I sucked religiously until I was 5 or 6, and then my mom gave me a My Little Pony every week I didn’t suck my thumb. I probably did it in secret, but not for long - it did break the habit. I did need extensive orthodontic work, but I get that from my mom and I’m sure I would have needed it regardless. You don’t want them to stop too early (as in when they’re babies) because they need to learn how to self-soothe.
Of course, and this may be TMI, I give a fabulous blowjob. Coincidence? You decide.
Thanks. Designed to comfort a parent, aren’t you?
I doubt, as Shirley suggests, that it’s a ‘new little sister’ thing as she’s been doing it since she was about 6 months old and hasn’t increase it’s frequency.
I like the sticker thing. That’s a good one.
Have you considered taking up thumb sucking? That way, down the road, you and the kid can quit together. It’ll be one of those heartwarming “chicken soup” type of stories and you’ll be able to sell it for lots of money.
I didn’t suck my thumb but I was a bedwetter. Nothing worked (alarms, diapers, etc) until my parents came up with a journal idea with rewards for when I went dry for a period of time.
Little gold stars and Pizza Hut did it for me. I think I got a stuffed animal for the really good months.
My behavior modification was limiting my intake of liquids before bed and training myself to wake up to the feeling. I’m an amazingly deep sleeper (no slow descent for me, I fall right into REM) and the thought of rewards helped me to pay attention to the feelings.
Oh, I was never punished when I failed to wake up, but praised lavishly when I did make it in time.
Another vote for she’ll stop when she’s ready. I know one parent who used many draconian measures to stop her child from thumb-sucking and was very relieved and proud at her success. “Now,” she added, “If only I can get her to stop chewing her nails.” It’s a comfort thing. Chances are she’ll have given it up on her own by the time she starts school. I don’t believe it causes orthodontic problems either, but that’s just MHO.
Heh. Nope, no extra fingers, just me being a dumbass. I was trying to put my hand the way she holds it to suck her finger (kinda upside down with her wrist twisted) and somehow managed to hallucinate an extra finger on my own hand or something. She actually sucks on her middle finger.
:smack:
Yeah, but he has six fingers. I think he knew your dad. 
My little mini-Marli was sucking her thumb in the ultrasound pictures. For the first couple of months after she was born, I thought she was colicky; I realized later she was just madder than hell because she couldn’t figure out how to get her thumb to her mouth. She’s six now, and the thumb-sucking (and extreme blanky attachment - the child is Linus, I swear) has fallen way off since she started kindergarten. Now it’s pretty much just a sleepy-time thing.
If she truly wants to stop, she’s going to need your help. The sticker + rewards idea is good; you might also try working out a little non-verbal signal with her, something like gentle pat on the shoulder, so when she starts you can remind her to stop without calling a lot of attention to it. Odds are it’s such an ingrained habit she doesn’t even realize she’s doing it half the time.
More than lifelong thumb-sucker here. I was literally and actually *born *with my thumb in my mouth - the nurse had to remove it to suction me. I sucked it in school, even, until about third grade when the teasing got to be too much and I confined it to home.
I had braces in high school, but would have needed them anyway, because of the shape and size of my mouth. Everyone in the family needs braces. I also had a rake. Sucked anyway, while I had the braces.
Sometime in high school, I became incapable of sucking my right thumb, although until then I was an ambi-thumb sucker.
While I’m not exactly ashamed (as in, feel shame) about it, I am embarrassed if caught. Which rarely happens. I don’t think even my husband knows. My son was never interested in either his thumb or a pacifier. He became neurotic in his own ways.
I was sucking when I opened this thread, actually.
So uh, yeah. From personal experience, you won’t stop her if she’s determined. It drove my mom crazy, so she tried everything from nagging to guilt to the nasty tasting liquids to keeping a band-aid on it to star charts to letting me get fake nails in junior high (She thought the nail length might make thumb-sucking too difficult. I just got an indent on the roof of my mouth.)
My wife is from a large Italian family(1), and she sucked her thumb constantly until she was five. She was at a family reunion, and her Uncle Vito (2) showed her his half thumb (3), and told it got that way because he sucked it. It cured her.
Yes, with some of THOSE connections, not too close as her great-grandmother wanted nothing to do with the business.
Yes, she had an Uncle Vito. I think he was her father’s second cousin. He came to our wedding, nice fellow. (4)
Don’t ask, I don’t know, she doesn’t know, and neither of us wants to know.
He was just about her only male reletive who didn’t offer a (humorous… I think) death threat if I broke her heart.
My brother had the typical ULTRA boozey 21st party. I wasn’t in the country at the tim so I loved seeing the pics. My favourite pic was the one with his best friend dead to the world on he couch. The thumb sucking was very cute. I KNOW he never su cked his thumb after that night. The ribbbing was way to much to take.
Hey it’s not crack…just a thumb! Don’t stress. No one ever got a job based on their thumb suckin! They all stop at some stage.
No offense, but this sounds just horrible. It was bad enough that I had to admit to the dentist every six months that I was still sucking my thumb; I would have been terribly unhappy if I were called and hounded every day. When I finally stopped cold turkey at 12 (it all of the sudden went from necessary to of no interest at all) and was able to proudly announce I stopped, he was very blase about it.
And my teeth are fine.
Just FTR, my teeth were a mess. Thumb-sucking was quite bad for them, in my case.
FTR and FWIW, a really really good reason to want your child to stop sucking their thumb is because some people find it disgusting. This thread is really grossing me out. The thought of an adult sucking their thumb gives me the heebiejeebies.
That said, I concede that there are probably bigger battles to be fought, and that she will probably stop sooner rather than later.
But still. Ick.
If she’s ready, and not just reacting to other people thinking she should quit, I’d encourage her, but not push it too much. It might be easier for her if it isn’t too big a deal.
Just, whatever you do, don’t follow the example of my husband’s BIL. He threatened to hang his daughter from a hook in the ceiling. She quit. He’s quite proud of himself. She was barely two.
Does anyone know if there is actual evidence that thumbsucking causes orthodontic problems? Or is this just “conventional wisdom” that gets reinforced by selective perception?
My daughter sucks her thumb, but considering that she is a clone of me, she will no doubt need braces regardless.
Personally, I think it’s not a big deal. Even for the rare individuals who suck their thumbs forever, I’m pretty damn sure they learn to do it in private, and what harm is there in that? For years I soothed myself with pints of Ben & Jerry’s - thumbsucking has to be waaaay healthier than that!
The other thing to remember is some personality types (like me) will automatically rebel if they feel pressured. A child who might otherwise stop thumbsucking could well cling to the behavior if they are constantly monitored, cajoled, bribed, and/or punished.
I come from a long line of thumbsuckers. If your daughter wants to stop, she’ll do so on her own. If she doesn’t want to stop, it’s virtually impossible for you to make her. She will likely continue to do so when she is alone at night. (Unless you do what my great grandparents did, which was tie their daughter’s arms to the bed each night)
It feels more like an addiction than a habit. It’s something I need, not just something I want. Stopping would be as hard as quitting smoking. But there’s nothing wrong with my teeth, so I can see no reason to stop. It brings me comfort, causes me no harm (unlike many other socialy acceptable self-medications), and is completely private. I never put my thumb in my mouth unless my hands are freshly washed (hot water, soap, scrubbing. I probably have cleaner hands than most people). I’m not really sure how it’s disgusting.
My grandmother was so traumatized by her ‘breaking’ that she never tried to stop my mother, who’s been doing it for 55 years now. Her teeth are also still fine. Mom left me alone, and I still do it. My sister stopped on her own as a toddler.
Whatever you do, do not make the mistake my aunt and uncle did, which was allow their daughter to replace the thumb in her mouth with other things one puts in one’s mouth. Such as food. The child in question is now grown-- obese, but she’s got great teeth.
My siblings and I sucked our thumbs until we started school. Homelife was a bit tense, and I’m sure I did it for comfort, although it was added to the list of reasons why I was a disappointing, bad, willful child. On the other hand, it was one of the few things I could safely do to piss my parents off.
Nobody wound up with orthodontic problems.
I am not a parent, but I am interested in children and child rearing issues. I’m a fan of child psychologist John Rosemund. A strategy he often suggests for dealing with behaviors that are relatively harmless but undesireable is to allow the child to continue the behavior, but only in private. Explain to the child that the behavior isn’t bad, but that other people don’t like to see it, so it can be done only in the privacy of their room. This supposedly helps the child develop control of the habit so that they don’t need to do it in inappropriate places, and it makes it easier for them to quit when they’re ready.