[Closed] How do you stop a 2yr old sucking their thumb?

paint it with something that tastes nasty? Chilli perhaps

Cut it off?

nickc - exactly what I was going to say hah! Bit cruel but the wee ****er would soon learn!

Sew its lips together.

You can get stuff that's meant to stop nail biting - clear nail varnish that tastes horrible. Stop'n'grow?

You could wire her jaw shut, but she'd only blend it and drink it through a straw. No, wait, that's fat people and pies, isn't it?

Why would you want to stop it?

Yup you can get that but I wouldn't yse it on a 2 year old, both my kids suck there thumbs the eldest is nearly 6 not caused a single dental problem.

When I was young.......
I know it's a long time ago, but my mum used to have a stick of something that she rubbed on my thumbs. It tasted awful, but stopped me sucking. They were fairly common, back then. I presume the food police, the elfin safety police, the child protection police and the NHS police have outlawed them by now. It would be worth asking at a chemist. No idea what they were called. Alternatively you could bandage the thumbs up with something untasty inside - germolene might be a deterrent!

Is it not called something like 'bitter alo' - spelling on the last bit obvioulsy way out.

Dentist is talking shite.

It can lead to an overbite.
My niece sucked her thumb til she was about 15, changed the shape of her jaw.
I would've thought 2 is a bit early to worry about it though.
Give her something else to suck. A dummy?

Nah! That's just an excuse for having ugly kids.

Napalm

I used to have a girlfriend who still sucked her thumb (we were 14). Darn.

Getting used to the size was she, Hora?
😈

BTW - his normally implies that the person concerned is male.

He sucks his thumb a lot and it is apparently pushing his lower jaw back. Dentist in question is pretty high up the food chain.

Is it your first or second child and are they both boys?

This one is the eldest and they are both boys. What are the odds of that? 😉

chop his feet off. a lot more to worry about than thumb sucking then.

My in-laws had a similar problem with their daughter and had a conversation with the dentist something like this...

Dentist (to parent): Your daughter needs to stop sucking her thumb - its pushing her top teeth forward.

Parent: Don't tell me, I'm not sucking her thumb. Tell her!

Dentist (feeling silly, to child): You need to stop sucking your thumb because its giving you bad teeth

Child (takes thumb out of mouth, looks at thumb, then dentist): I'll do it tomorrow.
(starts sucking thumb again)...

But.... the day after, she stopped - so it worked!

As suggested paint some chilli oil on his nails BUT don't put any innocent bystander on their backs when he starts crying with the foul taste and they rush to see if they can help him.

Or indeed when he then rubs his eyes with his hands now covered in chilli oil.

Dip his thumb in vinegar?

Less harmful than chilli oil, but same general effect.

Kid's gonna end up like this:
[img] [/img]

😆

But in all honesty I know a few kids who have suffered from dental issues from thumb sucking, but at 2 I'd ahve thought it was a bit young surely?! Mind you, I'm not a dental doctor so I'd have thought they'd know best.

Stop-bite is the answer.

My next door neighbour sucks his thumb on the q.t. - I see him in his kitchen sometimes looking at the tv and having a good old suck.

He also cries if he gets frustrated with something.

He's in his early thirties!!!!

Indeed the dentist should know best, Dental Association says it's fine until they have there adult teeth.

or even "adult teeth there" Drac, or maybe just "their adult teeth" 😯

Ooops! Sorry.

I have a minor overbite from sucking my thumb. I did suck it til I was 15 though (only at night for the last few years) My parents tried to stop me by using 'stop 'n' grow' and 'nilbite' when I was 7 or 8 but it made me really upset and I felt sad and miserable when I couldn't suck it.

I would see how the wee one responds to attempts to stop the thumb sucking and if it's too distressing, accept that braces might be needed in the future. My overbite is cosmetic and does not affect dental health otherwise, I'd check whether the predicted 'damage' will be simply cosmetic.

My Mum used to read me the story of Little Suck a Thumb

One day, Mamma said, "Conrad dear, I must go out and leave you here. But mind now, Conrad, what I say, Don't suck your thumb while I'm away. The great tall tailor always comes To little boys that suck their thumbs. And ere they dream what he's about He takes his great sharp scissors And cuts their thumbs clean off, - and then You know, they never grow again."

Mamma had scarcely turn'd her back, The thumb was in, alack! alack!
The door flew open, in he ran, The great, long, red-legged scissorman. Oh! children, see! the tailor's come And caught our little Suck-a-Thumb. Snip! Snap! Snip! the scissors go; And Conrad cries out - Oh! Oh! Oh! Snip! Snap! Snip! They go so fast; That both his thumbs are off at last.

Mamma comes home; there Conrad stands, And looks quite sad, and shows his hands;- "Ah!" said Mamma "I knew he'd come To naughty little Suck-a-Thumb."

It didn't work by the way, although I gave up of my own accord around age 7

Anyway what's the worst that could happen?

[img] ?v=0[/img]

Turns out that the boy likes that taste of chilli oil....

Great....

Stick his thumbs up his bum, pretty sure he won't suck them after that 🙂

One of these?
[img] [/img]

Its bloody shame that kids cannot be kids - stuff the dentist - tell the child can have braces fitted when its older if necessary.
Control freaks..

Given that it appears to be changing the shape of the roof of his mouth I am willing to take away that little bit of childhood that is thumbsucking.

****ing hell how much thumb sucking does he do?

So when does the sucking of the thumb take place - during sleep ? or anytime during the day ?
Anytime during the day can be helped by distracting the lad, but at night there is not a lot to be done - maybe a dummy at night ?

Drac - Not that much. Apparently it was something to do with him resting his hand on his chin and his thumb acting like a lever on the roof of his mouth.

a swift clip around the back of the head?

Brake the thumb and say if they try doing it again you will do the same thing!

That tell the little sh!t

Despite the "Expert" opinions here I wouldn't worry. How many adult thumb suckers do you see?
2 years old is nothing, perfectly natural. Shows he can comfort himself (ie look out for himself later in life maybe?)

All that overbite sh1te is a crock IMO, people with one would have developed that way anyway. It would take 24hr constant thumb-sucking for years to influence the developmement of the pallette. (see neck-stretching, lip-stretching, foot binding etc. for a reference)

I will stress I am no expert but did do some study on the burmese neck-stretchers and other body decoration/deformation during my degree. (jewellery, so like I said -no expert :?)
Let the boy develop naturally

Yeah Smee, stop listening to dentists about palate deformation.

Listen to billyboulders - he read some stuff about neck-stretchers, that'll be a lot more relevant.

Funkynic - I accidentaly closed a door (hinge side) on my 1yr old (at the time) daughters fingers, thought she was going to lose some, after the most traumatising drive ever to A&E it turned out even though the door was completely closed on them there weren't even any broken bones, still can't work out that one lots of bruising and inflamation but she never sucked her thumb again (would have thought she would have just started sucking the other one).
Sorry, Smee, not a lot of help unless you are mental enough to try and copy my tale, just wanted to share.
What would Glupton do? 😛

GLupton - would probably irritate him constantly until he stopped then irritate him some more just to make sure. Hmmm - might be worth a go.

😀 I did say no expert, just my opinion

Struwwelpeter is your friend...

[img] [/img]

Poor little suck-a-thumb!

The Germans are aces at massively violent and cruel children's stories, just look at the Grimms...

A familiar tactic Smee 🙂

Yeah, you seem to like that one. 😀

My brother is 22 and still sucks his thumb on occasion. No dental probs that i know of.

Give him a dummy to suck on instead,then when he's used to it & prefers the dummy to his thumb wean him off that too....

I used to lie on my front with a book on on my pillow and prop my head up by sucking my thumb. As I said earlier, I did this til I was 15. I have a minor overbite, a slightly arched pallete and a rather bent thumb. None of which bother me.

I was utterly miserable the entire time my parents tried to stop me thumb sucking. I reckon you shouldn't worry. Also as someone said, you don't see many adult thumb suckers, most grow out of it far earlier than I did. He's only 2.

I was utterly miserable the entire time my parents tried to stop me thumb sucking.

Crikey, can't imagine ever finding thumb sucking so interesting that having to stop it was so depressing. I'd be concerned that my kids had other mental "needs" or lackings if thumb sucking were such a source of reassurance!

You have a point Coffeeking, I was a particularly sensitive child and one of my main sources of 'self soothing' was being removed. It sticks in my memory as quite a traumatic time.

Time will resolve the issue, I really wouldnt worry. My two had dummies rather than thumbs (ok they've got thumbs too alright) which caused a slight overbite too. They were both happy to stop the dummies at 4 or 5 years (only used at night time after about 2 years) with a bit of bribery.

Our dentist was only too happy to refer both of them to an orthodontist at about 8 or 10 years anyway to re-shape things. The younger one got it on the NHS, the older one cost us 2 grand. Still never worked that one out!

Just about every one of their friends has had braces as some point, I think its standard practice these days.

jojo - As you say, all kids are different, it's hard to strike a balance between tough love and over-reaction.

I'd like braces now, but apparently they wont work in adulthood and you're likely to make your teeth permanently loose?!