My sister is 40 and has sucked her thumb from birth and yes she still dose it today.  She will do it when tired or stressed.

It has never hurt her any any way .

lisam

My daughter's still a thumb sucker at the age of 21, it's mostly at night but if she's worrid then in the day too. it has opushed her front teeth out a little, nothing realy noticable. the dentist has said if it bothered her she could have a brace to fix it but she's not bothered.... I was a little worried over it but it has the advantage of

1) not being thrown out of the pushchair

2) not being left at home

3) not having to keep replacing them.

My daughter even managed to suck aroud all those advised things that are suposed to help sopt it. She's grown into a well balanced adult who carries her 'comforter' around with her, I somtimes wish I could too. But it would be awkward carrying aroung an old worn out teddy. :-)

Lisa x x x

I can't believe I am about to admit this but.....

I sucked my thumb probably until I was aobut 12... The only problem I have now is that my upper teeth are bent out a litte, causing an over bit. The dentist tried everything to get me to stop and nothing worked. I must say I only ever did it when I was going to sleep. Never any other time...soo....yep thumb sucking can bother teeth but....there are much worse things out there on teeeth than thumb sucking.

Good luck.

My son (22 mths) would never take a dummy but is a thumbsucker! It started when he was three weeks old, he didn't really have the co-ordination then but as soon as he could the thumb was in his mouth! Now, he sucks his thumb exclusively when he is tired. I hope he grows out of it, but I will address it in a year or so when he will hopefully want to stop!

It worries me more than it does his dentist, he said don't worry about it until he is older (5ish) and at the moment he has perfectly straight teeth.

Lorna

 Hi, Personally i think a dummy is better then the thumb.Its alot easier to stop where as thumb sucking isnt cos you will always have your thumb.One of my twin neices sucks her thumb still and she wont stop.She is 6 and now her front teeth are pushed forward. So try and stop this asap,try a dummy instead for comfort.

Dannii xxo

My now 5 mth old showed signs she was a thumb sucker pretty much from birth.  I trained (for lack of a better word) to have the dummy because the way I look at it is that it's easier to get rid of a dummy that to try and stop them sucking their thumb.  I've also heard that it isn't good for their teeth but it could just be an old wives tale.

Does she have a dummy? I know dummies aren't always popular but it's easier to get rid of the dummy later than it is to stop the thumb sucking.

Our 11 month old has been sucking her thumb pretty much from birth.  Better than the dummy for us any way!  Thumbsucking can be a comfort thing and if she is only doing it occassionally, then why worry?  It won't harm her teeth or anything unless she continues to suck her thumb when she gets her 'adult' teeth.

If you are happy for her to keep it up, then let her.  I don't see any harm in it and infact, can see problems when you try to stop her.  That is, the more you try to stop her, the more she will do it.