Hello!

My 3.5 year old still sucks her thumb and i don’t know how to stop it. She never used a dummy for the moment she was born its been a thumb. I’ve tried everything, the stop and grow nail polish, reward system, knocking the hand out of her mouth etc. She got really good, with only getting caught once or twice in a day for 2 weeks, now since weve been in lockdown, I am forever asking her to stop. We went to the dentist and he is concerned about her teeth that have started to shift because of it. Help!


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  • You might just have to let her do it until she grows out of it naturally. Maybe the more attention you draw to it, the more she will do it?


  • Cant help you..i was one of those kids…i stoped when i was teenager ????????‍♀️????????‍♀️????????‍♀️


  • Cant help you..i was one of those kids…i stoped when i was teenager ????????‍♀️????????‍♀️????????‍♀️


  • My experience with my daughter who from birth until abt 5 to 6 yo was an extremely clingy, timid insecured, lacking confidence kind of person, outside immediate family familiarised scenario. She’d cry if anyone outside her family approached or called her name. Had never used any dummies. Guess the habit was like a self-soother. Found her own right index to suck on few days after we brought her home from hospital after delivery, because my then husband thought it was funny to stick her index finger into her mouth for a few moments a few times over few days.
    Alas she got the idea & unfortunately liked it for the next 13 years of her life!!!! Yes, you’re not wrong to presume the countless debates & arguments that ensued between the parents as to who’s the culprit who initiated the thumb-sucking.
    The agonising responsibility to stop her continuing the habit inevitably became mine as I’m her full-time carer as a stay-at-home mum. Just like CaffimezMum, I’ve tried almost everything under the sun, short of chilli, sought plenty of advice, nothing worked. As she grew older & became more aware & conscious of her environment & people around her, she’d try to do it secretly, turned to hide, went to a corner, tried whatever ways, especially when riding in the car even as I watched in rear mirror & kept reminding her to stop sucking.
    It happened just one day when she was 13 yo, in yr 9, when she must have been ready to decide it’d be too embarassing to keep sucking her index. So it stopped.

    Was a great relief for me not to have to keep looking out for her habit sucking & constantly reminding her any more. Can’t imagine if she were growing up in Covid time….even worrying about the bacteria & germs were bad enough then.

    A friend’s twin son had the same problem also until 13 yo when she decided to turn to a hypnotist for help & got him to stop, after paying thousands of $ for the regular therapy sessions he attended over a year or so.

    So for you, sometimes waiting could be the only way around it. Every child’s behaviour & response is different as each is an individual of their own personalities.

    I do empathise with you. My daughter is now 23 yo. She did require braces in her teenage years which cost $8000. Now have to wear the retainer indefinitely into the future.


  • My daughter stopped when I started applying that dirty liquid of the chemist on her thumb & fingers.


  • I’m hoping to get answers too. My daughter does it to go to sleep and I’m wanting her to stop


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