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Bridget
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| Posted: Jan 24 2007 at 12:42pm | IP Logged
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I thought it was cute till now. Maria's thumb is swollen and chapped, nearly bleeding. Any ideas how to stop the habit and heal it? She is my first one to do it.
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Bridget, happily married to Kevin, mom to 8 on earth and a small army in heaven
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Dawnie
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My Anna has a callous on her thumb. She's 4 1/2. 
I have no idea about what to do to get her to stop, either. She's pretty stubborn about it...we've tried encouraging/bribing her to stop. She doesn't want to stop. She says she thinks she might stop when she's 6.
Dawn
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Angela F
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I'm all ears too, Bridget. My Mary - 2 1/2 is having the same problem. We put lotions, bandages etc. on the one thumb, but she just switched to the opposite thumb! And now it's starting to get chapped. Not sure what the right thing is to do....
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Angela
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JodieLyn
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Haven't had any problems here with chapped/cracked/bleeding.. what about Lasinoh (you know for breastfeeding and cracked nipples and such)
Generally, I feel that a child who is sucking on a finger/thumb has a need for that stimulation.. it's a twofold feeling as well.. in the mouth and on the hand so very hard to replace. Pretty much nothing you do will get the child to stop until the child is ready. BUT often the more someone is pushed the harder they cling to whatever it is.
We very gently encourage those of ours who do this to stop.. and just as they grow, I see it less and less though it's definately not stopped (my 5 yr old is the oldest I have who's done this) But the good news is.. that she's doing it much less often than she used to.. and (she's a finger suckers) she's learning not to have an extra finger in her nose  The dentist is not concerned.. and said they don't even worry about it until the permanent teeth are in.
Adults I've spoken with who were thumbsuckers to older ages.. have basically confirmed this thought.. they only really stopped when they were ready to do so.. even if they had to hide it from the adults around them. Anb deal with the hurtful comments and scoldings and nasty applications of various things onto the offending digit.
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momwats8
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I have a thumb sucker too - he is 5 and he is just not ready to stop. It drives my dh crazy!!! I do worry about his teeth though because I see they are pushed out and I sucked my thumb til I was 10 - only at night and I had braces for 4 years because of my severe overbite. I do know that not much works except as said above - gently encouraging them to stop. My parents tried everything with me and I would just endure the nasty tastes long enough to suck the stuff off that they put on my thumb and then I would keep on going.
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kingvozzo
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My dd was a ferocious thumbsucker, to the point that she was altering the shape of the roof of her mouth. She was certainly pushing out her front teeth, which might not have been a problem in itself, but combined with the force of the sucking, she was causing a problem with the roof of the mouth. We ended up having the dentis install a dental crib, which is a metal attachment that went across the roof of the mouth. She needed to be fitted for it, but it worked like a charm. She only wore it for a few weeks (6 maybe? We were in the middle of moving to CT), but I understand some dentists like to leave them in a bit longer.
She never sucks during the day anymore, and only at night a couple of times of month. I see that when I tuck her in again before I go to bed. I just remove her thumb then.
It was definitely worth it for us, because ANY attempt at dealing with the thumb-sucking just brought so much unhappiness.
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Kathryn UK
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Er ... wait until she is 11 and vanity combined with dire warnings from the dentist might work . That is what finally stopped my dd. How glad I am that we don't have to pay for orthodontic treatment in the UK!
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KASB
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| Posted: Jan 24 2007 at 5:36pm | IP Logged
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We used the ThumbGuard
with great results. It is expensive, but was the only thing that worked for our son. He was 4 when we used it - it comes in 3 sizes and the 3-4 year old size is the smallest, so I don't think it would work for your Maria, Bridget, but it might be useful for those with older thumbsuckers. I would try the Lansinoh to protect her skin and hope she'll not like the taste or texture of it.
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Kym
mom to 9 - 8 boys (24,14,10,9,7,4,3,17 mos.) and 1 girl(22)
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JSchaaf
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I second the Thumbguard. We used it for out just turned 6yo dd. She wore it 24 hours a day for 2 weeks, then at night for another 3-4 weeks. I didn't force her to wear it, though. We talked about it and she said she was ready to quit.
Jennifer
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doris
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My eldest dd was a very keen thumbsucker and she has been criticised by dentists for it since the age of 4. There was no way she was ready to give up then, though we did read this book which at least sowed the seed.
By this summer (ie when she was 5) we'd encouraged her to stop during the day, but weaning off it at night seemed a long way away. Then suddenly, she seemed willing to give it a try, and agreed to have the yukky stuff painted on in order to stop the thumb creeping in at night. We also bribed her with nail varnish!
The first couple of nights were hard, but she did it! Now she doesn't do it at all except very occasionally at night.
So that's a very long way of saying that I don't think you can do much until she's ready to join in with the process herself -- which is a long way off! Just keep putting Vaseline on. It's not totally disgusting but will help the chapping a bit.
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Bridget
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Here is the latest accessory for serious thumbsuckers. Her thumb was bleeding in two places. It took three of us to bandage it, you would have thought we were amputating. She is not impressed. We'll just keep it on with some cream till it's better and work on reducing the amount of thumb time after that.
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momwats8
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ok - I shouldn't be laughing but her little face is just so pathetic and sweet. Maybe this will help her stop?
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Alice R
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All of the kids were BIG thumbsuckers. The baby is gonna suck that thumb off one of these days.
I am of the train of thought that eventually they will stop. My three all stopped at about 4-5 years.
I know that it can cause dental/orthodontic problems. I guess because I needed braces and did not suck my thumb (or have a pacifier) that this does not scare me.
Best wishes with your invention. 
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Angie Mc
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Just wanted to add, our success story! I didn't mind my 5yo sucking his thumb (my only thumb sucker) until...he began putting his index finger into his eye and getting eye infections  . After several failed attempts here is what finally worked:
1. We had a heart-to-heart about habits, his eye infections, and growing up. I read him a story I found online about a girl his age who stopped sucking her thumb in 10 days with the help of her family and a real desire to stop.
2. We went to the corner drug store and purchased a box of band aids (camouflage  ) and a cheap reward (plastic soliers with tanks ), both of his choosing.
3. We hung the reward on his bedroom wall as a reminder and placed a band aid on his thumb, one in the morning and one at night.
4. Within 5 days he was completely free of the habit during the day, so he was able to go without the band aid during the day. He received his reward on day 8!
He still wears one at night but he hasn't had an eye injury in weeks...now that deserves a  .
Love,
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MelissaClaire
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I fear we're headed this way. I've never had a thumb sucker until this baby. He's one now and CONSTANTLY has his thumb in his mouth. I've never seen anything like it. I think he's not talking at all because he always has his mouth plugged up. I know there's nothing I can do about it at this age though. I just hope he gives it up on his own before TOO long.
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Bridget
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| Posted: Sept 14 2010 at 8:04pm | IP Logged
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None of my first five sucked their thumbs. The last three all do. The six year old has been trying to stop using the band aid method, but always reverts when we stop using the band aids. I have been trying to get a jump start on stopping the five and one year olds. (I guess it's not really a jump start if you wait till they're five.  She is the one in the picture from the original thread.)
Maybe I can talk them into giving it up for Advent.
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BrendaPeter
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We used Mavala. Did the trick in 1 night.
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4Real Forums : Mothering and Family Life
Topic: Thumbsucking
