Thumb Sucking

[Andrew]

Any advice on how I can get my daughter to stop sucking her thumb?

[M Baxter]

How old is your daughter? What's the situation?

In general, it's hard to stop a behavior with a toddler. But you can encourage substitute behaviors. You can offer a pacifier instead, or encourage your daughter to use a lovey stuffed animal to calm herself. You can watch for what triggers the thumb sucking and offer an alternative. If she's tired and trying to soothe herself, you can rock her and sing to her. If she's anxious, you can look for ways to reassure her.

[Andy Smithson]

Most kids stop by the time they are in first grade and if they don't stop by then, they usually stop shortly after that due to negative statements from peers. That's not really the most pleasant way for a child to stop thumb sucking but most kids will transition and adapt just fine. I worked with a kid that was 11 years old that sucked his thumb. Between Mom, Dad and me it took him about a month to break the habit.

If your daughter is younger than that and it's not causing any problems like buck teeth or blisters on her thumbs, I wouldn't worry too much. If it is causing problems or you just can't live with it, the first step to stopping it is recognizing (like M Baxter said) when and why she is sucking her thumb. You could even track what time of day she does it or what events are happening when she does it.
The more you know, the better you'll be able to track and help her stop the behavior. This is generally the case with all nervous or bad habits. Try tracking it and then let me know what you find out and I might be able to help you out a little better with how to stop it. Just leave me a message on my profile. I'd love to help where I can.

[beans_mama]

Our daughter was non-stop with the thumbsucking. Her thumb was calloused and I swear we could see her front teeth starting to "buck" out. So, I got some Mavela Stop and painted it on her thumbnail when she was asleep. Within a week she stopped sucking it. She *did* try to suck her forefinger the 3rd day but I painted all her fingers after that.

It's invisible and it tastes horrible. The first time she put her thumb in her mouth with the stuff on it, she cringed and started to cry. I honestly felt bad for her but asked her, "What's wrong?"

"My thumb is sourrrrrrrr!"

"Maybe you should stop sucking it then."

She looked at her thumb meekly and weeped like you would the loss of a good friend.

Less than a week, she had completely stopped.

Don't waste your time with other brands. I tried two others and they didn't work. Google Mavela Stop. I ordered it from someone on Amazon.