Thumb-sucking kids

I can tell you that I would certainly love to have tips that would help me to get my children to quit sucking their thumbs. My daughter is going to be eight in December and I think that the only thing that is going to get her to stop sucking her thumb is when she gets braces. Her teeth are very crooked, but it is genetic not because of her thumb sucking. However, try as my husband and I might, there is nothing that we can do to get her to stop sucking her thumb.

I have a cure that I did use on my son and it work well and it goes like this. Put something that is bitter and edible on your child's thumb. It won't have any side effect that I know off on the thumb or any part of their body if they touch it with the thumb. They will quit thumb sucking after a short time since every time they suck it they taste bitter thumb :) I might suggest using bitter gourd Have a try. It works.

i dont know as its such an awful thing. my daughter did this till she was 10yrs. yet when she was 5 yrs we started trying to stop it. she even wanted it stopped cause she felt like only babies did that and her brothers made fun of her. so at night she'd have me bind her hands and yet by morning at least one thumb would be out and in her mouth so, we gave that up. once i put peanutbutter on her thumb and told her it was poop before she went to bed and she was afraid to sleep tho and about halph an hour later came to me crying, and said mommy i cant sleep. please wash it off so i did of course the only thing i can think might have stopped her was when she started staying over at her friends house for over night. that seemed to shame her out of it. otherwise im not sure. cant remember what actually worked. but she has beautiful teeth and is a beautiful woman these days in her 40's. uploading a pic of her.

Hi, Thumb sucking is definitely not good habit for children and when my son is young, I always remind him not to put his finger inside his mouth as his hand may have lot of germs. It is very bad habit and by keep saying NO to him,I don't see my son is thumb sucking or putting his fingers into his mouth when he grows up. SInce your child is already 4 years old now, you should stop this bad habit from her. You can always remind her to stop thumb sucking as she has grown up and maybe you have to use tougher method to stop her for doing so like: remind her that if she does thumb sucking,then you will put some chilly sauce on her thumb, because small children can't eat chilly sauce and she probably feel scared on it and slowly she will stop this bad habit. You have to pay more attention to your daughter,make sure she stop her bad habit as soon as possible.

I understand what you mean about thumb-sucking can lead to serious, yes very serious dental and speech problems. as for me, i use to suck my thumb, for a long time as a kid. But i've been really blessed. because i don't have an overbit. not even a little one, and i don't have speech problems. its really a wonder why i don't have a serious overbit. anyway, my cousins and siblings use to threatned me to stop. but i eventually stopped on my own. the taste for it just wasn't there for me anymore. i don't necessarily know any habits to stop children or to give parents for their thumb sucking kids. hopefully they will stop before it really effects them. good luck!

I sucked my thumb until I was in 1st grade. I didn't do it around anyone just at night and it was really hard to stop as I didn't know I was doing it. My mom made up a chart and if I stuck with it I got a prize. I only sucked my left thumb so at night she would tape a sock to my hand as I would suck my thumb in my sleep and not know it. This did the trick after about two weeks I didn't need the sock anymore I would make it without it as the habit had been changed I guess a sock doesn't taste as good as a thumb. I remember a few months later thinking I should try it again and my thumb tasted horrible to me then. It was to the point that my left thumb was smaller than the right. I do have dental problems and also the roof of my mouth is very high I believe from sucking my thumb. I knew what a bad habit it was I didn't even want my daughter to have a passifier but she had to have one since she was a preemie to help learn the sucking so she could eat. Well about 6 months maybe she threw it out of the crib and never wanted it back so I threw it away and never offered her another one. I went from the passifier to the thumb so I didn't want that for her. She is three now and from time to time she will put her thumb in her mouth and I tell her that it is gross and to get it out of there. So far that has worked and she has not become a thumb sucker but she does chew on her finger from time to time but she is also getting that last set of molars in, in the way back. Rewards might work I hope so. If you can break the habit during the day really use the sock for when they are asleep. Yes it looks funny, but hey who doesn't have a clean sock for the cause. Maybe even visit your local dollar store and find a really fun sock. The bitter things didn't work as when I was asleep I wouldn't notice it. I wish you luck as I know what a bad habit it can be. Once she is around other children that don't do it she will give it up during the time she is around them because you don't want others to know you dirty little secret.

No tips from me too. But I wanted to get in here to see if there are any tips I could learn. My son is 4 and still sucks his thumb. Only when he is about to wake up from sleeping though. Usually, I would fully wake him up and show him his thumb. And when he sees all the skin already ripped and worn, only then he would stop sucking.

Hmm.. I was a vigorous thumb sucker myself up until I was in second grade. Looking back, I remember it was something that gave me a lot of comfort, and helped go to sleep at night. I also remember my mom always looking at me in frustration whenever she asked me to not suck my thumb. She would explain to me why it was bad - mostly because of the germs - and I remember that yes, I understood that too. But I found it hard to let go of the habit because it was something that was almost automatic for me to do. By first grade I had a sense that my classmates weren't doing the same thing (thumb sucking). This gave me a more distinct impression that it wasn't normal, so I was able to limit the thumb sucking at home. And then I lost my two front teeth and that was a different experience, thumb-sucking wise... my mom would get mad and said that my front teeth would grow with a big wide gap in the middle, which gave me pause. I was able to cut back on the habit, though not all the time (so there was a still a teeny gap between my front teeth, heh). Gradually I did let go of the habit... I went through a phase first though that instead of sucking on my thumb I would suck on the neck or collar of my clothes :p I say don't fret too much about it. Your child is just 4, and I was able to kick the habit when I was 7. Just be patient in explaining why it is something that is not good, and eventually she'll be able to understand that, and later stop thumb sucking.

Hmm.. I was a vigorous thumb sucker myself up until I was in second grade. Looking back, I remember it was something that gave me a lot of comfort, and helped go to sleep at night. I also remember my mom always looking at me in frustration whenever she asked me to not suck my thumb. She would explain to me why it was bad - mostly because of the germs - and I remember that yes, I understood that too. But I found it hard to let go of the habit because it was something that was almost automatic for me to do. By first grade I had a sense that my classmates weren't doing the same thing (thumb sucking). This gave me a more distinct impression that it wasn't normal, so I was able to limit the thumb sucking at home. And then I lost my two front teeth and that was a different experience, thumb-sucking wise... my mom would get mad and said that my front teeth would grow with a big wide gap in the middle, which gave me pause. I was able to cut back on the habit, though not all the time (so there was a still a teeny gap between my front teeth, heh). Gradually I did let go of the habit... I went through a phase first though that instead of sucking on my thumb I would suck on the neck or collar of my clothes :p I say don't fret too much about it. Your child is just 4, and I was able to kick the habit when I was 7. Just be patient in explaining why it is something that is not good, and eventually she'll be able to understand that, and later stop thumb sucking.

its not a good habit.