thumb/finger sucking

[paininthebutt]

what's the ealiest you could start preventing your dear child from finger sucking?
my dd is 14 months she loves sucking her fingers for comfort during the day (when tired or upset) but i also suspect she does it at night. one of her front teeth is already pointing forward and i know it will only get worse. it also might cause problems with speech.

problem is, most of the bad tasting stuff is from 4-5 years and so is the thumb guard (apparently works wonders). there is also an issue of upsetting her emotionally buy taking the source of comfort away, but she will probably be more upset if kids make fun of her in the future.

there is no doubt in my mind i want her to stop soon (i don't buy the 'she'll stop when she's ready' crap) but when can i start doing something about it? surely the longer it goes on the harder it will be for her to stop?

Hmm why are you so set on her stopping if she needs that comfort? I sucked my thumb until the age of nearly 12 when I was tired. I had no problems with speech and nor did I get buck teeth. I would have hated someone trying to forcibly stop me from doing it.
I am sure she will grow out of it at her own pace.

my 12mnth old is sat on my knee as i type sucking his thumb, he came out sucking it and has not stopped (csection) he hooks his finger over his nose and with his other hand strokes his hair or his blankie. he makes my heart melt and i cant bring myself to make him stop as it really comforts him. his teeth seem fine and he's a vocal chap, maybe when he was older and better able to understand and find a different source of comfort but for now im not doing anything!

My wife used to work with a woman who sucked her thumb and she was a stockbroker aged 24.

My DS2 sucks his thumb but I am sure he will stop the moment that he starts noticing girls.

I would try giving her dummy instead because they are easier to get rid of later. My dd4 was a finger sucker and we managed to switch her onto dummies about 20 months old I think.

Well yes my 6 year old is currently trying to give up sucking her thumb because her adult front teeth are not growing down to meet her bottom teeth so yes there are orthadontic issues other than having buck teeth.

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Pruners if only that were true!!!

When my 6 year old smiles her tongue hangs out between her teeth, she has forward tongue thrust from sucking her thumb and the gap between her upper and bottom teeth means it hangs out and it has affected her speech.

I do agree though there isn't much you can do about it until they are 3/4 years old I'm afraid but switching to a dummy does make it easier for them to give it up as you can restrict it just to bed time or when they are unwell etc

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i'm not saying that sucking thumbs gives kids speech developement problems but front teeth pointing forwards certainly can.

dentists haven't changed their opinions either, it's a well known fact that prolonged sucking changes the shape of the palat and what they call 'crowding' resulting in teeth growing all directions. i also know that many people have ok teeth even if they sucked their thumbs as babies. but my ds ALREADY has crooked teeth and i'm pretty sure it's from sucking and i simply don't want it to get any worse.

and the crap i don't belive in is that if she has a habit that has been going on for years and gives her pleasure, i just can't imagine one day waking up and forgeting all about it.

non of it is "good" for them but I do think the dummy is the lesser of 2 evils. My eldest chucked her dummy away at 4 quite easily, my middle 2 would like to have their thumbs permenantly in their mouths at the age of 5 & 6 hence why we gave the youngest a dummy - again she sucked her fingers from birth!!!! Still it did mean that she slept 12 hours at night from about 10 days old

My Ds still sucks his thumb at 13, his teeth are fine atm. Wish he would stop now though.

I sucked 2 fingers till I was about 10 IIRC.

dd1 still talks about having to give her dummy up and she's 12!!!!

I think dummy/thumb sucking changes their whole jaw development even at a young age it gives them open jaws (can't think of the proper word) so it encourages them to mouth breath rather than nose breath because they naturally keep their mouths open (even when not sucking) and that stops their jaws and teeth developing as they would have otherwise.

It's something along those lines.

The quote to sort out dd1's jaws privately was £6.5k that's enough to make me firmer about the "get that thumb out" that I seem to say an awful lot at the moment.

I sucked my fingers until I was 7. I have been saving for the £3000 of orthodontic treatment I need for years. I hate my teeth. I don't smile on photos and I cover my mouth with my hand a lot. I was still sucking my fingers when my adult teeth came in so maybe that made it worse.

£6.5 K! well, that's enough reason to sort the sucking issue early!

i must admit i do have issues with dummies, they make kids look...dumm i geuss.

and i do noticed that when she's in her buggy with snow suit on that covers her hands she doesn't mind not sucking. but when we were recently in oz and obviously she didn't have her hands covered she would suck while in the buggy. so i thought maybe mittens at night? i might just try and see how it goes and if she hates it we'll try again in a year or so