How do you get your kid to stop sucking their thumb?

How do you get your little ones to stop sucking their thumb? My daughter will be 4 in March, and she started sucking her thumb when she turned 1, she didn’t like a binky much. We had gotten her to stop when she was almost 3 but then it started again when I was pregnant with my last and she is now 4m. I can start seeing it make a difference in her teeth. I do notice a difference now on when she does it, back then it was only at night as comfort, but now I’m noticing her doing it all the time.

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My mother rubbed pepper juice on my thumb and let it dry. It definitely worked for that and picking my nose, but I wouldn’t recommend it. :skull_and_crossbones: It was pure evil.

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Just leave her, it’s clearly a comfort or attention thing, she wants to feel more baby like so she gets what baby does. Just ignore it honestly and encourage more grown up things - helping with cooking, cleaning, shopping, passing stuff for the baby. She will get into being a big girl and eventually forget :slightly_smiling_face:

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She’ll stop when she’s ready. Pick your battles. This one is not one you can win without unnecessary drama.

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Just leave her be,its a coping mechanism,the more you push the more she’ll need it,

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As a mama of two kids who sucked on their thumb/pointer finger. They will stop when they’re ready. My thumb sucker finally stopped when she was 6. My youngest is 3 and still sucks on his pointer finger. It is a comfort thing, just like a pacifier, blanket, or stuffed animal. I tried to get my daughter to stop and nothing ever worked, so I let her decide when she was going to stop and it made life so much easier when I let her decide.

I sucked my finger until I was 12 nothing made me stop. More people got on me about it more I did it cause comfort.

My brother got an infection under the thumb. It got severely infected and had to be drained and nearly lost the nail. They sell nail varnish that tastes bitter so maybe try that?

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So your daughter has something in her life she has complete control over….and you have a real problem with that and demand to be in control of that, too? :face_with_raised_eyebrow:

Leave her alone. She will be fine.

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I eventually showed my twins pictures of buck teeth and they stopped but they were older than 4

This is why dentists prefer pacifiers …so much easier to get rid of. Honestly…leave her be. Maybe try distraction tactics when you see her but please. Don’t put anything nasty on her thumb and don’t nag it will only make it worse.

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She’s fine, just tell her not to do it at school or she won’t like the results😆 Also, you can show her a picture of someone with Buck teeth and let her know that’s a possibility as well😬

Don’t worry, your child will stop sometimes

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I was told it would fall off and it scared me enough to stop lol

They will quit when they are ready, doing anything else is borderline abuse imo.

There are child safe things you can get to put on the thumb that taste bitter. If u know a food she really dislikes put some on her thumb

My daughter got a callus on her thumb. I told her if she continued sucking it, the doctor was going to have to perform surgery. Dramatic? Yes. Did it work? Yes lol

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She will grow out of it. She’s only 4. Imo and experience. Putting so much pressure on them to stop doing it just causes anxiety and makes them need the comfort of sucking their thumb even more. My son was a thumb sucker, he went from sucking his thumb to licking his lips creating the kool-aid ring around his mouth. He is now 10 and doesn’t do either. My 7yo is on the back end (less and less) of the lip licking thing too.

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There were otc things the pediatricians used to recommend that tasted terrible when put on thumbs and other fingers. My husband is a dentist and sees loads of kids whose teeth are really misaligned and visiting thousands of $$ to fix. I know those who say " just ignore it" mean well, but you also have to consider that school days will be coming, and unfortunately kids who thumb suck in school can wind up being bullied and made fun of by other kids, so the sooner you can assist in stopping it, the better. She’ll have to find other coping mechanisms as she gets older anyway, so might as well start now

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Leave her be
My mom said I did it till I was 5 & apparently when I started kindergarten I stopped
It’s her security & will stop when she’s ready u can’t make her stop or punish her
Just let her be & when the time is right she’ll stop

My daughter sucked her thumb til she was around 6 or so. She did it alot when she was younger but as she got older she only did it when she was tired. I never tried to stop it. It really didn’t effect her teeth or anything. She has better teeth than I do and I had braces. Lol.

First ya gotta figure out why the behavior is reoccurring- then address it.

We recently got my daughter to stop sucking her thumb, just before she turned 5. I used “stop the bite nail polish” to remind her and I bribed her with a princess play date. If she went a whole month without sucking her thumb we would dress like princesses and go spend the day in the city doing whatever she wanted. She has now been 7 months no thumb sucking.

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My mom put hot sauce on my thumb . It worked! I’m not telling you to do that . Just saying a nasty taste would stop it.

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My sister is 35 married with kids and still sucks her thumb good luck :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

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I was a big thumb sucker baby for a long time when I was a baby had cause either way it did pull my teeth forward but nothing braces didn’t fix in seriously like a day

You don’t. The more you try the more they do it. My son is 37 and still does it. It is a coping mechanism.

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"Put quinine on her thumb. She’ll stop sucking it!”

There is some clear nail polish that has a nasty taste meant for people who chew nails. I bought it once by accident and it’s awful. You could try that.

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They have nasty tasting clear polish. My mother did it to me when I use to bite my nails. It works.

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Regardless of if you find a way to stop it, consult with a dentist about her teeth if you’re worried. My nephew had a bad attachment to binky’s and thumb sucking that contributed to issues with speech and his teeth.

Since you let it become a thing the child probably won’t stop

Both my kids sucked their thumbs probably still do at times

I sucked my thumb until I was in year 8

They have a nasty tasting clear nail polish. Get it on Amazon.
Don’t let her turn into an adult who sucks their thumb :roll_eyes: She will be bullied her entire life. Nip it now.

It will cause mouth deformity thus giving her buck teeth.
There’s bad tasting stuff out there for this. I put the nasty tasting nail polish on my daughter when she was young to get her to stop biting her nails. It worked.