thumb sucking!

[MadLenny]

DD (3yrs) has gone back to sucking her thumb almost constantly, her poor wee thumb is getting calloused and sore from rubbing on her teeth. For a while she had got out of the habit during the day and was just using it to get to sleep at night but we've had a pretty crap time recently which has meant that I've been away a lot (ill family member) and I think this has really unsettled her. Any suggestions for (gently) encouraging her to stop?

My dd also sucks her thumb more if she is upset, it really comforts her. I would just let her tbh, it's just her way of self-soothing, and seems a shame to try and stop her doing this. It should ease off if things are back to normal at home? Her thumb will recover physically as well! If you really want to stop her doing it, the only thing I could suggest is trying to distract her with something else when you see her doing it.

I would try and stop this by the time she gets to school.
my sister has got a mishapen thumb, she still has tooth problems at 21, and had to have a brace on longer than anyone else i know, truely her teeth were horrific, and all because she never stopped sucking her thumb.
she didn't do it in public after primary school, but she did at home and asleep aswell.
and she still does it sometimes even when shes drunk!
maybe you could get her a cuddley toy she likes that she can suck or chew on for comfort.
really, it may seem harmelss now, but its not, it can cause a lot of problems later on if its not nipped in the bud.

OTT I want to nip it in the bud but have no idea where to start, have spoken to dentist and he said it's not a concern until her 2nd set of teeth come in but I would rather we knocked it on the head LONG before then. She's too old to start sooking/chewing a cuddly toy (I think) but does have 2 favourites that she 'sniffs' for comfort - think it's a breast fed thing? Have tried distracting her during the day which works most of the time but would like to try to break the habit at bedtime.

you could try putting the bitter nail biting stuff on her thumb, and give her a teddy at bedtime to snuggle with.
if it goes on for too long it will be a physical memory she won't be able to control at night, you could try a dummy at night aswell, i know it sounds worse but really its a lot easier for her to give up a dummy later on than thumbsucking.
and hopefully by the time she gives up the dummy she won't remember to use her thumb anymore.

My dd 2.5yo was also a thumb sucker/hair twiddler. The combination of the two was growing into quite an issue at bedtime as her thumb was becoming sore, blistered and she was pulling stands of her hair out, which she was then wrapping so tightly round her finger it was going purple! Like otta, found it easy to distract her from doing this during the day. At bedtime i make a show of letting dd pick two cuddly toys to take to bed to cuddle (Different ones each night) and found that she was so engrossed in choosing and then happily cuddling with each hand each toy that she didnt have time to suck her thumb/twiddle hair before she fell asleep after a busy day! Her thumb is now back to normal and she wont have a bald patch after all!

There is a great product that helps stop the thumb sucking gently and shamelessly. It is called "Thumbuddy To Love". You can get it on amazon or their web site. Kids love it! Mine did!

Mine is 6 but this is what worked for us Here