What age should thumb sucking be discouraged? Post Reply

[Plain Jane]

 Should I be trying to prevent my daughter from thumb sucking, she is just over two and a half? Her thumb gets very sore and chapped but it does seem to comfort her ... apparently I was a huge thumb sucker as a child although thankfully never needed braces as presumably I stopped before any damage was done. My husband and I don't want to introduce a dummy, but not sure what is best?

Any advice would be much appreciated...

[SW13twinsmum]

I'm in the same boat as my 3rd child sucks their thumb and gets a lot of comfort from it. I figured when he starts nursery in Sept, he'll be using his hands more and have less time for sucking.

I have older twins who were both thumb suckers. At the age of 4, we heard about Thumbsies which are fabric thumb covers. They can pick their own design, but as it's velcro, they can be removed easily so your child needs to want to stop sucking their thumb. Did it work? Yes and no! One twin stopped sucking his thumb. The other still sucks his at age 7, albeit less than he used to.
He wears a Thumbsie at night still but we catch him sucking his thumb when he's bored/tired.

For my 2.5yr old, we tried Thumbsie, but he just ripped it straight off. We also have tried other products... Dr Thumb which is a plastic cover, harder to remove, but less comfy. And another thing called a Nipit which is like a brace on their arm which stops the thumb reaching their mouth comfortably but leaves their hands free for normal playing etc. Nipit does work - my toddler did stop sucking his thumb when wearing it, but I wasn't that keen on him wearing it day and night, and felt like it was going to be a very long term commitment.

I'm going to have another go to try and break the habit before he starts school, as judging from my elder son who still sucks his thumb, it is a very difficult habit to break for some kids.

Hope one of these products can help you x

[Needcoffeenow]

Orthodontic dummy every time. No distortion of teeth, no thumb-sucking at an age when kids will make fun of them. *At an age when you want them to stop using the dummy you get them to leave all their dummies in a box overnight and say that they will ‘magically’ transform into the new toy of their choice in the morning. Job done. *This tip was from a friend and it worked perfectly with all three of my children.

[SW13twinsmum]

@needcoffeenow unfortunately my third child wouldn't take a dummy as a baby so that wasn't an option for us.

I'm interested to hear other success stories if anyone has them!

[dudette]

My 18 year old sucked her thumb until she was about 5. Her teeth aren’t fantastic (they’re not that bad although she did have some orthodontic work) but she has always been a lovely easy child and has turned into an all-round gorgeous adult. She found sucking her thumb very calming and slept brilliantly all through her childhood. I never discouraged her from sucking her thumb and she just stopped herself.