Preventing thumb sucking

So my Kyle seems to really, really love his thumb. If we put a binki in, it will stay if for a little while, but as soon as it's out, he puts the thumb in. I'd much rather he use the paci because that is much easier to take away than a thumb when the time comes. Any thoughts, tips?

 

Nope, no tips here. My twinkies are both thumb suckers and will be 4 next week and started when they were about 4 months old. It helped them sleep through the night, so we kinda encouraged it. We really need to work on cutting it down though.

 

Everytime you see him with his thumb in his mouth take it out and pop the paci in. :lol: That's what my friend did to stop her son sucking his thumb (it worked too).

 

No tips here but good luck! I had one thumb sucker as well. She sucked her thumb until she was 3 & then we got her to quit. I think it will be fairly difficult to keep him from sucking it, because you can't be there every second waiting to take his thumb out, especially at night.

 

Not to scare you, but I was almost 12 when I quit sucking my thumb. At that age though I would wake up doing it in the middle of the night, I stopped doing it in public when I was early elementary school and the rest of the time I would do it when I was by myself. Strange yes I know. My mom tried everything to keep me from doing it including wrapping it up, putting nasty ointments on it, etc. but it was my coping mechanism. I tell you all of this to say that my brother also sucked his thumb (at home or in his sleep) until he was 10 and we never had buck teeth, both wore braces but for cosmetic reasons not to fix an overbite or a serious thumb-sucking related problem and both have a nice straight set of pearly whites today. My DS is also a thumb sucker and unless the dentist sees a serious problem developing, I'm not going to worry about it. Having my mom try to "stop" me only made me anxious and want to do it more. Just a few thoughts from a former thumb-sucker!

 

On the bright side, you won't have to get up in the night to replace paci's!

 

I'm an anti-thumb sucker too , I'd just gently take his hand out and pop a paci in everytime he sucks it.

You can also try different types of paci's, they are all shaped a little different and he may prefer a different kind than what you are trying to use!

 

I am a former thumb sucker too. I think I was in 3rd grade by the time I stopped. I have a beautiful smile and never had braces. My parents, bless their hearts, never made a big deal about it and never tortured me to stop. Maybe I'm biased, but I think thumb sucking is adorable and pacifiers are unsightly. I wish my boys sucked their thumbs! Fortunately, they seem to be losing interest in pacifiers.