 years old now and occasionally still bites her nails.
My daughter sucked two of her finger until she was almost eight. It didn't matter what I tried it seemed like the bigger deal I made out of it, the more frustrated we both would get. I then realized that everytime we moved (4 times in 4 years) it got worse. Once she felt like we were finally "home" and not moving again, she seemed to feel safe enough to stop. On the other hand I have a sister-in-law who is in her mid 20's and still sucks her thumb when she is stressed. I think that maybe people need to have some sort of "security blanket" to comfort them or calm them down. Try helping him to find another way for him to feel safe and calm- singing, drawing, twiddling his fingers, crocheting, reading, writing... something. If that doesn't work, you can always try what worked for my son- he accidently burned his fingers and it hurt too much to suck on them. (jk, I am NOT endorcing hurting your child :-) )Good luck.
Well, I don't know how PC this will be, but have you tried bribing your son? I ask because I sucked my thumb until I was in second grade. My parents told me I could have one of those pound puppies if I stopped. I wanted one so badly that I gave up my habit.
Another idea is to write a "Family Bestseller." The idea comes from a parenting book I read. Take pictures of your son as a baby, as he is growing, etc. Talk about how he has grown and changed. At the end show a picture of him now. Underneath you can talk about what a big boy he is and how he doesn't need to suck his thumb anymore. It shouldn't be critical, but supportive. It may take a couple months of reading it, but it just might work.
As a mother of 4, Ages 8, 6, 4 & 2 and a former thumb sucker. My advice to you is to just let him be!!! I sucked my thumb until I was 16, when I met my husband. I used to suck my thumb when I was upset, sleeping or relaxing. My friend just recently told me she was going to have some metal device put in her sons 4 year old mouth to get him to stop sucking his thumb. I honestly don't see any problem with thumb sucking. He may need braces later, but at least he had the comfort of his thumb! Two of my 4 kids loved the binky, in fact, my 2 year old still has one and I really believe my husband made us take my 4 year olds too soon. It's not a bad thing because society doesn't aprove of it! Let him be, the less pressure you put on him to stop the sooner he'll stop on his own time!
I was a HUGE thumbsucker and in 2nd grade they put an appliance at the top of my mouth to stop me. It worked and I still turned out normal without the comfort of my thumb. This was back in the 60's.
I did not read any of the responses to your request. I am going to give you my life experience and hope that it will assist you. I know that it is hard being a parent period. Let alone the extra challenges that accompany it. I am a preschool teacher and have taken plenty of courses with children and I was a thumbsucker until I was much older than 8. So I know how your son feels and I am educated a little in the ways of children (some). So here is my take on it. He needs it emotionally or he would not be doing it. Period end of story. He does not realize this is the source of the tumb sucking the other end of it is that it is also out of habit now. So what to do if I it were me: A) realize that it is not harming him any. Pay no attention to it at all. Redirect. If you see him sucking his tumb while watching t.v. give him something to do with his hands while watching t.v then. A snack like yogurt covered raisons(they are not messy and will not stain and are healthy) that will give him something to do with his hands while watching t.v. As for right before bed you may not be able to assist with. Consitrate on the t.v part of it. This way if it is out of habit you will automatically be shifting that habit with this step. Then it will fall into place. If t.v comes before dinner or after. Calculate that into the dinner thing. Give him carrots with some dip to eat while watching t.v then some apple slices with some cheese. All healthy and will be an addition to the dinner. I hope this helps. Pay no attention to it though just make him the snack, give it to him. Out of love not the whole lets do this so you dont suck your thumb. Give it a month and you will see it start to change. Soon he will not need a snack at all and he will no longer do it.
