How To Get Child To Stop Sucking Thumb

Get that thumb out of there! Why don't we try taking it out? You can hold your doll instead. I'll give you a treat if you don't suck your thumb for the rest of the day. Sound familiar?! As a parent to a thumb sucking child, I know it can be frustrating!

Babies learn to suck their thumb as a natural reflex. The sucking reflex is an innate behavior they have in order to suckle their milk and get nutrition. When they find their thumb at that young an age it becomes a habit for them to self-soothe and stays with them as they grow. Some children use only one hand and some use both. If your child is a strong sucker, the habit may cause their mouth to change shape, creating an overbite where the front teeth look pushed out. If they stop before the permanent teeth come in, this may correct itself, but there is still a chance that the palate may need correcting with a palate expander and braces when they are older.

Here are 8 tips to help stop the thumb sucking habit:

1. Use positive reinforcement; not negative. Praise and reward your child when they don't suck their thumb. Reward charts and gentle reminders are helpful. A great example of this is a sticker chart where every time you catch your child not sucking her thumb, she gets a sticker. This may require stickers as often as every few minutes so they start to understand how it works. Then you spread it out to every hour, then every few hours, then every day.

2. Keep the hands busy and provide distraction. In reality, you can't keep them distracted 100% of the time so this may work in conjunction with other methods. Arts and crafts, dancing, writing, jewelry making, sports, baking, biking, playing with toys are all good methods of distraction.

3. Mask wearing! One added benefit of our kids needing to wear a mask to protect them from coronavirus is that it deters those dirty hands from going up to their faces. It's a secondary benefit, creating a barrier to prevent them from putting the thumb in their mouths.

4. Thumb guards. There are many on the market and some can get a bit expensive. One option is TGuard that has a version of the thumb guard that is a bit bendable, allowing your child to still engage in daily activities without much difficulty. The thumbguard is the most successful way to help your child stop if it is used correctly. The sides of the thumbguard have air holes so your child can not create suction when trying to suck it. Speak to your dentist about thumb guards, devices that go in the mouth, or other suggestions they may have.

5. Bad tasting nail polish. These usually do not work very well because children usually want their finger in their mouth enough to tolerate the bad taste, but may be worth a try. If you try one brand and it stops working, you can alternate with another brand with a different taste. This option is also more affordable.

6. Do NOT ridicule, tease, or punish for the behavior. I know this is a list of things TO do, but it is so important not to do these things that I had to add it into the list. The damage of doing this can be long lived and may do nothing to help them. Keep it positive and upbeat to best encourage them. 6. Have a heart to heart. If your child is older and can sit down with you to really get into an effective conversation about thumb sucking, then try it! Some very important points to bring up that may have an impact are:

7. Speech impediments – difficulty saying certain letters comes with the habit of thumb sucking when the palate has changed shape and doesn't allow for placement of the tongue where it is supposed to be when forming certain sounds. It may make it much tougher for a child to learn how to speak correctly and would require extra services, which can come with some frustration.

8. Socks on the hands during sleep or cloth covers during the day. This may be a short term fix, but if they are removable, it's pretty likely your child will out-wit the sock. If they are older, the covering may act as a reminder that the thumb is unavailable and be able to help them when they go to suck the thumb subconsciously, which undoubtedly happens all the time.

Can they stop on their own?

Most children stop sucking their thumb by the time they are in elementary school and if they have not stopped by then, peer pressure may push them to stop once they are older. They may continue to suck their thumb at night and in private as a form of comfort, but have the ability to control when they do it.

Dentists usually do recommend implementing an intervention to stop the behavior before it can do damage. Not all pediatricians follow the same recommendations, however everyone agrees usually that the choice to actively stop them from thumb sucking is a personal one that needs to be made by each family based on their own needs and children's personalities.

Putting too much pressure on them to stop sucking their thumb may not be effective and can cause more harm than good so be sure to assess the situation carefully. It may be useful to use several of these recommendations together to optimize chances any of them will work. It is always helpful to discuss these choices with your Pediatrician, but the most important thing to keep in mind is that you know your child better than anyone. It is not an easy decision to make. Blueberry can also help talk it through with you. Signup and an online pediatrician is just a call or message away!