Thumb sucking

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i realize this has been done before so many apologies but I am desperate for any ideas on how to get my five yr ol dd to stop sucking her thumb . Nothing I have tried ( plasters painting socks on hands time outs etc) has worked. I worry daily about effects on her teeth and speech I've asked her teachers to stop her at school. It's got to the point now where it's making her anti social- instead of seizing activities as an opportunity to play and make friends she uses them as a chance to hide in a corner sucking her thumb . Am desperate for advice and ideas . TIA x

The more you push against it, the more she will do it. I used to do this and my dad hated it, I remember going to do it in secret just so that I could I think I would have stopped on my own, otherwise.

She is clearly not ready, maybe try asking her if she can just do it at bedtime if it bothers you?

I still suck my thumb, BTW. My teeth are fine :)

I can see her teeth have already started to be affected By it which is y I'm so worried now x to be honest I think she does it just to wind me up but ignoring it does no good either x she can go thru a day quite happily without doing it she just likes to make the point if that makes sense x her thumbs have suck blisters on them now and it has started slightly affecting her speech x

Oh and thanks for the reply x :)

Totally understand, dd is 4 soon and I think it has started to affect her teeth. She only does it at home though and normally with her comforter. I even tried introducing a dummy but then she just went between tge two! I've tried suggesting it's just for night time but she agrees then puts her thumb in

DD stopped at 11 all of a sudden after being a compulsive sucker. Her teeth weren't affected although she has braces for overcrowding anyway. DS sucks his fingers and his teeth are affected and I wish he would stop but I'm not sure there's anything you can do.

Wouldn't be so bad if it provided her with sone kind of comfort but it's turned her into a anti social nervous wrec x :-(

It's not the thumb sucking that has done that, though, it's the pressure she feels not to be seen doing it in front of you/teachers/peers. If you take the pressure off for long enough you will probably find that it becomes less of an issue and she will stop by herself.

It sounds like this is becoming an issue for her and the pressure from everyone is driving her behaviour. i naturally stopped sucking my thumb at school when I was about 7 but carried on at home until about 11. Then I just stopped because I had grown out of it. If it's affecting her teeth, have you spoken to your dentist about it? They seem to be the ones most troubled about thumb sucking so maybe they have some strategies to suggest.

Unless your dentist has an issue with it, I would leave well alone for the time being. I still think 5 is very young to be pressurised by home and school to stop thumb sucking. It's no wonder she is feeling anxious.

We had to wait until my dd wanted to stop, she will need orthodontic work and had to stop sucking her thumb first. We went down the sock route if that hadn't worked it would have been £250 for an orthodontic thumb guard.

I would completely back off and ignore it for at least 6 months before broaching the subject again - perhaps ask the dentist to discuss it with her and your next check up?

Dd was 8 when she agreed she would try and stop and it took about 6 months before we no longer needed to put the socks on at night.

She doesn't like people seeing her do it which is y she hides in s corner on her own x she's aware that none of her friends do it . At home she just does it to be sneaky and it's at the stage now where she uses the fact that she has got away with it as a green light to mis behave in other ways as she thinks as I didn't so anything about it that I won't do anything about something else either x I did leave her to it for two or three weeks and she was just so smug about being able to do it that her thumb did not leave her mouth except to eat and I think that's when her teeth really started to show signs of a problem x just seems whatever I do I can't win x if she put asuch effort into trying to join in and have fun as she does into finding somewhere no one will see her we would be alright. Her skim is peeling on her thumb and if I stop her she just chews something/ anything else if I leave her she chooses to forgo any fun activity in favor of sucking her thumb x

Have spoken to dentist and they claimed she was too young to do anything about it :( I just worry so much about her having to wear braces I had to as a kid and kids r so cruel about them and the ones I had were awful I couldn't talk eat or sleep with them they hurt that much x

I'm sure I probably sound really cruel I just worry x I only recently spoke to her teacher as being at school all day and having no one stop her and me being busy sorting out tea when we get back meant that it was getting worse again and she was just sat thumb in her mouth all evening x I had backed off alot as thought she might be tired but it just got worse to the point of she would drop things cos she wouldn't Carry with both hands she was evenin doing her homework one handed and she would rather make three or four trips than take her hand out her mouth and just carry it all x thank u everyone who has replied I really appreciate the time ur taking to reply to me sorry for the rant I just feel like I'm screwing it up whichever route I take x x :)

I think I would make a rule such as you can suck your thumb whenever you want but you have to lay on your bed whilst you do it as you are obviously very tired

I did this with my eldests dummy when she was little - it was for in bed only.

Do you feel that would help? Is she generally anxious?

Not usually but when she is mixed with slightly older children she loves to talk to them but then gets all self conscious cos she realizes they don't do it and then that makes her wanna come sit on my lap sucking her thumb rather than joining in and ironically she doesn't want anyone to see her do it but doesn't realize that standing on her own in the corner makes everyone notice her whereas just joining In no one would notice x she has said she wants to stop and she does try hard to but when she gets bored or tired it just goes in x I have tried saying she can go to her room to do it bit she gets upset x

14 year old dd still thumb sucking. It's got to the point where it makes my blood boil. I give her a warning and then send her upstairs.

I used to be concerned for her teeth. They did look a little 'goofy' when she was younger but seems to have gown into them iyswim .

With a bit of bribery she did stop for a couple of months when she was about 8. We promised that she could be a mascot for her favourite footy team. She stopped. We paid £100+ for her to be a mascot and then she started again.

I fear we're fighting a losing battle and she Will stop when she wants to.

Btw I come from a family of thumb suckers including myself

I have to admit dress I reAlly do hate seeing her do it x I try reAlly really hard not to make too big a deal out of it but I struggle I really do x it wouldn't be so bad if it was just every now and then but she takes advantage of every single free nano second I can't leave her for a second to stir tea without me getting back to find her doing it x I tried really hard before school started to get her to stop but when that failed I backed off cos I didn't want her all nervous and tired and upset but that has just resulted in the situation getting worse I mean I've seen her slip on the stairs as she wasn't holding on cos thumb was in her mouth she's sat in the corner of bouncy castles at parties doing it x just think it's got ridiculous now and with yr one starting in September she can't be writing and asking questions and all that stuff with a thumb in her mouth x I've even caught her on the toilet doing it now that's a hygiene issue x it's just so hard isn't it? X

I've sent you a message

Have replied random x thanks x

Your rule random is what I want to do.

Dd has started telling 5montg old ds to take his thumb/hand out of his mouth, then sticks her thumb in as she's walking off!