# Did you suck your thumb? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 14, 2004, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-suck-your-thumb/279762 "2004-12-14T09:53:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-suck-your-thumb/279762/1 "2004-12-14T09:53:22Z")
If so, to what age? I did, until I was 6. Broke the habit through sheer willpower. A few sleepless nights. Now (34), I’m a smoker. Come to think of it, that should be a secondary question: if you sucked your thumb, did you later take up smoking? ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-suck-your-thumb/279762/2 "2004-12-14T11:37:08Z")
Yes. Supposedly to the point where there’s an imprint of my thumb on the roof of my mouth but I’ve never noticed it despite my parents saying it was there. (the roof of your mouth is \*supposed \*to be slightly concave, right? I’ve never had a chance to study anyone else’s.) And no. I’ve never smoked anything. Not a single puff or drag. Even as a five year old, the habit (four out of five parents\* smoked) disgusted me. \*Mom, dad, two steps, and an aunt. ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-suck-your-thumb/279762/3 "2004-12-14T11:42:21Z")
Yes, I sucked my thumb. I’m not going to say specifically what age, but I will say that I was very close to my teen years before I stopped. I started smoking shortly after I started my teen years, for what it’s worth. ---
**Author:** ![PookahMacPhellimey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pookahmacphellimey/32/3175_2.png) [@PookahMacPhellimey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PookahMacPhellimey)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-suck-your-thumb/279762/4 "2004-12-14T11:43:25Z")
Yes, till I was 18. :eek: I stil very occasionallyl do when very tired. Smoke too. And at this moment chewing a lollypop stick to death. Also chew pens a lot but not, mercifully, chewing gum. You have to wonder what Freud would say to all this. Fortunely he was a complete quack. ---
**Author:** ![Scoundrel\_Swanswater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dfb087/32.png) [@Scoundrel\_Swanswater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scoundrel_Swanswater)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-suck-your-thumb/279762/5 "2004-12-14T14:28:19Z")
I sucked my thumb until I was 12 or 13. Peer-pressure turned me off of it. (Nothing as helpful as a class of kids laughing at you ☹ ) I started smoking a few years later. ---
**Author:** ![35340](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/8baadc/32.png) [@35340](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/35340)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-suck-your-thumb/279762/6 "2004-12-14T14:36:58Z")
I don’t know - but I do bite my nails and chew my hair. I’m very orally fixated and would probably smoke if I didn’t have lung problems. The hair isn’t as bad as it was as a kid - back then they just kept it short. Now I’m more of a twirler. My current addiction is Myntz - holding off on getting back into it until I’m done with breastfeeding (the constant Myntzing also make me eat less and I think the peppermint is a detriment to supply) and ready to diet again. ---
**Author:** ![Mini-Thud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/779978/32.png) [@Mini-Thud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mini-Thud)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-suck-your-thumb/279762/7 "2004-12-14T14:41:40Z")
I did for a long time, not sure when i stopped, but it was close to 10 probably. No i don’t smoke. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-suck-your-thumb/279762/8 "2004-12-14T14:50:57Z")
No…I was a precocious child in these kinds of things. I gave up on the bottle early , as well as my teddy bear and the nightlight. I was just completely naive about everything else. ---
**Author:** ![Jayn\_Newell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jayn\_Newell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayn_Newell)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-suck-your-thumb/279762/9 "2004-12-14T15:03:48Z")
Yes, until I was 8. Then, when I started grade 2, I decided I was going to stop, and did that day (Ok, so I sucked once after that, but other than that I stopped cold turkey). Never smoked anything, I find it disgusting. It took me a little longer to give up my blanket though. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-suck-your-thumb/279762/10 "2004-12-14T16:51:17Z")
Thumb? I was known to suck my entire _fist_! Stopped sometime prior to entering kindergarten. Never took up smoking; one smoker in the family is enough. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-suck-your-thumb/279762/11 "2004-12-14T17:01:48Z")
Yes. Until an embarrassingly late stage of childhood (i.e. until well _after_ I got the braces that were supposed to correct the resulting overbite). I was an on-and-off social smoker from about age fifteen through twenty-five, but I don’t think there’s any correllation. ---
**Author:** ![Shrinking\_Violet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@Shrinking\_Violet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shrinking_Violet)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-suck-your-thumb/279762/12 "2004-12-14T17:07:44Z")
Yes, to age 9 - and I smoke. My daughter still sucks her thumb occasionally at age 14. ---
**Author:** ![AllShookDown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d9b06d/32.png) [@AllShookDown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AllShookDown)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-suck-your-thumb/279762/13 "2004-12-14T22:52:36Z")
I didn’t suck my thumb but I sucked the index & middle fingers (together) of my left hand and twisted my hair with my right. I broke myself of it when I was in Kindergarten. That’s how I learned to tell my left hand from my right. I knew the fingers I sucked were on my left hand. I smoke (actually quitting right now) but I think that has more to do with the fact that my mother & father & three sisters & brother all smoked. ---
**Author:** ![Abbie\_Carmichael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/49beb7/32.png) [@Abbie\_Carmichael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abbie_Carmichael)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-suck-your-thumb/279762/14 "2004-12-14T23:21:32Z")
Nope, never did. Wouldn’t take a pacifier, either. We think it’s because when I was first born I was really sick and was stuffed with tubes and wires and stuff. After that I guess I had had enough of things stuck in my mouth. Abbie Jr. never sucked her thumb, either. FWIW, I don’t smoke. Did just a little bit for a few months (about 1 pack a month) but haven’t had one for years now. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2004, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-suck-your-thumb/279762/15 "2004-12-15T00:55:39Z")
Should have mentioned that my overbite is **terrible**. Result of thumb sucking? ---
**Author:** ![thirdwarning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecccb3/32.png) [@thirdwarning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdwarning)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2004, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-suck-your-thumb/279762/16 "2004-12-15T02:29:56Z")
According to my mom, I sucked my thumb for a short while when I was about six months old. She thought I was imitating my older brother. As I type that I find myself wondering if it had anything to do with the fact that about that age she weaned me from breast to cup. (I got teeth) She never made that connection, though, so maybe it wasn’t that close in time. Anyway, it was only for a few weeks, I guess. And no, I don’t smoke and never have. ---
**Author:** ![Essured](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Essured](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Essured)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2004, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-suck-your-thumb/279762/17 "2004-12-15T04:17:12Z")
Yep, sucked my thumb for an embarassingly long time. Overbite? Yep, mostly corrected now. Smoker? Ex-smoker. Smoked from approx. 14 to 23. Nail biter? I try regularly to break this one. Will get there one day. I bite them until they bleed. One fingernail is currently bitten so far back you can only see a tiny portion peeking through the curve of the cuticle. Disgusting. Very disgusting. Quitting smoking was easier than trying to quit nailbiting (for me). ---
**Author:** ![Abbie\_Carmichael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/49beb7/32.png) [@Abbie\_Carmichael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abbie_Carmichael)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2004, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-suck-your-thumb/279762/18 "2004-12-15T05:01:19Z")
Something just occurred to me: does thumb sucking somehow stimulate the teeth to start coming up? I didn’t get any teeth until I was 15 months old, maybe it was because I never sucked my thumb? ---
**Author:** ![zephyrine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/35a633/32.png) [@zephyrine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zephyrine)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2004, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-suck-your-thumb/279762/19 "2004-12-15T13:15:30Z")
Sucked my thumb until I was 14, still sleep with my hand near my mouth. Smoked from the age of 15. My daughter could be seen to suck her finger in the womb. ---
**Author:** ![Boopsie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5a626/32.png) [@Boopsie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boopsie)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2004, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-suck-your-thumb/279762/20 "2004-12-15T19:10:19Z")
I didn’t suck my thumb until preschool, and then it was only because the “cool” girl in preschool did it. But I do often chew pens, and I did smoke (have mostly stopped since last January) and would still LOVE to be a smoker… haha [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-suck-your-thumb/279762.md?page=2)