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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

Finger Sucking 3 year old DS - Ideas to get him to stop???

9 replies

siandjess · 07/05/2007 22:21

Hiya. I would be grateful if anyone could suggest any ideas on how to get my 3 and a half year old DS to stop sucking his two fingers. I don't mind when he does it at bed time, but lately he is occassionally sucking when he is trying to talk to me! I heard that this can be a long process so I thought that I would try now as I would like to try to get him to stop before he goes to school (Sept 08). Thanks for any ideas!

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Original poster

siandjess · 07/05/2007 22:26

I just realised that it sounds like DS only sucks when he is trying to talk to me, but I meant that he is sucking a lot in the daytime.

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themoon66 · 07/05/2007 22:28

My DS always sucked his two middle fingers. He got callouses on them.

He sucked them until he was about 11 or 13 years old.

It was never a problem. It was useful in many ways as it was a very good way of calming him down if distressed.

krang · 08/05/2007 13:39

If anyone has any tips it would be greatly appreciated. My 15 month DS has sucked his fingers since he was three months. I have no problem with it but this morning when I woke him up his face was covered in blood - he's sucked his fingers so much that he's split the skin. Never minded the callouses but the blood is a bit much!

Original poster

siandjess · 08/05/2007 22:25

Wow, and I thought that the deep teeth marks on my DS two fingers were bad!!! We need advice!

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themoon66 · 09/05/2007 22:55

Aw, dont stop them sucking.... its probably better than a dummy for comfort in that they cannot lose it or drop it on the floor IYSWIM.

It never did DS any harm. He stopped when he went to secondary school.

mylittleimps · 09/05/2007 23:08

both my ds's suck (one sucks his finger as he made his thumb swell so much and moved on to his finger, the other his thumb which he has a callouses on) especially when they are tired. i always thought better than a dummy and they'd stop when they were busy doing other things but the eldest (age 4) keeps his finger bent when playing and doesn't use his hand fully. we get our fair share of tummy bugs as a result also. so i'd too appreciate any tips to end this as i know they'll stop at some point but i can see their teeth are affected now...and i would like the eldest to use his hand fully /both hands.

NappiesGalore · 09/05/2007 23:10

leave him alone.
the more you pester him, the more he'll need his comfort.
i sucked my thumb till i was 11 and theres no harm done here. leave him be.

loveaduck · 10/05/2007 18:22

I have been told that if you put the old fashioned fabric sticking plaster on the fingers then they dont like to suck them so much.. I think its because it doesn't taste so nice! And becasue it is very adhesive they cant get it off. Worth a try!

Original poster

siandjess · 11/05/2007 12:21

I might try the plaster idea.

I don't mind when DS sucks at night time or when he's tired, it's just when he sucks in daytime when people are trying to talk to him that it gets a bit much. Also, some children at nursery have started to tease him a bit (children can be so cruel ) which doesn't really seem to bother him, but I feel sad for him

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