Can you stop them sucking their thumb??

January

Saoirse is nearly 18 months and has sucked her thumb pretty much since day 1... It's nearly permanently attached to her mouth... I tried giving her a soother when she was newborn but my efforts were futile!

She has 6 teeth now and I can see them all coming in crooked whereas her older sister has a perfect set of teeth (despite being addicted to the soother )... is there any way to stop her from sucking her thumb apart from telling her no (which she laughs at at the moment )

Any advice appreciated!

Lola92

My granny used to swear by putting vinegar on their thumb. Sounds horrible I know but chances are she won't like the taste of it. Or you could try the nail polish to stop you biting. Tastes vile (enough to stop me biting my nails! :P)

-Corkie-

January wrote: »

Saoirse is nearly 18 months and has sucked her thumb pretty much since day 1... It's nearly permanently attached to her mouth... I tried giving her a soother when she was newborn but my efforts were futile!

She has 6 teeth now and I can see them all coming in crooked whereas her older sister has a perfect set of teeth (despite being addicted to the soother )... is there any way to stop her from sucking her thumb apart from telling her no (which she laughs at at the moment )

Any advice appreciated!

Funnily enough my Saoirse 3 weeks old now wont ever suck the soother at all. She sucks all her fingers allright when shes hungry...:)

mattjack

January wrote: »

Saoirse is nearly 18 months and has sucked her thumb pretty much since day 1... It's nearly permanently attached to her mouth... I tried giving her a soother when she was newborn but my efforts were futile!

She has 6 teeth now and I can see them all coming in crooked whereas her older sister has a perfect set of teeth (despite being addicted to the soother )... is there any way to stop her from sucking her thumb apart from telling her no (which she laughs at at the moment )

Any advice appreciated!

We had this with our second baby ,he sucked his thumb almost from being a newborn, nearly permanently, never ever bothering with a soother...he eight now and has perfect teeth and still sucks his thumb but only when he,s tired.

We asked our doctor and he said you will see a gradual decline between the ages of two and four and almost none when he starts school.

Both of us did worry about it,but even the dentist said it only becomes an issue if the child is still doing it a lot after the age of nine.

Das Kitty

I sucked my thumb until I was 12 and have straight teeth, never needed braces. I think for the most part your teeth grow how they're going to and things like thumb sucking only make a small difference.

You can try the horrible tasting nail varnish stuff, I don't know if there's a minimum age though. It might be easier to get her to stop now rather than when she is older.

Chuchoter

I think if you can see her teeth coming in wrong go straight to the dentist and get his opinion. I know a few girls who sucked their thumb well in to their teens and they have perfect (like better than most peoples) teeth, but thats just sheer luck.

Hannibal Smith

My twin and I used to suck our thumbs. I remember exactly when my parents tried to make us stop because it was such a traumatic time ....they used to put mustard on our thumb, which turned my brother right off, but I used to wash it off when they weren't looking...and eventually what worked was one night they put a plaster on my thumb, which physically stopped me being able to suck, and that put an end to it. I'm not sure how you'd feel about the whole plaster thing, I still accuse them of trying to choke me , but it's what worked with me

fi1979

Hi all, I would also be interestewd to hear any suggestions here. My little girl is now 16 months, and she sucks her third and fourth finger. Its mainly when she is tired, but they're in the mouth when she goes to sleep etc. During the day when she's pottering around they're not used that much thankfully. We do on occasion try to tell her to stop, but she is fairly heedless still and very headstrong!
I do wonder if we should be trying to nip it in the bud now, or if there is a more appropriate time later on? I get the impression that most kidsw do grow out of it, but I do realsie there are always the few who will persist!
Similarly to Saoirse, she never took to soothers or the like!

January

Hannibal Smith wrote: »

My twin and I used to suck our thumbs. I remember exactly when my parents tried to make us stop because it was such a traumatic time ....they used to put mustard on our thumb, which turned my brother right off, but I used to wash it off when they weren't looking...and eventually what worked was one night they put a plaster on my thumb, which physically stopped me being able to suck, and that put an end to it. I'm not sure how you'd feel about the whole plaster thing, I still accuse them of trying to choke me , but it's what worked with me

I think I'd be afraid she'd choke on it! She'd be the type to bite it off! And the mustard thing might not work (although I will try it), because she was dipping her chips in my chilli mayo today and loving it :eek:

She's teething really badly at the moment (only six teeth!) so I know it gives her some comfort in the night time but want to kick the habit soon... along with taking her sisters soother away!

mattjack

January wrote: »

I think I'd be afraid she'd choke on it! She'd be the type to bite it off! And the mustard thing might not work (although I will try it), because she was dipping her chips in my chilli mayo today and loving it :eek:

She's teething really badly at the moment (only six teeth!) so I know it gives her some comfort in the night time but want to kick the habit soon... along with taking her sisters soother away!

honestly..taking the soother away and trying to make your other daughter kick the habit!!!...they really will grow out of those habits...they really arent major issues..When your older daughter starts playschool/school she will use the soother less and less..believe me myself and my wife wondered bout these things and now they are in the past..its like toilet training,sleeping thru the night..part of lifes steps for little ones....good luck, enjoy them when they are small.....time passes so fast..:)

Hannibal Smith

January wrote: »

I think I'd be afraid she'd choke on it! She'd be the type to bite it off! And the mustard thing might not work (although I will try it), because she was dipping her chips in my chilli mayo today and loving it :eek:

She's teething really badly at the moment (only six teeth!) so I know it gives her some comfort in the night time but want to kick the habit soon... along with taking her sisters soother away!

yeah, I'd be a bit wary of the plaster thing myself at such a young age, I was much older, I'm full sure I was about 4 or 5 .

I wonder is there something you could put on her forefinger...something that doesn't smell nice...because she brings that right up to her nose and that might turn her off. Even if you try something along the lines of the plaster idea for during the day (when you can keep an eye on her) so she learns to only associates the thumb with going asleep at night time?

Sarah Bear

mattjack wrote: »

honestly..taking the soother away and trying to make your other daughter kick the habit!!!...they really will grow out of those habits...they really arent major issues..When your older daughter starts playschool/school she will use the soother less and less..believe me myself and my wife wondered bout these things and now they are in the past..its like toilet training,sleeping thru the night..part of lifes steps for little ones....good luck, enjoy them when they are small.....time passes so fast..:)

i think soothers are horrible things.. fine for babys under 2 but nothing worse than seeing a child with a dirty dummy covering there lovely little faces!
i seen a child about 7 in a school uniform sucking a dummy a few months ago.. horrible!
my friends daughter is 12 and still has a dummy going to bed at night !!
your right OP stop it early before they get really ''hooked''

mattjack

Sarah Bear wrote: »

i think soothers are horrible things.. fine for babys under 2 but nothing worse than seeing a child with a dirty dummy covering there lovely little faces!
i seen a child about 7 in a school uniform sucking a dummy a few months ago.. horrible!
my friends daughter is 12 and still has a dummy going to bed at night !!
your right OP stop it early before they get really ''hooked''

very sad for a 12 year old .....very immature..maybe an underlying problem..for seven year old old very unusual...

LegacyUser

mattjack wrote: »

honestly..taking the soother away and trying to make your other daughter kick the habit!!!...they really will grow out of those habits...they really arent major issues..When your older daughter starts playschool/school she will use the soother less and less..believe me myself and my wife wondered bout these things and now they are in the past..its like toilet training,sleeping thru the night..part of lifes steps for little ones....good luck, enjoy them when they are small.....time passes so fast..:)

My younger sister is eighteen, and still sucks her thumb regularly! :O She's a perfectly normal healthy teenager, no underlying "issues" or anything.

Myself and my other siblings used to suck our thumbs when we were small, but my parents sorted it out when we were 2-3 years old using that smelly stuff you get from the chemists that makes it taste horrible. However, with my youngest sister, they decided to let her just grow out of it herself. And it never happened! Now, the thumb and closest finger of her left hand are sort of shrivelled and deformed, and her teeth have never lined up properly despite years of braces.

I'm just saying ... most kids will grow out of these things on their own, but some don't. In my opinion, it's worth a few days of discipline and tantrums etc for a few days to break the habit for good. Any of these habits are far easier to break when the child is younger than as they get older!