4 year old thumb sucker. Tips to stop?

[CraftyC]

My DD has just turned 4. She has sucked her thumb since birth. I am conscious I want it to come to an end due to damage to the roof of her mouth etc. I have spoken to her about it and tried to discourage her. She doesn't care in the slightest and is completely addicted to it. In fact, it's become worse since I started coaxing her to take the thumb out. I have looked at the nail biting stuff that tastes bitter but she will probably just wash it off. I see there are thumb guards you can buy too but surely she will just take them off. Anyone successfully stopped thumb sucking at this age? Any tips?

I’m an almost 50 year old thumb sucker. My family tried everything to make me stop. Obviously nothing worked but their efforts helped me develop a real sense of shame.
My advice would be to let your DD suck her thumb. Make sure to get her listed on the NHS waiting list for braces at a young age and be thankful she’s figured out how to self-soothe.

Nothing here, I'm in my 40s! I did stop and around 18 and then secretly restarted, now I only do it in private due to the shame that PP talks about.

My mother tried everything with me (she was a dentist). I did it myself at age 10 using a New Years Resolution !

I feel better reading this because, honestly, I don't really want her to stop. I feel like I should stop it for the benefit of her mouth but it calms her down so much. She loves it. It's her complete comfort. I more felt Mym guilt that her teeth may be a mess because I didn't push it.

We taped a sock around her hand, it was a sad time but it was that or a dentist fitted mouth guard thing for a few hundred pounds.

This was also why I let my youngest keep her dummy until she was 6/7. After that there was no suck enjoyment whereas the thumb is there forever...

The comfort she receives from it is so important. For what it’s worth my teeth are amazing - thanks to having braces in my teens. I sucked my thumb in secret during the entire treatment.
If you can, try to protect her from being shamed into stopping and let me have her comfort. Good luck

To add I have perfectly straight teeth too.

I sucked my thumb til I was 14. Nothing would have stopped me - it was a comfort thing and it was almost automatic. I don't really have any ideas on how you can get her to stop.

I purchased a thumb guard thing to dissuade DS from thumb sucking. It worked like a dream, he only sucked his thumb when he was getting drowsy, but in fairness, it was DS who wanted to stop (aged 6) and asked if there was anything to help him do it.
Not sure MN will approve, but two friends have since asked for advice, did the same and it worked for their DC as well.
https://tguard.com/

Both my kids were thumb suckers. They grew out of it around the end of primary I think, maybe around Yr 5. It didn't damage their teeth or their mouth or affect their speech at all. One DC had braces (for overcrowding) and one didn't need them at all. As babies and little kids it was their comfort and how they fell asleep.

I'd never tape up a child's hand or do anything to stop it, it seems so cruel. My dad put a cardboard tube around my arm when I was about 6 to "break the habit" and I remember being absolutely hysterical.

I discouraged daytime thumb sucking (as did school). Eventually aged about 8 both my kids decided they were too old to suck their thumbs as other children told them it was babyish. At that point I offered them a reward if they managed to break the habit (a book I think) and after a couple of false starts, they just stopped. No teeth issues causes by thumb sucking and both of them get no comfort from sucking their thumbs now!