Help me feel better about anti thumb sucking nail stuff :(

[MotherForkinShirtBalls]

Dc is almost 6 and sucks his thumb constantly. It's his absolute comfort and has been since he was old enough to get it in his mouth. Dentist warning, constant reminding and bribery star charts have got us no where so the next step is vile nail stuff. I feel so mean taking his comfort away

This isn’t going to help but I’m 25 and still suck my thumb. Obviously only in private and it’s not something I think I could ever stop. I had braces and they worked and my teeth haven’t moved since cut obviously if you can try and stop it, I would! Nothing worked for me

He will likely just suck it off if he’s that attached. I speak from experience (as the thumb sucker).

Does he have any hobbies that require him to use both hands a lot? Redirection to such tasks can break the habit without resorting to that stuff.

Also - is he shy/uncertain/anxious?Although I would have denied it as a child, I now think the whole thing about thumb sucking being an indicator of lack of confidence is true.

Finally, I promise that contrary to the various dental predictions my teeth are nice and straight and I didn’t even have train tracks :)

Don't do it then.

I made little thumb gloves for my dd as the majority of the time she sucked her thumb out of habit, so it just reminded her. If she was upset she could take it off.

I used her grown out of sweat shirts cut the sleeve off about 12cm from cuff. then put the cuff on first so flap of material over the hand. Cut a rounded triangle in excess material and sewed a seam to slip the thumb into. Disgard rest of fabric. Took a couple of minutes and really helps when in the car or watching tv.

Agh, you're not helping! His godmother still sucks her thumb at 40+ and has perfect post train tracks teeth too. Definitely no confidence problems, too bloody cock by half most of the time. Good idea about redirecting his hands although yesterday he was swapping one hand in and out while playing sames and ladders so he had one free to play...

Glove sounds like a good idea, thanks, I'll see if I can cobble something together.

DS has just finished three years of orthodontic treatment which in part was due to thumb sucking, so don’t feel mean! I tried everything, including the nail paint, the only thing that stopped him was breaking said thumb playing sport! I hope the nail paint works for him, I really do it’s a very difficult habit to break!

My mum used the same nail biting /thumb sucking stuff and then didn't work on me either. I just used to get through the discomfort of the favour and carry on. Embarrassingly I still suck mine now at nearly 30

I bought a thumb guard for my 7 year old daughter. We asked her to wear it all day everyday and night for 2 weeks which was long enough to break the habit. She still wears it at night now out of choice as she isn't sure if she does it in her sleep.

I've actually noticed a difference in his teeth in just the last week so I feel I need to do something and with going back to school, I'm worried some of the other kids may tease him. Any particular thumb guard mincepies?

I sucked my thumb and it gave me the most snaggle-toothed mouth ever. I was warned, my parents tried to stop me...they even put tabasco on my thumbs to try to stop me! I had painful braces for ages and they're still not truly straight...just acceptably normal.

Don’t do it, my parents used to do it to me and I hated it and it didn’t work. I still resent it now.
They tried everything to make me stop and then gave up. I eventually stopped myself aged about 12!

I used it on my 4 year old about 2 weeks ago. Day one she woke up crying as had sucked in sleep and her mouth tasted horrible. By 4 days she stopped doing it and has not tried since. It was so effective!

I’m going to do this. I’ve got a thumb sucker and a nail biter. It’s grim.

I do feel mean thoufh

We ordered ours through a website called Thumbsie, lots of different colours and designs and different sizes. I honestly thought she'd never stop but it really helped to break the habit. Good luck!

2 of mine were determined thumb/finger suckers. DD stopped at 5 with no input from us . We bribed her brother who loved saving. We gave him $20.00 on holiday and he had to give a dollar back every time he was caught. He was highly motivated , as were we as his teeth were at all angles and he had his fingers planted in his mouth a lot. He managed to stop over the 3 week holiday and to keep more than half of the money. I'm not sure that I am proud of the method but finding the right motivation definitely was the key.

This is why I let mine outgrow her dummy, which she did aged 4.
I sucked my thumb until I was 8.

Sorry - I had the vile stuff and got so sick of suddenly tasting it by surprise when I put my thumb in without realising it that I licked it all off and then threw up. My mother was extremely unimpressed. It also didn't stop me thumb sucking.

I suppose it’s how she feels about thumb sucking that’s important and how motivated she is to stop. My daughter really wanted to stop as I’d told her big girls don’t suck their thumb but she just couldn’t seem to.

I was really motivated too as her teeth were starting to stick out but also she was constantly mouth breathing and not shutting her mouth even when asleep - this is due to changes in facial muscles and can lead to problems and changes in facial structure (have a google).

So whilst I did feel a bit guilty that first day when she woke up crying from the taste, for me it was worth it for it to break a previously unbreakable habit in only 4 days and stop the long term problems she was heading for.

Unfortunately he doesn't care what anyone thinks about the thumb sucking. It's automatic and a reflex at this stage. His teeth aren't bad enough yet to bother him and tbh, I doubt they would anyway. I've tried plasters on the thumbs for the last couple of days but he's sucking them off.

He's going to his granny for a couple of days so I might try the nail stuff for daytimes when he gets back and wait for the thumb guard to arrive for night time "weaning". I'm not sure I'd cope with him awake half the night with a disgusting tasting mouth!