How to get DS to stop thumb sucking

[HauteGirlSummer]

My DS who is 4 now has always self-soothed from when he was a baby. It was handy as we didn't have to worry about finding his dummy at nights when he needed settling. I thought he'd grow out of it but at 4, the thumb sucking is still going strong.
I can see it distracts him sometimes when he's playing with friends etc.
How do we get him to stop permanently? We tell him to stop when we see him doing it but the habit is so ingrained now he just defaults back to it a few minutes later.

How do we go about this? Any effective suggestions welcome 🤗

Had this problem with second daughter who sucked middle two fingers. We discussed why it was important for her to break the habit and why she needed to wear a rubber guard.
She stopped sucking her fingers within days and hasn’t sucked them since.
As this was 13 years ago I cannot remember the name, but I’m sure the same/something similar will be available via Amazon.

I think it just needs to be persistent, moving his hand away each time and saying don’t suck your thumb, you will hurt your skin. My dd sucked her index and middle finger and sometimes they would be so pink and sore. We just had to keep distracting her, it did stop eventually. Maybe you could try encouraging him to hold a toy in one hand to keep both hands ‘busy?’

www.amazon.co.uk/Pretty-Quik-Nail-Habit-25ml/dp/B06Y5N4CWC?tag=mumsnetforu03-21
We used this product to stop my DDs thumb sucking. It lasts really well so even if they wash their hands the taste is still on their nails. Took less than a week to stop them

the bitter stuff. It was the only thing that worked.

Definitely get some bitter tasting nail polish. We’ve tried thumb guards, tape etc and none of it worked. The nail polish stays bitter for 2 days and then you reapply it. We’re using it at the moment and my 10 year old hasn’t sucked her thumb for a week! She has been wanting to stop for a while now, but literally nothing has worked apart from this.

DD was older, but Thumbsies did it for us.

@Georgie8 where did you get the rubber guard from? Looked online and can only find thumb guards shipped from USA 😭😭

@Takingabreakagain

www.amazon.co.uk/Pretty-Quik-Nail-Habit-25ml/dp/B06Y5N4CWC?tag=mumsnetforu03-21 We used this product to stop my DDs thumb sucking. It lasts really well so even if they wash their hands the taste is still on their nails. Took less than a week to stop them

Less than a week is really impressive! It says not for kids under 5 so hopefully there's one for younger kids. Thanks 😊

My dentist put a ring on my sons thumb and told him It was magic and stop him sucking his thumb. She also explained to him about thumb sucking damaging his teeth. He literally stopped that night. Considering how much he sucked his thumb I thought that was amazing. Thinking back about it I wonder if the ring was a potential chocking hazard

Yikes! Really cannot remember, but it would’ve been through a UK supplier. I didn’t find ‘distraction’ any use, as she would suck her fingers whilst asleep, nor did I find bitter tasting ‘nail varnish’ any use -tried both.
Just checked and you can buy similar on Amazon uk under Dr Thumb.

@Georgie8

Yikes! Really cannot remember, but it would’ve been through a UK supplier. I didn’t find ‘distraction’ any use, as she would suck her fingers whilst asleep, nor did I find bitter tasting ‘nail varnish’ any use -tried both. Just checked and you can buy similar on Amazon uk under Dr Thumb.

Thanks! I also find that as much we would distract him during the day he'd suck his thumb at night. So need something to keep the thumb out of his mouth all day until he gets over the habit. Thanks for the suggestions. I'll look these up on Amazon 😊

DD1 loved to suck her thumb all the time and I just left her to it until I realised her age, probably 4 and a bit and I suddenly realised if we didn’t try to help her to stop it would go on and on. We started talking about it because I realised up to that point we had never suggested it might be something to stop in future. I think she liked the idea of being too big to suck her thumb and very gradually she started to try to stop herself. The hardest bit was at night and her sleep was definitely disrupted for a few weeks while she tried to stop but by this point it was really being led by her and I knew her sleep was just going to be disrupted until she’d managed. It was a gradual process, started by us with some discussion but mastered by her once she had decided that’s what she wanted to do. Good luck!

I understand your worry, op - my own DS still has a dummy at just over 2 and I'm keen to cut it out.

I, however was a big thumb sucker as a child, not just to sleep, but whilst reading, watching t.v etc. I sucked my thumb until I started secondary school, when I realised that it wasn't something anyone else did; I stopped on my own accord in a week by not allowing myself to do it. My own parents wouldn't have noticed either way as by then, I had an extra 4 siblings.

I only add this post to reassure you that your DC won't do it forever. Plus, I have lovely, naturally straight teeth and have never had a filling at the age of 33.

Simply persistence.
One of our 6yr old twins stopped really easily the other twin will suck her thumb occasionally but I tell her to stop and pull it out if close enough. Slowly doing it less snd less.
Our biggest problem is our 10yr old ds awaiting asd assessment, he's caused a lot of damage to his teeth. We have to keep reminding him and it has reduced but extremely hard to break the habit with him.
I've tried nasty tasting nail treatments (nail biter type) but theg didn't work.

People can tell you they will not do it forever but my mother in her 60's will still suck her thumb and I worked with a middle aged man who would do it at his desk.

Not that you've said you have or would, but please don't shame them into it.

I'm an extreme as am in my 40s and still suck my thumb (for me, I've come to realise, it is a self-soothing technique for ASD and ADHD).

My parents tried everything from that horrible nail varnish to bandaging my thumb to saying everyone will laugh at me at school. I just learned to then do it in secret.

Most thumb suckers aren't this extreme of course, but i just thought I'd mention trying not to make a big deal out of it and it should just go away as he gets older.

I got diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome just over ten years ago and I suck my thumb or should I say it always moves to my mouth in stressful situations and I have only just come to realise that it may be what is called stimming. I am someone who does do it openly on public transport, after I have been doing it for a while, the people that look do not bother me anymore. I have been laughed at though, but I do not use public transport much. And with covid, last time I was on a train I was, of course, masked, and so without a hole in the middle which would render such a mask useless I was forced by a concern for public health to desist. Thanks for your post as there is not much literature or even anecdotage out here to suggest that our habit is not simply an empty or attention seeking thing. We are far from the days of thumbsucking carriages on trains as they used to with smoking.