I need some advice from any of you who have had serious thumb suckers. Both my boys found their thumbs by 6 months of age & still love them to this day. The dentist had a talk with them yesterday and we threw out their little blankets last night.They both still suck their thumb a bit & Daniel will even grab his coat in the car to cuddle up to and suck his thumb when he is tired or crabby. Any advice? They really only do it now when they are tired or crabby but Jacob is developing an overbite so I want to get them to stop.
Thanks

Shell
Jacob, Daniel & Rebecca 1/7/00

Shell - Four out of 5 of my boys suck their thumbs. At least it makes good sleepers, huh? I was told that it really doesn't affect their teeth until they become older and their permanent teeth come in. That being said, my 6 year old just stopped sucking his thumb on his 6th birthday because of that reason, but he does have a narrow jaw because of it. What we did with him was during the day, we put a bandaid on it, sometimes 2, to make it really secure. Then at night, we put a sock on him. We taped the sock on so that he could not take it off. Never once did he put up a fuss about it. My 4 year old currently sucks his thumb only at night, with a blanket. We will probably wait until he turns 6 and do the same (also take blankie away). Two of my triplets are huge thumb suckers, and we'll wait and see with them. I had such great luck with the bandaid thing, that I'd recommend that. Also, give a sticker for every day of no sucking (without fighting it, either). Then at the end of the week or after 7 in a row, give a bigger prize.

Sue, home schooling mom to
Nathan, 10 yrs.
Will, 8 1/2 yrs.
Caleb, Alex, & Luke; 6 1/2

Hi - we have two serious thumb suckers, and one pulls her hair out while sucking her thumb, so she is a half-bald thumb sucker We were told by our dentist that they just aren't going to quit until they decide to quit, so we shouldn't make a big deal of it.

Two of ours are looking at some time in some sort of brace in their mouth to move the jaw very slightly, but one is not a thumb sucker, so I think it has nothing to do with that in our case.

What bothers me most is the germ intake -

Deb
Son, 12
GGB, 10

I also have a 4 yr old (b) thumbsucker. He used to only suck his thumb at night, but around 2 1/2 yrs moved into tired or relaxed times during the day. Has anyone experienced speech articulation problems because of thumb sucking? My sweet boy has a hard time with "sh" in "wash", "j" in "juice" and "ch" in "cheese". In a recent speech evaluation, I was told this was due to his thumb sucking and slight underbite and would probably resolve after he stopped sucking his thumb and his tongue "learned" to stay behind his teeth. Thanks for the bandaid idea during the day, I am going to try that.

Lori
Mom to b/g/b Eamon, Sophia & Garrett
born 8/10/99 at 29 weeks

I have two thumb-suckers and recently grabbed an article in my ped's office about it. I don't remember all the details, but it said not to try to get them to stop until 4, and then give them an active role it whatever strategies you use, i.e. let them be in charge of putting the bandaid or sock on their hand at night. There were some other tips, too. I'll see if I can find it.

Sheri
Mom to 5 Great Kids
Savannah-6/1/93
Sydney-8/19/97
Clayton, Jackson, Tyler-10/6/00

Sheri
Mom to 5 Great Kids
Savannah-6/1/93
Sydney-8/19/97
Clayton, Jackson, Tyler-10/6/00

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.