How to stop thumb sucking

Posted January 21st, 2008 by mom2mmmc

other

I have a 5 year old that still sucks her thumb and would like to get her to stop by her 6th birthday in October.
Does anyone have any ideas how to ease us both into this change?

I have a six year old step

On January 21st, 2008 KatsMommy says:

I have a six year old step daughter that sucked her thumb for a long time. The way we got her to stop sucking her thumb,, we told her that big girls don't suck their thumbs...It worked for us, I wish I could be more helpful.

Tabby

The tough thing about

On January 21st, 2008 PrincessMaree says:

The tough thing about thumb-suckers is that there's no taking away the object, like you can with a pacifier. For the most part, she'll probably just give it up on her own, especially if she's in school. Other kids will start to raze her about it. One of my friend's daughters sucked her thumb when she watched TV, so they made it a rule that she could only suck her thumb in her bedroom, where there was no TV. If she started sucking her thumb in the living room, they wouldn't tell her to stop, just that she should go to her room to do it, and she'd pop it right out. It would be worth a try.

I know what you mean about

On January 21st, 2008 mom2mmmc says:

I know what you mean about the pacifier that is what she started with and I was able to take it away when she was 1 and a half but then my sister had a baby and she had a pacifier so naturally my daughter wanted one again too to be the baby.

Well my husband was not happy with that at all and insisted that we take it away again.
We have a 7 year old daughter from his 1st marriage that is a thumb sucker so when my husband took away the pacifier she saw her older sister suck her thumb and that is what got her into it. Our 7 year old now 10 didn't stop sucking her thumb until we got the thumb crib device put into her mouth this last year. She still has it but says she is ready to have it taken out.

My daughter has had some of her friends ask her about her thumb sucking so I'm hoping that will help but if it doesn't then I think I will try the in her own room idea.

Thank you for your ideas.

I think bribery is a good

On January 22nd, 2008 Susie says:

I think bribery is a good option at this point - doesn't have to be something big and expensive but something that she really, really wants. even a few extra minutes at bedtime, an extra book at bedtime, etc. set a reward and then tell her that she's got to stop the thumb-sucking for a set amount of time before she gets it.

Susie is a discussion leader in the east valley for arizonamoms.com. She has two sons, ages 6 and 2.