What age did your child stop sucking his/her thumb?

My kids aren't in this age category yet but I wanted to post this here. I have 2 kids who are avid thumb suckers but I haven't tried to stop them yet. Do they stop eventually when they enter school? Should I start now on trying to get them to stop?

 

Mine stopped on their own before they started Kindergarten.

 

I only ever had 2 that sucked their thumbs. For some reason the other 3 never did. My thimb suckers are still thimb suckers and they will be 10 next week 10 years that is. We have tried just about everything to get them to stop and nothing works. They do not do it at school only at home.

 

Alyssa still sucks her thumb and she will be 6 in April.

I would try to encourge your children not to suck their thumbs during the day (to cut it down to just times when they need extra comfort), which you can do by distracting them/getting them involed in activities that need both hands if you notice them sucking.

 

Andrea was an avid thumbsucker. She sucked one til it bled and we put bandaids on it, then she would suck the other til IT bled. She stopped daytime thumbsucking before Kindergarten.

However, she STILL sucks her thumb when she is stressed, or very very tired, or needs comfort. It is an involuntary habit for her. I should add that next month she will be 20 years old.

Don't tell her I told you I still catch her thumbsucking in her sleep, she hates it when I embarass her!!!!LOL

 

Hannah still sucks her thumb and she is 6 1/2. I have not tried to get her to stop.

 

I actually sucked my thumb until 1st grade (age 6 or 7, can't remember). My family tried EVERYTHING, bandaging, hot sauce, rewards, punishment. I just got sneaky and only did it in the bed at night or when no one was around. I finally stopped after being teased about it at "big school" Then I resolved on my own to quit completely.

 

My only thumb sucker, Brooke, stopped when she was 5 or so (probably closer to 6 actually). She did it on her own.

 

Here too...Owen is 8, and still going at it when he's not at school. Mostly when he's tired or stressed. We try not to make too big of a deal of it, will usually just say "Thumb, dude." and he'll pull it right out. He just forgets as it's so reflexive. It's also helped to have the dentist explain that if he doesn't break the habit he'll need braces.

 

1st grade and a nightmare to get him to quit. We had to limit it to his bedroom and also had to use an all-natural cream that tasted nasty. He just traded it in for another nasty habit--now he chews his nails off.

 

Both of my girls are avid thumbsuckers. Nadia's thumb automatically goes in her mouth when she is tired, bored, hungry, relaxing, etc. And, especially when she is holding her "boo" (her lovey).

We've decided that when she turns 5 next month, the lovey will stay in her room at all times. I'm hoping that cuts down on thumbsucking during the day, and that she'll just quit on her own eventually.

The dentist said that it's not really affecting her teeth, so I honestly don't mind that she sucks her thumb, as long as it doesn't interfere with her life -- and it doesn't seem to be.

 

Thanks for all of the responses! Oh boy, I'm hoping they can break the habit on their own but I don't see that happening at all.

Maybe I'll just try discussing it with them first and see how that goes. Can anyone recommend something that will work to help them stop?

 

dd #! sucked her thumb but only when she had her blanket. You know, the blanket. Well, she decided on her own a few weeks after she started Kindergarten that she didn't need her blanket anymore andjust literally gave it to me one day. She never sucked her thumb since.

DD#2 is also a thumb sucker, still does it so we'll see. She also only sucks her thumb when she has her blanket.

 

My twins were both major thumbsuckers! Alicia quit on her on when she was 4, she saw that most of her friends didn't do it and she wanted to be a big girl. Ashley loved her thumb and would probably still be sucking it if we hadn't started using the nasty tasting nail polish. I was just going to let her quit on her own, but she is close to 7 and has a cross bite that needs to be fixed by her wearing a nighttime mouth appliance, so we had to help her quit. My DH's friend had used the stuff for his son and it worked so he let dh borrow it and DH explained to her that it would taste nasty. It took about a month but only because a lot of the times we forgot to paint her thumb nail. I am really proud of her because I know it was really hard for her.

 

QUOTE(cupcake @ Dec 10 2008, 12:04 AM) [snapback]1104921[/snapback]
Thanks for all of the responses! Oh boy, I'm hoping they can break the habit on their own but I don't see that happening at all.

Maybe I'll just try discussing it with them first and see how that goes. Can anyone recommend something that will work to help them stop?

This website is where I used to go to get the cream that I used; it is all natural but a little expensive, however I can't say enough about how successive it was for us. It is very bitter!! It worked really well for my son at that age. We can't use it now because he knows he can just go wash it off.

Control-It

 

Jackson sucked two fingers at bedtime and stopped on his own some time around age 4 or 5. However, it translated into a really severe nail biting habit that we have been unable to break.

 

I was probably 10 or 11 when i stopped sucking on my fingers. My sister sucked her thumb and she stopped when she was 11 or 12, when she got braces. The only reason I stopped before her was because I broke my teeth off when I was 9 and was supposed to stop but didn't. Then once I got braces I had to stop because it was uncomfortable and just wasn't working. Same thing for my sister. We only did it when we were tired like before bed. Never in school. I think it as some else said it had a lot to do with 'that blanket' because we slept with them too.

 

My older twin sucked his thumb defiantly until just this past June, when we had an appliance put in his mouth so he would stop sucking it... We had tried all sorts of things... We even got thumbguards (which would cover the thumb so he couldn't suck on it) but he figured out how to pull it off... So, we finally talked to our dentist about it, and it was time... We didn't want him to ruin his bite from it, and it was the perfect time, cause he had just started losing his baby teeth... He had it on for 6 months, and just had it taken off yesterday, and it worked great! He pretty much stopped sucking as soon as he had it put on, so it was just reinforcing that he didn't need to suck anymore... It did cost some though, probably around $250.00... But if it saved any orthodontics that would have been required because of the thumbsucking, it was well worth it...

 

You may not need to worry - they'll probably stop on their own (at least in public) when they're old enough to feel embarrassed about it. That's what happens to most kids who don't stop earlier.