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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

thumb sucking - how can i break the habit?!

15 replies

iamamummy · 07/12/2008 16:42

my ds is 10 months hold and has been a constant thumb sucker since he was about 2 months old. now his teeth have started to appear i am getting particularly concerned about the damage it may do to them. i have been told about all the horror stories about top teeth sticking out, gaps in teeth etc. i have tried to stop it by putting socks on his hands and he screams blue murder when he wants to suck his thumb in the end i gave in as he was going histerical.i really want to break the habit now while he is young and i have tried giving him a dummy etc and he just looks at it as a toy...out goes the dummy and in with the thumb.

i am desperate for some tips/advice anything really to help!

thanks ladies

OP posts:

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mooseloose · 07/12/2008 16:55

6 yo has just stopped on his own accord because I promised him a new toy if he could! His baby teeth are out but the big ones not to be seen yet! I tried with stop n grow about a year ago but he cried and i felt mean.
My 9 yo stopped when he was about 5. His teeth are fine. Never used a dummy though.

NappiesGaloriaInExcelsis · 07/12/2008 16:57

DONT

leave him be. he needs the comfort. it is mean to stop him forcibly.

CatMandu · 07/12/2008 16:59

Why?

My ds is 5 and still sucks his thumb, he'll give up in his own time probably when someone teases him. In the meantime it's given him great comfort and I'm not going to take that away from him.

pointydog · 07/12/2008 17:01

don't even try to stop him at 10 months. You won't be able to stop him until he's able to have a conversation about it. Even then, it could be nigh on imposible.

Don't worry and don;t listen to the teeth horror stories

ramonaquimby · 07/12/2008 17:04

7 year old has sucked her thumb since baby days - her 2 front teeth have come in now and they are perfectly straight and lovely - although I do understand this isn't always the case

I have 2 younger thumb suckers as well

I think at 10 months you can't really do anything about it, wait until you can reason with him at least

it's not the end of the world to have braces on your teeth - if it comes to that

mooseloose · 07/12/2008 17:15

my 14 yo never sucked his thumb and he has braces top and bottom!

thenewme · 07/12/2008 17:16

Let him suck his thumb. He is a baby. My 7 year old still sucks his and I wouldn't dream or trying to make him stop. I sucked my thumb until I was 23.

Socks on hands, he might suck the socks and get the fibres stuck in his mouth.

navyeyelasH · 07/12/2008 17:31

I suck my thumb on occasions and I'm 25 in a few weeks! My teeth are "perfect" according to the dentist, no fillings, no braces, no gaps and no buck teeth.

My sister is 23 and also a thumb sucker and like me has good teeth (albeit she has 3 fillings, but no gaps / buck teeth etc).

My advice would be leave it until your DS can talk and understand then let the thumb fairy come along one evening and do some sort of trade. Or wait and see if he out grows it. 10 months is still really very small so don't stress about it!

Just never let him talk around his thumb when he gets to that stage same way as you shouldn't talk around dummies.

Original poster

iamamummy · 07/12/2008 18:32

thanks for your thoughts and opinions.

i guess i am jumping the gun a bit i just wanted to avoid the teasing with bad teeth etc when he is older. however i am guessing i have only ever heard the bad stories and negative effects of thumb sucking.

just to clarify he never actually went to sleep with the socks on his hands as he cried so i gave in and took them off so he could suck his thumb.

i am just hating the random comments i am getting at the moment for example checkout at sainsburys, the till lady said "ohhhh i see you got a thumb sucker there, you will have to watch that as he will have problems with his teeth if you dont nip it in the bud"...she then went on to tell me about her grand daughter

i feel a big meany now for even contemplating stopping him

OP posts:

DoesntChristmasDragOn · 07/12/2008 18:38

Personally I think you're right to stop him. Not necessarily now but certainly as soon as you can manage it (and I know it's vitrually impossible).

DS1 was a thumbsucker from 4 weeks old until he was 9. What stopped him was the £4000 of private orthodontic treatment we're in the middle of and a brace which means he can't open his mouth wide enough to get his thumb in. Thumbsucking distorted his top front teeth, it distorted his bottom front teeth, it reshaped his palate, it affected how his jaws grew because his teeth were never together.

Now, DS2 never sucked his thumb and is also in the middle of private orthodontic treatment to correct crowding. however, his case is nowhere near as complex as DS1s. His is most likely caused by watching TV etc with his mouth hanging wide open. [sigh]

I was absolutely gutted when DD discovered her thumb at 2.8 or so. I can't stop her at all.

DoesntChristmasDragOn · 07/12/2008 18:39

Oh, and I sucked my thumb until I was 9 or so. My teeth were not affected at all. However, the orthodontist treating DSs looked at the shape of my jaw/face and could tell I had been a thumbsucker without looking in my mouth at all.

NellyTheElephant · 07/12/2008 22:54

I think it's way too early to be worrying about it at 10 months. Both my DDs are massive thumb suckers. DD1 is rising 4 and since she was about 2 and a half I have slowly but surely got it into her head that thumb sucking is for sleep times only - i.e. not out and about during the day. So if the thumb goes in during the day I'll ask her if she wants to go and lie down in bed for a bit (which usually stops her immediately!).

Once DD2 is around 2.5 I'll probably start the same thing with her. There's no way I can stop the bed time sucking at the moment though. I sucked my thumb for years, I kind of remember my mother persuading me to stop the night time sucking when I was about 7 ish. She did a reward chart and would come and check to see if the thumb was in my mouth and if it wasn't I got a sweet or something. It worked (pretty much!), but I was still known to suck my thumb in moments of stress well into my 20s!! I have perfectly straight teeth though and never had braces. If mine end up with train tracks it will probably have as more to do with my DH's wonky teeth genetics (and he never sucked his thumb), than my straight teeth thumb sucking genes!!

VerifiedLU4097 · 08/12/2008 13:43

I sucked my finger and thumb until I was 9 and decided to stop. I had 4 teeth out and that was it. My sister sucked hers until she was about 22, had train tracks at 11, they killed her front teeth and she continued to suck afterwards and they went back to how they were. the state of parents teeth has a lot of influence too.

DesperateHousewifeToo · 08/12/2008 13:58

I sucked my thumb until I was about 11yrs when I broke my arm and could not get my thumb to my mouth.

I remember I tried the thumb on the other hand but it just wasn't the same

exthumbsucker · 20/03/2009 23:25

I was a thumb sucker till three years ago when i saw adult dummys on ebay they are made for people who have had strokes to help with there speach. Any way out of cuiosity I bought one it cured thumb sucking but now I am addicted to the dummy these are not for fancy dress they are the real thing but I am told they are better for the teeth being the orthodontic type.
I am thirty five.
I only use it around the house and in bed my husband did not like it to start with but don't mind so much now infact he bought me two new dummys last week. sorry if you think I am a weirdo but it takes all sorts.

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