Thumb Sucking......

HOW DO YOU STOP THIS?!?!?!?!?!?!?!????

I'm going nuts about this thumb sucking business. His teeth are already coming in crooked as hell and his lips blister.

Surely somebody knows something?

 

my mom put tobasco on my brothers thumb to stop him from doing that....I think it worked?!

 

Dip that lil thumb in a jar of jalepenos!

 

THAT is what I said.....

For realz.

I'm meeting MAJOR opposition though.

He's only 15 months.... if that changes anything.

I was going to put something over his hand and tape it on to keep him from his thumb, but I was told that was a MAJOR no-no.....

 

i would think it's a no no too, what if he rubs it in his eye?

my mom swears by it, but she's kind of strict old school....

 

If he rubs it in his eye, he'll never let it happen again, I bet. haha

I know, I know. That's why I haven't done it yet, but I'm soooo tired of this thumb sucking business.

I think I'll just get little boxes to tape over his hands until he forgets about sucking his thumb. He's gonna hate me.

Give your mom a high five for me. Those are my favorite. I mean you turned out alright, didn't ya?

 

15 months is kinda young to break a habit, IMO. My girl is a nipple twiddler, and I met major opposition trying to break her of that. She's almost three and still tries.

Best thing to do is just remove his hand from his mouth whenever you see him doing it, cuddle him (because he only wants comfort), maybe offer him something to suck on (sports cap water bottle), and say "no suck thumb". Repeat a few hundred times. It won't break the habit completely, because he'll still do it in his sleep. It's an auto-habit. But you can reduce the amount of time he does it. The rest will come as he learns to comfort himself in other ways, like touching his penis ALL. THE. TIME.


BTW, when the hell did TCF have a kid?

 

He can touch his little penis until it falls off. That's not going to mess his mouth up. haha

I know what you mean, and that's all I've done is just pull it out of his mouth. He does it the most when we're in the car and are naturally facing away from him to watch the road, but he's pretty adamant about it at bed time as you said. It only frustrates me because one of his teeth came in almost sideways and I'm pretty sure it's because his thumb was lodged in his mouth the whole time. I'm just worried his teeth will come in really wrong and cause him problems later.

Last January, actually. Scary thought, huh?

 

One thing to think of: These are just his baby teeth. He'll lose them in 4-5 years, and the new ones will grow in straight because I am sure he's not going to be a thumb sucker in Kindergarten.

As far as car rides, does he have any cool toys for the trip? Find a few toys and keep them *just* for car rides. We got the leapfrog ABC catapillar (which is so fucking annoying, but works), a couple board books, a stuffed animal, and another loud obnoxious toy. Because she only sees them in the car, she's fascinated for a lot longer than she would be. I'm sure your son would be the same, and he might be so distracted that he forgets the thumb.

 

I was a thumb sucker until I was 8!!! So, break the habit now if you can. My mom and dad tried everything. The medicine, hot sauce, nail polish... I sucked it all off.... well not the nail polish.

Anyways, the only way my mom got me to break the habit was she would wrap my hand up at night. It is a total comfort thing for your son and maybe you need to introduce a new comfort thing? He doesn't like binkies? I was not really excited to have Amelia use a binkie but it is sure has hell gonna keep her from her hands so be it.

 

If his adult teeth will grow in different, than it doesn't bother me so much. I was always told that if the baby teeth get messed up like that the bigger ones wont grow in right. That's why I was worried about it.

I'm trying to get him hugging stuffed animals, but he's just started hugging the thing while he's sucking his thumb. I dunno....

 

Don't sweat it. 15 months is still very young yet, and, as already pointed out, he has baby teeth which will of course fall out in time. He's quite a while off from having to worry about getting his adult teeth in. So...

Thumb sucking is a comfort measure, a form of self soothing, it feels good to a little one. I wouldn't worry about trying to break the habit yet. Chillax, go with the flow.

Oh, and another thing. None of my kids were ever, ever thumb suckers, but you know what? My two sons are, without a doubt, going to be sporting braces once all of their baby teeth fall out. Luck of the draw. My daughter has perfect teeth, all nice and aligned, no problems whatsoever. So you just never know.

 

That's cool too. This is all making me feel a bit better about it. I guess I can stop harassing the hell out of him as much. And I'll try to get a couple of car exclusive toys to give him something else to focus on.

 

My son is almost 7 and still sucks his thumb. He sucks it less and less now that he is busy, but when he is tired or stressed, in goes the thumb. His dentist has suggested a metal plate that goes in the roof of the mouth. The plate keeps them from feeling the pleasurable sensations that thumb sucking gives them. So far I haven't allowed it, but I don't know how much longer it is going to go on.

Kathi

 

his teeth arent ruined from thumb sucking- not too many people are born with perfect teeth.... Just let it happen. And DO NOT PUT ANYTHING ON HIS THUMB THAT COULD HURT HIS EYES!

 

I made sure my kids were both hooked on pacifiers from birth haha That way when I took it away it was GONE.

So sorry, no advice.

 

That was my idea, but somebody else had the idea to take it away from him uber early and he replaced it with the thumb.

At least I was right. haha :cheers2:

 

Yeah, I would say 15 months is too early...they still have the need to suck at that age, even just for comfort.

 

you could remove said thumbs

 

Duct tape and oven mitts?