How do you convince a 7 y/o to stop thumb sucking?

My daughter was already a thumb sucker in the womb.... I have the ultrasound pictures to prove it! She is now 7 and still does it. We've discussed with our doctor ways to help her to quit, we've tried all the old fashioned "remedies", tried reward/punishment system..... yes, we've tried pepper, hot oil, gloves, the stuff to make you quit biting your nails, the stuff to make you throw up..... everything. She has almost completely ruined the nail bed on that one thumb. (She will ONLY suck the right one) She has also caused her teeth to raise and create a "hole" when her mouth is closed. She's now lost one of those top front baby teeth and I'm afraid that she will ruin her "good" teeth when they begin coming in.





We've asked her about her thumb sucking and she pretty much has convinced us that it is a security thing... Like a blanket or favorite doll or something.





How can we help her feel safe and secure with out thumb sucking? HELP!!!!

How do you convince a 7 y/o to stop thumb sucking?
i too have a 7 year old girl who sucks her two fingers on the right hand and she says she just cant help it. she does it when she sleeps and is bored. your right about the teeth thing. her permanent front two teeth are bucked out cause of it and now she will need braces when older. we tried all the remedies too even putting a glove on her hand and offering a toy or out somewhere of her choice and she just cant stop. i was told patience is a virtue but it drives me insane and she knows it. nail polish works for a short time if you want to try that. good luck and let me know if you find a solution. cause i would love to hear it!
Reply:Ask her if she wants to be a "big girl" and explain that "big girls" don't suck their thumb. You don't have to do this in a demeaning way, just try to show her the ups to being "grown up" (because we all know how much they want to be grown up). Try teaching her about courage to help break the security thing. Best of luck!
Reply:Tell the child that if you don't stop sucking your thumb, you will have to get it cut off because your spit has acids in it, and it will eventually begin to eat away the skin on the thumb. Thus, amputation. I hope this helps!
Reply:dip her thumb in hot sauce everyday i don't think she will be sucking her thumb anymore.........unless she wipes it off or washes it.
Reply:Try big ole bulky gloves, sounds silly but she want be able to suck on her thumb. Just make sure that she cant get them off. Good luck
Reply:My brother had tusi problem also so we went to a dentist and he out in a thing on the roof of your mouth that did not allow your thumb to go in so that made him stop and hes never done it since and now hes 9 so for two years Good luck i would suggest going to the dentist
Reply:Sounds like you have tried my suggestions already. We use to put nasty stuff on my little sisters thumbs like you did. We also use to tell them nobody is going to want to hold their hands, big girls don't suck their finger, and anytime we saw them we'd yank it out. They eventually stopped.
Reply:There shouldn't be a punishment or a reward for her thumb sucking. She's doing it because she's insecure. It's not her fault, therefore she shouldn't be punished or rewarded for it.





Don't bring up the thumbsucking. Just sit down with her and ask her "is there anything bothering you or something you'd like to talk about?" Figure out what she's insecure about, and go from there. Once she feels secure, she'll stop sucking her thumb.
Reply:Well, I am going to go in a different direction. Take her to a dentist - she is old enough to understand and kids tend to really listen to a doctor, tend to ignore Mom %26amp; Dad. Pediatric Dentists have so many different things now. Good luck!
Reply:If the traditional methods haven't worked you may just have to wait until her peers make such fun of her for still being a baby that she'll stop on her own.





If it is a security thing, see if you can find something to replace the thumb sucking - a worry stone, bangle bracelet, whatever.
Reply:the dentist can install a sort of extra tooth retainer in the child's mouth to discourage it it worked for my friends little girl it was like shed bite her thumb if she sucked on it with it in go see the dentist not the Dr
Reply:I sucked my thumb till I was in 4th grade. But it was to go to sleep at that point-not all the time. I really needed braces because of it so my mom put a "cage" in my mouth. Some kind of pronged orthodonic thing. They probly dont use them anymore. But it worked. I only got half of my thumb in my mouth! and then I gave up. I also had a blanket and grew out of the thumb and went to the blanket.
Reply:she didn't use a pacifer while being a baby right?





Ask your dentist there's a teeth device that prevents kids from getting their thumbs on their mouth.
Reply:It is NATURAL for a child to loose their baby teeth baby teeth aren't permanent, she will be loosing ALL of them eventually. As for the formation of her mouth, that is caused by GENTICS not her thumb sucking. Leave her alone and let her have her security.
Reply:I think going online and looking up images of teeth that have grown in crookedly and show her that if she cant stop then her teeth will look as bad as the pictures. good luck!
Reply:When i was little I sucked my thumb until I was 10, and I would have kept going but my parents put this "thumb paint" on it. You can buy it but I don't know the specific name. Its called thumb paint though
Reply:My sister in law has a teenager that still sucks her thumb at night. She was taken to the dentist and he gave her a special mouth guard to wear that make it impossible to do. Over time hopefully it will break the habit.



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