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Anne McD
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| Posted: April 26 2007 at 12:06pm | IP Logged
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Has anyone (sucessfully) gotten thier toddler to stop sucking her/his thumb? My third is the first to get in the habit, and I hate to stop her from using this as a good way to calm down and go to sleep.
And its soooo cute 
However, she's got a little infection on that thumb, and won't let me put a band-aid on it. This has happened before, where it has gotten a little bit swollen, and it can't be good for her.
Any ideas?
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: April 26 2007 at 12:32pm | IP Logged
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an herbal ointment that won't hurt if she sticks it in her mouth?
Mostly, from talking to adult friends who thumb sucked and from people who've tried to get little ones to quit.. it seems to typically come down to you can help a child to quit if they want to quit but if the child wants to keep sucking their thumb, or needs that comfort, you won't be able to make it stop.
I've had 5 out of 7 suck some finger or other.. 4 out of 7 still do.. some are more attached than others. We're helping one now with gentle reminders.. and the frequency is decreasing.. at least out in public 
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asplendidtime
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| Posted: April 26 2007 at 12:51pm | IP Logged
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We only had one who did it, we let him do it and didn't make a big deal about it until he turned three. And we got him to stop by asking him to stop when in public, or watching a movie. If he didn't stop, we'd ask him to sit on his bed or something like that (he'd miss part of the movie). So we made it a goal for him to see that it wasn't really socially desirable behaviour.
Then we talked to him about how his thumb looked different because of the sucking, he said (age 3) that it tasted good. So we asked him if it really did, he said that it didn't. We just asked him not to do it, and then we checked his thumb, if he sucked it we told him that he shouldn't and it wasn't healthy. After a particularly good cold, where he was very congested he didn't suck his thumb. So we mentioned to him that he seemed to not need the thumb. Soon we noticed that he had stopped and the thumb looked more normal(the nail started to change). So we praised him for not doing it anymore.
Now he sort of softly rubs his hair when he's going to sleep. It's cute.
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doris
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| Posted: April 26 2007 at 4:05pm | IP Logged
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My eldest dd stopped when she was nearly 6. She wasn't ready before then. It really was a comfort thing and to have stopped her would have been torture. We used 'Stop n grow' (yukky tasting stuff to paint on the thumbs) -- with her consent, and promised new nail varnish when she beaten the habit.
We did it gradually -- first she gave up in the day, then at night. The yukky stuff was really necessary because otherwise her thumb slipped in while she was asleep.
It was worth it, because her teeth stopped being so crooked, and also helped her to be more outgoing socially. But she had to be ready. My 3yo is still sucking her thumb ( a lot) and I'm not even going to think of stopping her for a while yet.
There's also a book you can get online called 'The little bear who sucked his thumb' which was vaguely helpful. The main thing, though, was that the motivation had to come from the child.
Just my 0.02 (as you say!)
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Mary Chris
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| Posted: April 27 2007 at 7:32am | IP Logged
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You could try putting some Lansinoh on her thumb. Also just wash it really well when it is not in her mouth.
I had two thumb suckers and they both stated sucking their thumbs at the same time. My middle ds started sucking his thumb on my dd's 3rd Bday. I made such a big deal of how cute he was sucking his thumb, she looked at her thumb and popped it in her mouth. I kept hoping she would stop, but she liked it.
My dds stopped when he turned 6. He is the type that has self control and said he would stop when he turned 6 and he did. My dd on the other hand, well we won't go there.
Our dentist once told me, braces cost less than therapy.
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Anne McD
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| Posted: April 27 2007 at 9:16am | IP Logged
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marychris wrote:
Our dentist once told me, braces cost less than therapy.
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That's too cute! I like the lanishnoh idea-- I did that when my oldest was a baby and sucked his hand at night-- it was really sore and red, so I put that on him one night and it cleared up by morning. Its like miracle cream!
I'm happy to let her suck her thumb, but like I said, I'm more concerned about the infection on her thumb. Maybe I'll ask her ped.?
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Anne
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Topic: stopping thumb sucking
