Nursery's attitude to thumb-sucking...not sure how to react..

[mrsbabookaloo]

DD is 2.2 and has been at her nursery for about 4 months. She is getting on great there and generally we are very happy with it.

They mentioned about a week ago to dh that they thought she should stop sucking her thumb. I was shocked, as I hadn't even thought this would be an issue yet.

Then this week dh said they had mentioned it to him again and said that they were trying to stop her and she came home saying "I will be ugly, my teeth will be ugly"

So, they have taken it into their own hands to try to break her of the habit and are using threats which I am really really not happy about.

Of course, I am going to talk to them about it, but I'm not sure what to think

What age do people feel that children should stop sucking their thumbs?
Maybe nursery knows something I don't; maybe they think that it's better to break them of the habit sooner rather than later, but she still seems so little to me. Maybe they want to have a consistent "no thumb-sucking" policy at nursery, so all the kids have good habits, in which case, I'd be happy to go along with it...I think.

Whatever their reasons, they definitely should have consulted more with us first before starting to talk to her like that, and surely there are better ways to discourage her than to make her concerned about her appearance when she is only 2 years old!!??

Mumsnet jury, what do you think?

I sucked my thumb till I was at secondary school (although only at bedtime at that age )

I don't do it now, and the only side effect I had was thatit made my front 2 teeth stick out a bit. I had braces for a while, teeth still not perfectly straight but really doesn't bother me.

I'd be really annoyed if nursery told my dd to stop sucking her thumb. (She's not at nursery but if she was...) It's a comfort thing, and if it made her feel better when she's away from parents and home then I say let her get on with it.

My dd1 is 2.6y and sucks her thumb but only when she is tired. If she sucked it all the time at nursery I would want it stopped sooner rather than later and would hope staff would encourage her. However, I would be and if it was done without a plan between staff and myself.
I agree with trying to stop it but the way they have gone about it contravenes OFSTED guidelines which clearly states that no child should be subjected to ridicule in a care setting. (I am a CM and would never dream of doing this without parents agreement.)
In principle if a child is thumb sucking all day and doing little else then action does need taking because it can inhibit their development with things like drawing/painting/messy play but if its a short spell through tiredness/boedom then it isn't so important at 2 IMHO. Any dentist will tell you otherwise though

I think my nursery taught DS to suck his thumb as I was so crap at remebering his dummy!