Thumb Sucking

One of my DD sucks her thumb when she goes to sleep. I need to stop it before her 2nd birthday if possible...only 2 months away. My girls mouths/teeth were exactly the same when they were younger and since I took their pacifiers away(I totally regret now) one of my DD sucks her arm to fall asleep (no effects orally), My other twin DD started sucking her thumb and her teeth have changed so much. If she stops by the age 2 there are great chances everything will move back on there own. I know its horrible but I don't want her to have buck teeth when she is older. My girls are great sleepers other than the recent crying right as I put them down, I love my time while they nap/sleep I know whatever I do is going to make her and I miserable at nap/bed time so i have been hesitant to try anything. All the aids I have found online her hands aren't big enough to use. I wanted to look into something natural I could put on her thumb that tastes horrible. I don't know what to do. Please help if you have any suggestions.........

 

The only thing that I found that worked with my son was this "polish" called Mavala. :good: Worked very well for my son and he stopped sucking his thumb within a couple of days. I tried other creams/polishes but I guess they didn't taste bad enough because he'd suck it off and then continue sucking his thumb. My son was 4 though when I used it and I don't remember if there was a age minimum on it... so I'd check that. Good luck!!

 

I don't have any suggestions...I sucked my thumb right up until I got my braces put on at age 11 :woah:. The ironic thing is that my father is a dentist who in his early days did not believe in soothers...after having a child like me he now endorses their use .

I just wanted to tell you that my teeth are fine. I never had buck teeth but they were crowded and I did need braces...I am sure I would have had them even if I wasn't a thumb sucker given my genetics as all my siblings, who were not thumb suckers, had them too.

My parents made a HUGE deal out of trying to get me to stop which I think might have made me do it more. Is there any way you can just give her her soother back?

 

I have no advice sorry. I sucked my thumb until I was about 11 and I never needed braces. One of my twins sucks his thumb, he'll stop when he is ready.

 

I used Control-It for my son. it's an all natural cream for nail biting, but it worked for us. We still limited his thumb sucking to his bedroom (if he wanted to do it he had to go to his bedroom) and we also used the cream. Took forever, but we finally broke him of it. Also, my son was 4 or 5 when we started it as well, so as Liz said, you may want to check and make sure it is okay for someone as young as yours.

 

My DS is almost 4 and still sucks his thumb. His pedi said not to worry about right now as it won't have any ill effects really. I honestly haven't noticed any changes with his teeth. they eventually just stop doing it when they are ready. Did your dentist tell you to have your DD stop sucking her thumb? I really think it is such a hard habit to break, especially at that young of age. Good luck, sorry I have no advice for you.

 

My girls are both big thumb suckers (they come by it honestly - their uncle sucked his thumb till into his teens & his gf says that sometimes he'll still wake up with it in his mouth! :laughing: He never needed braces). We've recently implemented a thumbs are for going to sleep only policy - and it's helping a bit (we still have to remind them about a million times a day though - especially when they're watching tv or we're in the car). I'm not too worried about it. They'll stop when they're ready - if they need braces, they need braces. ardon:

 

Honestly if your ped or dentist are not worried I wouldn't worry. My dd is a thumbsucker from like 6 weeks and her doctor and our family dentist both said not to worry about it. Both also advised the harder you try to make them stop the harder they will rail against stopping. And my oldest former ped(we would still see if we hadn't switched insurance) always said braces are cheeper than theropy LOL.

 

Alyssa was a big thumb sucker. I used to try and limit it to bedtime (give her things to keep her hands busy and ask her to stop whenever I saw her sucking it during the day), but we never did anything to stop it totally. Then last October-so at 7 1/2-the dentist finally told her that she needed to stop sucking her thumb (before that he did not have a problem with it). She was upset about it and it was hard for her to break the habit but she understood why she had to do it. She came up with her own idea to stop her from sucking it and that was to wear a woolly glove. For school during the day she had some of the cream but for car trips/watching tv/evenings and bedtime she wore the glove. Also her parents made her a star chart, she got one star for each day/night of no thumb sucking and at the end of a month they took her to build-a-bear as a reward.
I don't know if a glove would work for your daughter, being so young she won't understand the point and will probably just take it off, but it would be worth a try. Alternatively you could try putting a band-aid on her thumbs which might do the same job of making them not nice to suck and would be harder for her to get off.

Did your dentist say she needs to stop by age two or is it a limit you've put on because you're worried about the change you see in her teeth? If you haven't specifically discussed it with your dentist yet I'd do that first (and, if you don't have one, maybe try to find a paediatric dentist as they will have more experience in this area) because she/he may not be worried. I could be wrong but I think that the palate doesn't usually harden until 7 or 8 years of age, and most thumb-sucking children who stop by the age of 5 or 6 will have their teeth move back into line naturally. Like a pp I did also wonder if you couldn't just give her a pacifier back?

 

My girls will be two very soon and they both suck their thumbs. It's a night time/new surroundings thing. I don't worry about it too much. I sucked my thumb until I was 12 (never in school, and after 5 it was just in my sleep apparently) and have no effects from it. My teeth are straight on their own. I honestly prefer it to the pacifier and as long as my kids don't walk around with it in their mouth all day, I won't do anything about it until they are 4-5. We will be moving back stateside when they are 4.5 so I will wait until the drastic changes are over!

 

I would give the paci back on the condition that it can only be used in bed. I would use that until age 3, which is when most paci manufacturers recommend dropping them, and try to negotiate a settlement with your kid at that time. The "paci fairy" who comes at night and replaces all pacis with new toys works wonders, I've heard. I think it's much easier to break a paci habit than a thumb-sucking habit.

 

Jack was an inveterate thumb-sucker. For the first 2.5 years of his life I don't think we took any pictures of him without his thumb in his mouth. We did try to gently correct him, but it was such a habit that he'd go right back to it. My nanny actually started telling him that big boys don't suck their thumbs, only babies do, and within 2 weeks he had stopped! :woah: I don't think all kids break the habit that easily, but it might be worth a try. ardon:

 

One of my twins still does it at 6 years old. We've tried everything listed above but nothing has worked. Generally, I don't care if he does it but I tell him to only do it in his bedroom. My husband continues daily to try and break him of the habit, but after years and years of it, I've just given up. It's not one of the battles I choose to pick. My brother and husband were both thumb suckers and both have straight teeth. I've seen numerous dentists over the years because of our moves and each one has their own take on it.

If you try the Mavala stuff, just be careful. We used it, my son sucked his thumb anyway and it caused him to throw up.

 

Thanks everyone for the tips. I have tried to give the pacis back soooo many times and it won't work! Darn it!!! My oldest daughter had such a hard time letting go of her pacis at the age of 2 we prepped her for months so she would somewhat understand, what was going to happen and after her birthday party. We collected all the balloons and tied up every paci we could find and we sent them all to the moon. It was really hard on her and all of us. I didn't want the twins to go through that so I took them away earlier...... obviously way to early. I totally regret that now. Paci is much easier to take away than a thumb. I sucked my finger and my sister sucked her thumb. I also have worked with children that suck their thumbs, fingers etc. for the past 10 years. I work for an Orthodontist we place appliances to help stop habits. I have seen all the effects that thumb sucking can cause and I do want to stop her by the time she turns 2. I just wanted to see what has and hasn't worked for people. Thank you again everyone!!