thumb sucking - how do you stop it?

[mistressmiggins]

my DD is 3 (4 in summer) and sucks her thumb constantly
I'm sure it's affecting her teeth but I just cant get her to stop.
If you pull her thumb out, she puts the other one in.
I have said if she stops, she can choose a toy but that doesnt seem to encourage her.
I am hoping when she starts school in September, she may naturally stop from peer pressure but other than that, I have no idea what to do.

that is worrying goosey

when you decide the child is to stop ucking his thumb, do you replace it with anything? A dummy for example? It seems wrong to take away a self-soothing mechanism which the child obviously has emotional need of and not find an alternative that satisfies that need.

I am not belittling the problems children can have from thumb-sucking, but I think sometimes the invisible dangers of taking away a child's autonomous method of comforting himself are not given enough consideration.

Greeney - I agree. Dd (4) has no obvious speach problems and sucks her thumb and I can't really be bothered to make a fuss about it. Sadly with ds, it appears that I have no choice. But then everything always seems to be harder for poor ds!

Oh my word, it's so nice to hear of fellow adult "thumbers". I still do and I'm well into my 30s! So, to the OP, don't stress about it. My parents knew I still sucked my thumb past an "acceptable" age. My dad was furious, my mum just let me get on with it. The end result was I just did it in secret so that Dad didnt' see. As an adult, I reckon it's a better source of comfort than smoking/drugs/alcohol !