5 year old thumbsucker

[Na]

Hi,

This is my first post. My five-year-old son still sucks his thumb. Luckily, he does it only at home when he is tired or watching TV. Giving him something to hold won't work because he still holds his "soft blankie". Any suggestions on how to get him to stop?

Any advice would be appreciated.

[kfiedler]

My daughter is 3 and we just took her nuk away and she decided to suck her thumb. I tell her she can only suck it when she is sleeping, if she is not in her bed and I see it in her mouth, we basically just shame her. Take it out and say "your a big boy, you don't need that" "big boys don't suck there thumbs" " oh you don't need that" so far it has been very little battles but I really want to keep it under control, so it doesn't get out of hand. Now if I see her with her thumb in her mouth, she know she is not suppoes to do that she pops it out and says " I not doing anything!!" its actually kind of cute, and hard to laugh but I still say the same thing. It's about staying on top of it (like everything eles) and make sure everyone is along with you. I hope this helps good luck.

[momof2girls]

My daughter is almost 12 years and sometimes I still catch her sucking her thumb when she is working at the computer or watching TV. She doesn't do it at school or around her friends just occasionally at home. We even tried putting stuff on her thumb when she was younger to stop her.

[autymsmommy]

When my daughter was having a hard time giving up her paci (about 6 months ago, she's 6 years old), I decided to do a little bit of tough love. I downloaded a few pics of kids who had sucked pacis or thumbs for too long and as a result (sure it was dramatized a bit) had buck teeth that stuck out over their mouth... She threw it away 5 minutes later, and I have not had a problem with thumbsucking as a result...lol

[MamaT]

I'm not sure if they have the stuff still.. but you can get stuff that's not harmful to the child.. that you put on their thumb and it tastes icky so that they'll stop.
i don't even remember what it's called. i've heard it works tho.