ADVICE RATING |
 4.79 (Highly recommend) from 10 votes (112 Visits) |
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Getting an avid thumbsucker to stop.... |
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by sluxton  (June 2007) (rank 160th) |
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My son spat out his dummy and preferred his thumb from when he was 3 months old. It was always so cute. He only sucked it when tired, upset or going to sleep at night but once asleep, would take it out. When he turned about 2.5yrs though, he
went to the dentist to fix a chipped tooth and she asked me if he sucked a dummy or bottle or thumb and I said yes and we were getting concerned about it now getting towards 3. The dentist had already noticed a change in the shape of his pallet and jaw where teeth were growing and showed me horror pictures of kids who had kept sucking their thumbs and the mess it had made of their teeth.
Now, I know there are lots of people out there that may have sucked their thumbs til they were 12 and had no problems whatsoever, and that is fine, but it all depends on how the child is sucking and where the pressure of the thumb is placed around the mouth. For my son, we would have had problems and as we (like all parents think!) think he is a good looking child, didn't want him to go through life later on with aweful teeth, or months of braces etc.
So we started on trying to stop the thumb sucking. He wanted to stop to but such a habit which he started as a tiny infant is not an easy habit to stop. We tried everything from the nail polish for nail biters which tastes foul to gentle reminders every time his thumb was in (which was fine whilst he was awake but not while asleep at night) - and he only needed gently reminders as it was something he wanted to stop too. I cant remember what else we tried but in the end, it was chilli that worked.
Now this sounds awefully barbaric, but we talked about it first, and he was happy to try it. I gave him a cool wet face washer and milk nearby, just in case the thumb went in and he only put his thumb in once or twice and that was it! All we did for 1 day only was wipe a chopped chilli (lightly only, just barely enough to make any sensation at all) over his thumb.
2 years later, and I still see the thumb come close to his mouth when he is watching tv lying down, but it brushes past his lips and keeps going back to his side. He has never sucked his thumb since and we are greatful that his bite has returned to normal and doesn't appear to be any more damage. I'm glad we acted when we did - as barbaric as it sounds, not doing anything could be more devastating for him later in life.
