How we stopped my older child's thumb sucking in less than a day
by Laura Falin posted in Parenting
It's hard getting kids to stop sucking on pacifiers or thumbs or other comfort items. I had two children who relied on either a pacifier or thumb to soothe them, and they sucked on those things when they were scared or tired or unhappy or just needed to relax. It looks so adorable, but it can be so hard to get them to stop when it's time.
Thumb-sucking has an added challenge. You can, eventually, take away a pacifier...but you can't take away a thumb.
My daughter started sucking her thumb in the womb and continued for several years afterward. The nice thing was that we didn't have to worry about her dropping it, or not being able to find it, or forgetting it on trips. It was always there. The hard thing was...that it was always there.
According to our dentist (and the American Dental Association), there isn't much point in worrying if your baby sucks their thumb. It won't damage the alignment of their teeth and jaw until their permanent teeth come in when they're around 6 years old. Also, a child who passively rests her thumb in her mouth will have less damage than a child who aggressively sucks their thumb.
You can try some of these methods to help your child stop sucking their thumb as they get older. Many times, kids will stop on their own sometime between 2 and 4 years old. In our case, my daughter wanted to stop, but she often didn't even realize she was doing it. We needed to do something to make her aware and uncomfortable each ...
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