vigorous thumb sucking

[momileigh]

My dd will be 3 in September. She sucks her thumb hard. She used to do it all the time, but in February she had her first dental check-up and the dentist told us that she is deforming her mouth by doing this. I had never noticed it, but when the dentist pointed it out, it became obvious. We had a talk (dd and I) and she stopped sucking her thumb while awake within two days! (She used to have that thumb in her mouth every time I looked around.) The only exception is when she is sleeping. But let me tell you, she sucks it noisily and vigorously. About as hard as you could suck on anything. I'm worried that even though she only sucking at night, that's a lot of hours, and she could be doing permanent damage to herself. I've tried putting the bad-tasting stuff on it, but that doesn't bother her when she's asleep. I tried putting a band-aid on each thumb (she prefers the left thumb but will use the right if the left isn't available) and she had the most fitful night... I spent the whole night trying to comfort her, but all she wanted was that thumb! (I wish I could nurse her, but she weaned herself at 20 mos of age... she all of a sudden decided nursing was hilarious, and all she would do when she saw my nipple was crack up laughing ) So I'm looking for any of the following:

1. Reassurance that she will be fine, even if I let her suck her thumb into oblivion every night
2. Reassurance that it is ok to do whatever necessary to get her to stop, even if it means horrible nights of band-aid torture
3. Great ideas to stop nighttime thumb sucking
4. Other (???)

Thank you! I did a forum search on this and am surprised it doesn't come up more often... maybe I'll cross-post it in toddlers.

[flowmom]

Originally Posted by momileigh

it is ok to do whatever necessary to get her to stop

If you talk it through with her and show compassion during the process it will be fine. Though it could take quite a while.

[LizLizard]

Just reading along, DD will be 2 soon and is also a vigorous thumb sucker. She gets huge calluses on her knuckle, and is a loud slurper all night long. Her daytime sucking has gotten better as she talks more, but it's still pretty often. Her doctor said not to worry about it until she's 4, but DH is really concerned and wants to take her to a dentist soon to see if it's affected her palate. I'm still kinda conflicted about the whole thing. I hate asking her to take her thumb out of her mouth, it comforts her so much and she obviously needs it. If she doesn't have her thumb, she bites herself or sucks on her hand.

As far as band-aids go, I seem to remember being told not to do that technique, because the kid would just stick the thumb in the mouth during sleep anyways and suck the band-aid into their throat. The only other suggestion we've been given (besides the bad tasting stuff and nasty suggestions not worth mentioning) is thumb braces.... but man, that just sounds terrible to me.

FYI, nursing didn't matter as far as thumb sucking frequency for DD... as a matter of fact, she would often pop off the boob and stick her thumb in her mouth instead. But, she was always a efficient "eat and go" nurser anyways, instead of a comfort nurser, no matter how much I tried.

[momileigh]

Originally Posted by LizLizard

As far as band-aids go, I seem to remember being told not to do that technique, because the kid would just stick the thumb in the mouth during sleep anyways and suck the band-aid into their throat.

Hmmmm

I'm guessing that this advice is probably more for babies. I just can't imagine dd sucking a band-aid into her throat. But I will have to check on her a bunch to see if she is sucking on the thumb despite the band-aid. (We're trying the band-aids again tonight for the third time.)

[kiddie]

Originally Posted by momileigh

My dd will be 3 in September. She sucks her thumb hard. She used to do it all the time, but in February she had her first dental check-up and the dentist told us that she is deforming her mouth by doing this. I had never noticed it, but when the dentist pointed it out, it became obvious. We had a talk (dd and I) and she stopped sucking her thumb while awake within two days! (She used to have that thumb in her mouth every time I looked around.) The only exception is when she is sleeping. But let me tell you, she sucks it noisily and vigorously. About as hard as you could suck on anything. I'm worried that even though she only sucking at night, that's a lot of hours, and she could be doing permanent damage to herself. I've tried putting the bad-tasting stuff on it, but that doesn't bother her when she's asleep. I tried putting a band-aid on each thumb (she prefers the left thumb but will use the right if the left isn't available) and she had the most fitful night... I spent the whole night trying to comfort her, but all she wanted was that thumb! (I wish I could nurse her, but she weaned herself at 20 mos of age... she all of a sudden decided nursing was hilarious, and all she would do when she saw my nipple was crack up laughing ) So I'm looking for any of the following:

1. Reassurance that she will be fine, even if I let her suck her thumb into oblivion every night
2. Reassurance that it is ok to do whatever necessary to get her to stop, even if it means horrible nights of band-aid torture
3. Great ideas to stop nighttime thumb sucking
4. Other (???)

Thank you! I did a forum search on this and am surprised it doesn't come up more often... maybe I'll cross-post it in toddlers.

Hello there. I thought I would stop in and give you some direction here.

That is awesome you got her to stop sucking her thumb while awake. That is some great parenting here.

Sucking the thumb at night will be difficult to stop. And unfortunately, if she sucks her thumb at night probably for hours at a time it will continue to affect the arch and cause her to continue to open her bite.

If she is cooperative at the dentist as it sounds like she is, you may want to consider having a habit appliance made. There are a couple of choices. A habit crib or Bluegrass appliance.

The are both cemented into the mouth after an impression is made. And yes cooperative 3 year olds can tolerate the impressions. If they can't then you try again when they are older if the thumb habit conitinues. These appliances do well in stopping the thumb habit. The crib prevents the child from getting the sucking motion in the mouth when she puts her thumb in her mouth. The Bluegrass has a little "toy" in it which generally makes the tongue want to play with it rather than the thumb. You may want to ask your provider more about these appliances. I have provided links here to show you what they look like. I hope this helps.

The Habit Crib:

http://bvs.insp.mx/articulos/5/14/Image100.jpg

The Bluegrass appliance:

http://www.accutechortho.com/products/images/18-17.jpg

[momileigh]

Hi,

Thanks for the reply.

Well, so much for my parenting skills. About four *months* after she totally stopped sucking her thumb in the daytime, she started up again. Within a week of starting up again, she was back to thumb-sucking every single moment that she wasn't using her thumb for something else! This time around, whenever I would talk to her about her mouth and what the dentist said, she would say her new trademark phrase, "I don't care!" She also once said to me (I swear this came out of her little 2.5 yo mouth) "I'll just get braces." (!)

So, I resorted to this:

http://www.amazon.com/Thumbguard-Thu...755879&sr=8-14

It has worked really well. She wore it 24 hours a day for four days, then she begged and promised and I let her go without during the day, and she hasn't sucked. I put them on at night, to some small protest, but overall they haven't been a big issue. She still "sucks" in her sleep, but with nothing in her mouth. (Kind of making a chirping sound with her mouth.) It has been 3 weeks. After another week, I'm going to sleep with her without the thumb guards and see if she keeps her thumbs out of her mouth.

[kiddie]

Originally Posted by momileigh

Hi,

Thanks for the reply.

Well, so much for my parenting skills. About four *months* after she totally stopped sucking her thumb in the daytime, she started up again. Within a week of starting up again, she was back to thumb-sucking every single moment that she wasn't using her thumb for something else! This time around, whenever I would talk to her about her mouth and what the dentist said, she would say her new trademark phrase, "I don't care!" She also once said to me (I swear this came out of her little 2.5 yo mouth) "I'll just get braces." (!)

So, I resorted to this:

http://www.amazon.com/Thumbguard-Thu...755879&sr=8-14

It has worked really well. She wore it 24 hours a day for four days, then she begged and promised and I let her go without during the day, and she hasn't sucked. I put them on at night, to some small protest, but overall they haven't been a big issue. She still "sucks" in her sleep, but with nothing in her mouth. (Kind of making a chirping sound with her mouth.) It has been 3 weeks. After another week, I'm going to sleep with her without the thumb guards and see if she keeps her thumbs out of her mouth.

Seriously, you should be commended for you efforts and EXCELLENT parenting.

The power of negotiation can go a long way. She promised to stop sucking if you removed the guard. That was an excellent move you made and I like it a lot.