thumb sucking

[alexjsmommy]

my son sucks his thumb religiously its getting cracked and raw, does anyone know of anything to help heal it. his doctor suggested something that prevents him from sucking his thumb, but i dont think he needs to stop, he is only 16 mos old. thanks

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[princess_tonya]

Mar. 21, 2007 at 9:11 AM My daughter gets hers red and raw alot.  Her doctor told me to keep it covered in vaseline.  We do that and she doesn't mind it being there, she sucks away.  It takes a couple days and it heals.  I just put it on when it starts getting red again.  Good Luck

[kimberly2805]

Mar. 21, 2007 at 9:42 AM I'm  not  sure  how  to  stop  but  he's  still  young.  A  friend  of  mine's  little  boy  sucked  his  thumb  until  he  was  8  years  old.  Yes  8!  He  mainly  did  it  at  bedtime  after  the  age  of  4,  but  he  couldn't  go  to  any  sleep  overs  or  anything.  He  tried  at  the  age  of  6.  The  other  kids  mad  fun  of  him.  So  he  came  home  crying  and  that  was  that.  He  was  old  enough  to  understand  but  he  just  couldn't  stop.  I'm  not  sure  all  of  what  she  tried  but  eventually  it  started  to  affect  his  teeth  so  he  had  to  have  his  mouth  wired  shut.  I  know  that's  extreme/  I  don't  think  I  would  have  done  that  but  it  worked!  It  made  me  so  fearful  about  my  son  that's  why  I  let  him  have  the  binky  till  his  2nd  birthday  which  was  Feb.  8th.  We  cut  the  tip  off  and  had  a  couple  bad  nights.(  We  only  gave  it  to  him  at  naps  and  bedtime)  He's  OK  now.  Never  asks  for  it  .  My  friend  used  to  tell  me. " You  can  take  the  binky  away  but,  you  can't  take  his  thumb  away  "    She  is  a  good  mom  anyway! lol

[mominpark]

Mar. 21, 2007 at 9:49 AM Tell him if he keeps sucking it, its going to fall off. hahahahaha

[kariandersen]

Apr. 23, 2007 at 12:27 PM

Oh my goodness, I totally understand about thumb sucking.  My youngest sucked her thumb for 5 years and I got so desperate that I wrote Dr. Phil to see what to do and he invited us to be on his show as guests to discuss it!!!!

See us on the Dr. Phil website

But what he told us was to take away the power of the thumb and transfer it to something else.  etc.  I think that would have worked if she was 2 years old but it wasn't working when she was 5.

So I made a deal with Emma that when she lost her first tooth that the thumb sucking has to stop and we geared up for it for months.

She lost 2 teeth on the same day and so she knew.... she cried for about 3 hours before going to sleep that night.  I held her and we mourned the loss of her thumb together but she stopped!!!! 

Every once in a while she would forget but I would calmly just remove her thumb and give her a big hug.  She needed to know that she was going to be ok.