Thumb sucking

[Harvey3]

My nearly 3 year old frequently sucks his thumb and has done since birth. He's never wanted a dummy, only his thumb, and it's now his established way of settling himself. He always has his thumb in when he's tired and when he's trying to get off to sleep.

I've recently noticed that his two front teeth are starting to stick out a bit - I assume from the thumb sucking. Will this cause him longer term problems? Or would it only be problematic if he continued to do it after he lost his baby teeth?

I'm unwilling to take away his source of comfort (and don't know how, perhaps by painting that no nails stuff on his thumb!) but I also don't want him to have long term issues from it.

Thanks in advance!

My DD was a thumb sucker. She did end up with railway track braces, but maybe she would have done anyway - it's difficult to be sure.

Was just going to say the same. My daughter loved her thumb, I didn't think she would ever stop but she managed to break the habit herself when she was 12/13. She did it in her sleep and there wasn't anything anyone could do to stop that. She tried!
She's getting braces in a few weeks (she's 15 now) and her top teeth do stick out a bit. She only needs train tracks for 12-18 months though which isn't too bad. I spent years stressing about her thumb, but it gave her such comfort.

Watching with interest - my DD is almost 3 and sucks her thumb when she's sleeping, to self-soothe etc. I have no idea how to get her to stop

This is why my second child had a dummy! He loved it, had it all the time, we took it away when he was 3. Once they love their thumb its very hard.

This is a good point! Something to think about if we had another for sure.

Yup! People are so anti dummies but I gave my son one the day he was born! Cos I already had a 4 year old thumb sucker!

I gave DC2 a dummy for this reason. But based on their teen nieces and nephews, everyone gets braces these days anyway, thumb sucker or not.

My DD very rarely sucks her thumb now at age 9 but she was sucking it regularly up until about a year ago. The dentist said she might need braces. She was even sucking it in one of my scan photos 😂