there's some stuff you can buy from the chemist. It tastes like ear wax. I put it on my 7 year olds thumb nails . But I havnt persited cos he struggles and also he got a scrubbing brush and soap and scrubbed it off.
Maybe you could paint it onto your son just after he falls asleep?
Also everyone seems worried about teeth, but when he starts school he will pick up heaps of germs.
I had a K-5 student who had t his exact issue. He sucked his thumba ll day long.
His paretns decided to put a mitten (a 5 fingered one) on that hand. He was not allowed to take it off unless he was going to the bathroom, washing his hands or eating. Other than that it was to be left on. During school, I followed the same rules.
They had tried everything to stop him. This was a last resort. The yucky tasting stuff can be licked off or washed off. So that didn't work for them. You can also have the dentist place a device behind the teeth that will not allow them to suck their thumb.
It took 2 weeks and he was cured. Worked for them.
At least it's only at those times. ! have been happily doing this for 31 years, and 2 of my sisters do as well. It's not easy to quit!!! We have perfectly straight teeth, but one of my sisters does have more of an overbite. At 16 I had to have my wisdom teeth surgically removed from my jaw and was told that if I hadn't been a thumb sucker, my teeth would have been mangled - who would've thought! I now have a 4 yr old who sucks the 2 middle fingers and has done so since she was born.
Star chart is good idea; a 4 yr old nephew just stopped sucking his fingers because he had a sore on one. He had a bandaid on and realised he couldn't suck them properly. When the band-aid came off, he asked for another one because he didn't want to go back to being a sucker. You can try things like stop-and-grow nail polish, which tastes absolutely disgusting, social stories. Even try talking to him logically about the facts - the damage thumb sucking can do to his little teeth. Then there's the wait and hope approach - majority of kids do grow out of it and stop once they have been at school for a couple of years (obviously my family doesn't fit that mould!). Whatever you try, remember that it is a very hard habit to quit - you can't just whack on a patch or cut it off!!!
You need to try and stop it as soon as you can. One of my twin neices is 7 and still sucks her thumb, ia lso have an uncle in his 40's who sucks his thumb!! I doubt my neice will ever stop because my sister never tried to stop it. It does damage there teeth, my neices front teeth are pushed forward and she has adult teeth growing behind her baby teeth. I have heard of a thumb guard, you could look it up. Or just speak to a doctor about it, im sure they ahve plenty of tips on how to stop it.
It's really not that easy to quit, even harder really when people keep going on about it, because it's all you think about! My father used to whack it out of our mouths, amongst other things, and it never did work!
you really should do something or else in the future his teeth will get crocked and he'll need braces. its worth the stress getting him to stop! i needed braces coz of this, and its something thats not cheap or fun!!!
Draw or design one in on your computer with days of the week. Under each day have an empty box. Buy some nice stickers that your child chooses and each day he goes without sucking his thumb let him put a sticker in a box. At the end of the week tell him there will be a surprise (keep it small - a little story book or car, or whatever you know will interest him.
Tell him after he fills 4 of these there will be a bigger reward. I would suggest taking him browsing in a toy store and letting him pick something (in a certain price range acceptable to you) he wants as the month end goal. Take a pic of the item and attach it to the top of each weekly star sheet so he sees it each day and it helps spur him on.
Yeah, yeah, it sounds like bribery but the damage that long term thumb or finger sucking can do to the palette and teeth can cost thousands of dollars to correct if it gets out of control and the longer he has this habit, the longer it will take to break it!!!
Please let me know, if you do try this, whether it works.
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