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Thumb Sucking -- sucks. Help for stopping it?

missamERICAmissamERICA member
in Toddlers: 24 Months+
My son is 3 and is a thumb sucker....anyone have any tips on how to stop it? We've tried the "your a big boy" approach, but he doesn't care. We tried (and were successful briefly) with allowing him to suck his thumb only if he was in bed/laying down resting, but I find that he's slipping back into doing it more often than not.
Married DH 5/28/08
DS Born 4/13/11
DD Born 3/38/15


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Re: Thumb Sucking -- sucks. Help for stopping it?

  • TiffanyBerryTiffanyBerry member
    "Big girl" talk is counter productive for my daughter.  What helped for us was talking to her - for a few months - about why she needed to stop sucking her thumb (that it would hurt her teeth and she would need a lot of work to put her teeth back into place later).  Then we set a time, when she was two, after which I would gently encourage her to take her thumb out of her mouth if I found it there (I'd move it away and to another comforting place - she liked to rest her hand on my belly (originally pinch my skin, but we worked out of that one)!).

    As you go through this process, it's important for him to find another method of comforting himself that is more acceptable at this age.  Just trying to remove the comfort measure without him having other methods won't be very effective.
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  • ashiscuteashiscute member
    I agree about not using the big boy thing.  That wouldn't work for my DD.  If being big means stopping something they like (thumb sucking) then who wants to be big?

    My DD does not suck her thumb but two fingers.  She went through a phase where it was all of the time.  She does have some oral sensory issues so when she had her fingers in her mouth we removed them and found an alternative (a snack, a drink, she has some teethers to provide oral stimulation).  We tried not to make a big deal of it.  And we were able to get her back to doing it only at bed nap time.  I'm not currently ready to break that habit as we are in the middle of a moving and no need to add stress.  I would just work on getting it back to bed/nap times for now.  

    I have seen where some people wrapped bandages around the thumb that the kid couldn't remove.  Haven't tried it though.  Good luck.
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  • RedDDDRedDDD member
    I sucked my thumb for a long long time and never had braces and have straight teeth.  My son sucks his thumb but I have to say its really only when he is tired and its not really an all day or constant thing so I don't personally think its a big deal.  My SIL had a hell of a time getting her 4 yr old to drop the paci so she just kept showing him pictures of buck teeth.  That didn't work so she found a picture of braces and showed him that and for some reason that did the trick.  As a result he brushes his teeth constantly so you cant argue with that!!
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