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Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

Behaviour/development

Thumb sucking.

18 replies

nilbyname · 03/09/2013 22:18

My DS does this, he is almost 5 and about to start school. The v annoying thing about it is that he started when he was 3 as his older cousin is a sucker so he copied him!

So he is now an avid sucker himself, which although I dislike, it is combined with hair twiddling, he twists his hair round and round at the crown of his head and pulls it out. This means he has a little bald patch. This I hate!

So we are thinking of buying those plastic thumb guards, which at an eye watering £55, plus postage! But the testimonials on the site are convincing. seems pretty good

Have you used it? Does it work? TIA

OP posts:

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LegoDragon · 04/09/2013 01:55

I used it for dd1. Didn't help. Just forlornly sucked it anyway. It's a hard habit to break. I found making sure she was always occupied helped- she was given a stress ball and we basically said she could carry it around and fiddle with it but if she was sat down with nothing to do with her hands, she would have to keep both hands on it. It worked because although we enforced it and reminded her, she quickly fiddled with that instead and automatically did that and after a while she couldn't be bothered and had just stopped.

nilbyname · 04/09/2013 07:59

Stress ball, that's a good idea, will try that first!

OP posts:

nilbyname · 04/09/2013 10:13

Bump

OP posts:

ClairesTravellingCircus · 04/09/2013 12:16

Not used them but at 5 could you try bribery? It worked with dd2. She was promised a ds if she didn't do it for a month by which time the habit was broken. Good luck

SoupDragon · 04/09/2013 12:22

My DCs orthodontist seems to think that if you break the habit at night, that it pretty much the battle won. His tip was long rugby socks put on both arms underneath PJs - thus very difficult for the child to remove!

nilbyname · 04/09/2013 13:30

rugby socks and a stress ball, I am going to give them a good try.

Have tried bribes, charts, distractions, but when he is tired or having some down time (which I think is a good thing) he snuggles up and sucks his thumb and as soon as I am out of sight, he goes at it!

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mitchsta · 05/09/2013 15:54

After a particularly amazing thumb-sucking session just before I turned 4, my DM asked me when I was going to stop. I promised her that: "I will definitely stop sucking my thumb when I'm TEN" - "Mwahahaha," I thought, "I will never be THAT old!"

Fast-forward a couple of years (I swear it was only a couple!) ... my tenth birthday arrived and my stupid darling mother reminded me of this ancient promise. GUTTED. I honestly did try to stop and I did cut back dramatically before high school. But I didn't stop completely.

Fast-forward another 20 years and I still have the odd sneaky suck now and again. VERY occasionally. DH2B's thumb is better than mine as it's double jointed (so much softer than my boney thing) so I have been known to suck his thumb on the odd occasion too.

However, the hair twiddling has remained one of life's greatest pleasures for me - never died down at all. Different types of twiddling for different situations - boredom, tiredness, general enjoyment, etc. Although no pulling out so not a massive problem...

Bit of a lengthy way of saying that however hard my parents tried to get me to stop sucking and twiddling, they could never really break me. I'm otherwise kinda perfectly normal. And my teeth are straight without ever needing a brace.

Incidentally, my cousin had this habit of rubbing his ear. So much so that it started creating a lump on the back of it. His mum noticed and a gentle slap of the wrist whenever he did it eventually got him to stop playing with his lumpy ear and it went back to normal. HOWEVER... instead of rubbing his ear, he rubbed his knuckle and developed the same kind of weird lump on that instead (he's a drummer so I reckon he just couldn't sit still without his hands doing something). My point is, there's a chance that if you get him to stop with one habit, he'll develop another one to make up for it? Worth considering?

SoupDragon · 05/09/2013 16:15

DD(7) is 5 months into £7k of private orthodontic treatment to correct them sucking damage.

SoupDragon · 05/09/2013 16:17

Thumb sucking damage.

DS1s private treatment to fix his thumb sucking damage only cost £3k. A snip.

nilbyname · 05/09/2013 17:29

Holy shit soup dragon!

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SoupDragon · 05/09/2013 17:31

Obviously the fact that it's private was our choice but the kind of treatment they're having and the result it gives isn't available on the NHS.

nilbyname · 05/09/2013 18:46

Well, quite. Still agog at the costs though!

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tumbletumble · 05/09/2013 18:47

I stopped sucking my thumb age 7 when the dentist told me to stop. I think sometimes it is better coming from a professional rather than a parent.

MrsDavidBowie · 05/09/2013 18:49

Ds was a thumb sucker and hair twiddler...he too had abald patch.
At the age of 9 the dentist bollocked him...andhe stopped.
Stopped hair twiddling too.

Find a good dentist

riksti · 05/09/2013 19:01

My daughter (3) has been sucking her two middle fingers since birth. She only does it when tired or falling asleep so two weeks ago we started putting the bitter anti nail biting gel on her fingers. First week was hard as she didn't know how to fall asleep without her fingers but patience and bribery has got us to the point where her finger has almost healed and doesn't go in mouth at all. We're still using the gel for now, as she still tells us how her fingers taste yucky so she must still be putting them in her mouth at times.

Thumb may be a harder habit to break but as the gel is so much cheaper than the thumb guard maybe try that first?

mitchsta · 06/09/2013 13:00

My parents tried the gel but I just got used to the taste and carried on...

matana · 07/09/2013 07:41

Sucked my thumb for years. Have the best teeth in the family and required no braces. Felt bullied to give up though which made me resist and dig my heels in. If you're set on stopping it you could try that foul tasting nail varnish. It temporarily worked with me, though I was old enough to end up refusing to put it on. Might work with a 5 year old though.

Jobates · 13/09/2013 16:29

My daughter used to suck her thumb whenever she was tired and to go to sleep at night. She gave up my wearing Thumbsies. She had lots of different material ones and enjoyed wearing them. She stopped during the day after 3 weeks, it too a little longer to break the thumb sucking habit at night. Try facebook.com/Jo.Thumbsie

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