.....to fit plastic thumb guards onto my 2 year old, to stop thumb sucking?

[stoopstofolly]

First time poster, long time lurker.

I?m having an argument debate with DH about DS?s constant thumb sucking. He?s just 2, and sucks his thumb for hours a day. The dentist says it?s affecting his jaw, the audiologist says that his speech is delayed because his thumb is in all the time, and sometimes his thumb is so sore it bleeds.

On Sunday I watched him try to eat Sunday lunch without removing his thumb! My doctor said that normally she?d recommend leaving it in the hope he grows out of it, but because it?s so extreme, she suggested this:

www.thumbguard.co.uk/

I fitted it 2 days ago. He doesn?t seem bothered by wearing it BUT he?s unhappy because he's not able to suck his thumb. He?s gone from being a laid back, cheerful little boy to a grumpy, sad one- and it?s my fault. I?ve taken his (very effective) self soothing mechanism away, and he?s nothing to replace it with. He?s also waking at 5 am and is unable to go back to sleep.

DH says that he?s only little and we should focus on him being happy (hard to disagree with.) However, I?m persevering with it because when I look at his poor bleeding (literally!) thumb, listen to other children his age using words he?s never attempted, and remember what the dentist, doctor and audiologist said, I think we need to do something. However, the fact he?s unhappy is extremely distressing. We?ve no history on either side of the family of thumb sucking, and none of my friends children do it, so I?ve no one to ask. Am I doing the right thing?

throwinshapes try the large-tights/long socks technique. DSs orthodontist seemed confident that if you stop it at night, any other thumb sucking will tail off.

(I posted it earlier on !)

I used a thumb guard on my then 6 year old - it took a few weeks but it was worth it

I have two very determined thumb suckers. My (just) 7 year old DS2 has decided to stop of his own accord after the dentist told him what I had been saying for ages that he was really damaging his adult teeth (only has four adult teeth so far). She did say if he stopped soon then the teeth could actually improve altho he will need braces. he has worked really had on it and to start with he used a bead bracelet to fiddle with as a replacement. Sometimes at night it goes in by accident but I do a 'thumb round' when go to bed and remove any I find in mouths!
My DD 4 is still sucking. She is a nightmare and actuall the amount of sucking she does has gone up. The dentist said if she stopped before her adult teeth came in it would really help. I have just ordered a thum guard. Everything else I have tried has failed and this thread has spurred me on.
My advice is to get them to kick the habit early. I wish I had. I think you are certainly doing the right thing.

Cheers Soup
Will try that.

do whatever you can to stop it. I still do at age 43. I've tried to stop but its just so comforting. DH just laughs but my teeth and jaw are damaged from it. Makes me angry that my mother and father couldn't be bothered to do anything about it when I was a child.
I gave DS a dummy (worked a treat for colic pains) and he stopped himself at about 3. He was never allowed to suck his thumb, ever. Whereas I have photos of myself sucking my thumbs AND TOES! (at the same time!) as a baby!

I need to try and stop again but 99% of me don't want to!

DD'S still sucks her thumb at 15. It drives us bloody crackers and we continually shout "thumb" everytime we see her sucking. We've tried allsorts but nothing does the trick.

She once stopped for a few months as we promised a special, and expensive treat for her. She got her treat and then started again .

Luckily she doesn't have a strong suck and she has lovely teeth.

We gave DD2 a dummy and was rid of it before her 3rd birthday.

I would try anything if I was in your position.

Good call about the extra stuffed toy ClippedPhoenix. Just been on internet-Emergency stuffed rabbit on the way!

Don't feel bad about it- it's for his own good, and it will be easier to break the habit the younger he is. I don't think it's any different to other parents going cold turkey and taking a dummy away. You may have a grouchy son for a couple of weeks and his sleep may worsen temporarily, but he'll soon learn to soothe himself back to sleep in other ways.

MIL still sucks her thumb. She's 66. Stick with it x

I'd try anything. Ds is 4 and has only just stopped by using this but it's not suitable for younger children. Before that we tried plasters on the thumb, socks on hands, nothing worked. Even now he's quit for 6 weeks or so but still slips back if I don't apply the nail stuff. I would do whatever it takes to stop the habit.

Oh and in our case a comfort blanket only made the problem worse, teddy and thumb go hand in hand, literally.

If it's any consolation, I'm 25, I've sucked my thumb all my life but never had any orthodontic problems. Never even had braces as a teenager. Depends how far you put it in I think, mine has never pulled on my teeth.

It is a bit embarrassing sometimes (I wonder what my partner really thinks) but I only do it in private. That said, I wish my parents had weened me off it at a young age I wouldn't remember!

I've just got one of these for DD (5), to help her stop sucking her thumb. She has some adult teeth coming through already, and the sucking is clearly causing them to move, so it's now or never really. Don't know how well it will work, it's not arrived yet! But keeping my fingers crossed.

My nine year old ds still sucks his thumb in bed or maybe when I am reading a story. The dentist has never noticed anything unusual and I've let him get on with it. However he's never sucked it all the time.

One concern is whether your ds would go back to sucking it when you take the guard off? Otherwise I don't think you are doing any lasting damage from the thumb guard. It's a bit like thinking my ds has had lasting damage from having a plaster on his leg and a wheel chair aged 4. In fact he can barely remember it, even though we all found it traumatic at the time.

At the age of 32 and after two rounds of orthodontic treatment, I had to have double jaw surgery. Keep to your plan. Poor little mite. Good luck with it op!

If you did want to look at a dummy in the interim then I would recommend the Mam Perfect - it's designed to not affect teeth or jaw, has been rigourously tested by experts and is recommended by orthodontists.

Dummies have come a hell of a long way, and if you do your research and don't just buy any old dummy, they don't cause orthodontic issues.

The Mam Perfect has the usual Mam bobble - but it's attached to the knob with a very thin, flat piece of silicone which actually helps align the jaw and doesn't affect the teeth.

One costs twice as much as two "normal" dummies - but worth every penny. I switched DD over as soon as she got teeth.

I'm going to be doing the long sock up the arm thing at night with Dd she's 7, her teeth are going wonky on the bottom and it's affecting her jaw now, the sooner we stop her the better. She's trying to stop but it's hard for them they do it without knowing, especially at night. Once the weather cools off we can do it. It's still 35 in the day and I cool the house to about 26/27 at night if I put a sock and long jammies on she'll roast to death right now. SO once it cools I'm all business.
Don't give up OP it'll take a while. I know Ds 2 had a Dummy and at two we weaned him off it in the day, then 6 months later took it at night too. His teeth are fine. I wish Dd had taken a dummy.

If you feel yourself waivering just look up some orthodontic costs. My DD had her front two teeth knocked out when she was very little so her grown up teeth grew in with a big overbite, the dentist said it was the same as a thumb suckers teeth. It cost us loads and load of cash to correct her teeth to say nothing of the pain it caused her.
My DS sucked his thumb but our dentist gave him a magic ring when he was about 3 1/2. He popped it on his thumb and that was that! I was stunned that it worked as DS sucked his thumbs a lot. He didn't need any braces.

You need two socks, California - one for both arms. Otherwise it's too easy to pull off apparently.

Why replace a thumb with a dummy? It's just another problem to sort out. Anything that means a child's mouth is mouth kept closed with the tongue in the right position will cause problems for teeth and jaws. DSs orthodontist says the tongue should be resting with the tip in the N position (say Nnnn - that's the spot) and be completely contained within the teeth - this helps keep the teeth in the right place. If you have anything in your mouth, this won't happen.

I trust DSs orthodontist because they seem keen to prevent problems - they keep giving me advice how to get DD into good habits - advice which, if followed successfully, would lose them £5k of business (it's gone up since DS1 [sigh]). It's not just a money making machine. I'm very tempted to buy one of those "perfect" dummies to see what they make of it.

At the end of the day, there are many factors affecting teeth - just sitting slack jawed in front of the TV, the softer nature of food we eat now etc etc. However, I was a thumbsucker. Never had braces or jaw problems, teeth all fine and dandy until my wisdom teeth came through. When I first visited DSs orthodontist he could tell I had been a thumbsucker from the shape of my face and profile. Never looked in my mouth.

My daughter used to suck her thumb and she had a massive gap in her bite which the dentist was worried about re: adult teeth.

When she was about 4 we used a woollen glove on her hand at night. It took a while but worked. I think this was because she was at an age that she could understand and was more compliant.

The long sock method is better as if it is just the skin that's covered, the child can smell their skin and this triggers the thumb sucking instinct.

HOWEVER(!) even stopping the thumb isn't foolproof! My DD stopped thumb sucking with this (sock) method when she was 6. A year later the orthodontist informed is that she was still sucking on her tongue and still pushing her teeth forward so we had to fork out for a sort of retainer that they wear at night to position the tongue correctly! This was actually amazing and within one month of using it, DD was being complimented on her teeth. The difference was amazing. She had it for a year and now her teeth are fab and she doesn't need a brace at all

Thanks soupdragon I'll use two socks, I have long ugly white ones of Dh's LOL
loopyluna our Dentisnt mentioned some sort of mouth guard the other day. It's good to know that they do work, but in the next breath he mentioned braces to expand the bottom jaw

*Dentist

I wish they did ones to fit fingers! Dd is still sucking hers at 6 and her front teeth are missing at the moment and I want to stop her before they arrive.ive tried bribery, reminders, showing her photos of terrible wonky teeth, she isn't interested in stopping, and she is so so stubborn I think nothing with budge her.