Tips on Ending the Habit of Thumbsucking from One Parent's Perspective

Thumbsucking is a natural habit often begun while a child is still in the mother's womb. It is a form of pacification or comfort to a baby or child. It is also a very difficult habit to break.

I know this from personal experience. My son sucked his thumb until he was three years old. And truthfully, it seemed to bother other people more than it did me. Oh, sure, I heard all the warnings about how it would ruin his teeth. My mother-in-law was constantly chiding about how he would end up with buck teeth. And even his dentist agreed that thumbsucking was not good for his teeth. However, he did add that the way he sucked his thumb could have more of an effect on his teeth than the actual habit itself. He explained that where the thumb was placed in the mouth was the major factor in how much damage was being done to the teeth. If he was pushing hard against his front teeth, then he was likely causing damage to his teeth. So, to pacify everyone and to keep my status as a "good mother", I went along with most of the various ideas to try to ween my son from his thumbsucking habit.

We tried to switch his interest to a pacifier, but he was already old enough to know the difference. He would simply throw it away and replace it with his thumb. So, the first cardinal rule is if you don't want your child to suck his thumb, begin early replacing the thumb with a pacifier. Everytime you see him with his thumb in his mouth, gently replace it with a pacifier. And be consistent. Don't let him suck his thumb sometimes and the pacifier at other times. He needs to learn early that the pacifier is the one he wants. Many people may think this is just trading one bad habit for another, but believe me, it's much easier to break a child from a pacifier. After all, you can throw the pacifier away. The thumb is his constant companion, there for him, anytime and anyplace. And if you could have seen my little boy's thumb, you would have realized how true this is. His thumb stayed wrinkled and pale.

Since the pacifier wouldn't work, we decided to try some of the various foul tasting medicines and remedies supposed to end the thumbsucking habit. They didn't work. My son would simply make a face and continue sucking his thumb. My Mom recommended putting castor oil on it. It didn't work either.

My next step was bribery. I did the classic "If you don't suck your thumb, you can have a popsicle or a sucker" bribe. It worked great. That is, it did until the sucker or ice cream was gone. But I kept trying. My next form of bribery didn't seem to work much better. I would promise him that if he didn't suck his thumb for an hour, we would go to the park or play a game. I have to give him credit; he would try, but he could not hold out that long.

We went through so many different ideas and suggestions from friends and family that I was really beginning to get tired of hearing any more. I just wanted everyone to leave him, and me, alone. After all, he was just a baby. And it finally came to a head one day. We had left him with my mother-in-law for the weekend. When she brought him home on Sunday evening, I started out to help her get him and his things. The first thing I saw when I opened the door was his arm encased in solid white. My first thought was that he had broken his arm. Breathless, I ran to him. As he reached for me, I saw, with relief, that his arm was covered in a man's white tube sock. His grandmother had pinned it to his shirt at his shoulder in an attempt to stop him from sucking his thumb. I was so relieved that he was not hurt that it took a few minutes for the surprise to wear off. As I picked him up, he stuck his other thumb into his mouth. I began laughing as I hugged him.

That day I decided to stop worrying so much about his thumbsucking habit. I stopped quarrelling at him about it. When I would see him put his thumb in his mouth, I would try to come up with something for him to do that required both hands. We would build things with his building blocks or go outside and swing in a big boy swing where he had to hold on with both hands. He rode his tricycle or Big Wheel. Distracting him seemed to help a lot.

After a while the thumbsucking seemed to ease up. I would see him watching television sometimes with his thumb in his mouth. And I often went in to check on him during the night and his thumb would be resting gently against his lip.

He was three and a half when he quit thumbsucking. He did it on his own. We were in the vehicle on our way to an amusement park. He was riding in the middle, between his Dad and me. The older kids were in the backseat. My husband was smoking a cigarette and my daughter began complaining that she couldn't breathe. So my son chimed in and said, "Yeah, Dad, throw that old cigarette away!"

His Dad answered, "Well, I will quit smoking if you will quit sucking your thumb." My son agreed. And he did, cold turkey. I would see him sometimes sitting on the couch or in the car with his hand up to his mouth, his thumb just short of his lips. But he quit. His Dad, on the other hand, did not quit smoking.

So, as you can see, there is no easy solution to ending the thumbsucking habit. My best advice is to switch them to a pacifier early. And don't put it in their mouth every time they whimper. Begin to wean them from the pacifier as soon as possible. And at some stage, throw it away. Tell them the puppy dog ate it or the tooth fairy took it by mistake.

And oh, by the way, my son is all grown up now. His teeth are fine. In fact, his dentist remarked once that he had the most perfect teeth he had ever seen.