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I'm looking for suggestions on how to help my child stop sucking his thumb. He is four so understands that he shouldn't but says it makes him feel better. I've tried switching him to another comfort item but that hasn't worked. I have tried everything I can think of and nothing has worked. He'll stop for a day or two but then go right back to it.  
 
What has worked for you and your children?

It’s something he must decide to stop doing. I have a friend whose 9 year old still sucks her thumb on occasion. They tried everything. It is slowly decreasing as she is older and more aware of it.

I agree that there may not be a lot you can do, and just wait it out. Is there a particular reason why you want him to stop right now instead of letting him quit in his own time?  
 
I imagine it's harder than with pacifiers, because at least with pacifiers you can outright take them away if needed (which I've never really have had to do, but it's a possibility at least). Of our 5 kids, 4 have taken pacifiers at some point and 3 have stopped of their own volition (usually abruptly).  
 
With the one who didn't stop on his own, we gradually lost them (and I simply stopped replacing them as he misplaced them) and it was a case of "oh, well, they're lost, let's do XXX instead". Redirected them, in other words. I weaned toddlers from nursing by redirection too. Could something like that work? It's work on your part, because as the parent you need to keep on top of it, but at age 4 they're still pretty young to follow through on something like that when it's not their idea.  
 
You said you tried switching him to another comfort item, but how did you do that? Did you hand it to him here once and expect him to use it instead? At that age, you would probably need to hand him the comfort item each and every time for several weeks, if not months, and still I would still expect him to "sneak" in some thumb sucking in private.  
 
Or you could try restricting thumb sucking to just certain situations, such as bed time, in bed, once the lights are off for example. I know when I reach a certain point in the weaning process from nursing, we will only nurse at home (i.e. not outside of the house), then only in a certain chair, then only at wake up and go to sleep times, etc. It restricts the time where that activity is "allowed", and enables the child time to find new strategies for comforting that work outside of the allot time/place without completely making them quit cold turkey.  
 
You could also try bribing. If he goes XX amount of days without you catching him thumb sucking, he gets some sort of reward. I would start with maybe 3 days if you say he will go a day or two now. Gradually extend the time to earn the reward.  
 
Hopefully some of those suggestions are helpful.

Abbysmum said "I agree that there may not be a lot you can do, and just wait it out. Is there a particular reason why you want him to stop right now instead of letting him quit in his own time?     I imagine it's harder than with pacifiers, because at least with pacifiers you can outright take them away if needed (which I've never really have had to do, but it's a possibility at least). Of our 5 kids, 4 have taken pacifiers at some point and 3 have stopped of their own volition (usually abruptly).     With the one who didn't stop on his own, we gradually lost them (and I simply stopped replacing them as he misplaced them) and it was a case of "oh, well, they're lost, let's do XXX instead". Redirected them, in other words. I weaned toddlers from nursing by redirection too. Could something like that work? It's work on your part, because as the parent you need to keep on top of it, but at age 4 they're still pretty young to follow through on something like that when it's not their idea.     You said you tried switching him to another comfort item, but how did you do that? Did you hand it to him here once and expect him to use it instead? At that age, you would probably need to hand him the comfort item each and every time for several weeks, if not months, and still I would still expect him to "sneak" in some thumb sucking in private.     Or you could try restricting thumb sucking to just certain situations, such as bed time, in bed, once the lights are off for example. I know when I reach a certain point in the weaning process from nursing, we will only nurse at home (i.e. not outside of the house), then only in a certain chair, then only at wake up and go to sleep times, etc. It restricts the time where that activity is "allowed", and enables the child time to find new strategies for comforting that work outside of the allot time/place without completely making them quit cold turkey.     You could also try bribing. If he goes XX amount of days without you catching him thumb sucking, he gets some sort of reward. I would start with maybe 3 days if you say he will go a day or two now. Gradually extend the time to earn the reward.     Hopefully some of those suggestions are helpful. "

I'm a little concerned about his teeth, as I've heard horror stories about permanent damage to teeth from thumb sucking. I'd also like him to have a "better" coping mechanism/comfort thing, especially for when he starts school. Other kids can be mean enough and he's pretty sensitive so I don't want to give others more ammunition to make fun of him.  
 
Thank you for the suggestions.  
 
We have been working on weaning it down. He always sucks his thumb when falling asleep or when watching tv (which isn't often). He will sometimes do it other times when his hands aren't occupied with other things, but it isn't often at all, so it is less often than it used to be.  
 
I tried switching him to something else, making it super special and bringing it in consistently: now he just uses both. He has a stuffed dog that he plays with the ears on. My theory was that as he gets older, it could transfer to just playing with fabric, so the edge of his t-shirt, sweater, etc.  
 
The times we've went a few days without any thumb sucking, something "traumatic" has happened to bring it back - being sick, a broken toy, etc.  
 
Thanks for the suggestions though. I'll definitely keep working at helping him and incorporating some of your ideas.

Not sure about nowadays, but back in the day my teacher used to put castor oil on the fingers of those who sucked thumbs still.

Not sure about nowadays, but back in the day my teacher used to put castor oil on the fingers of those who sucked thumbs still.

He’s 4. It’s a comfort thing. I sucked my thumb til I was 8. That’s when my mom took my favourite stuffed cat away from me.

be nice to have it broken by the time he goes to school. but chances are he will not do it at school anyway as he knows it would as seen as .....  
ask your local school teachers, kindergarden and grade 1 to see how many still do it in class.  
 
there used to be some really bad tasting "nail paint"you can paint on the kids finger and thumb nails, tasted foul might be a prescription as I have not seen it on the shelves,  
 
ask a docter.  
 
I'll bet the doc and the teacher say, "he's only 4 let him be.

JustUs said "    Abbysmum said "I agree that there may not be a lot you can do, and just wait it out. Is there a particular reason why you want him to stop right now instead of letting him quit in his own time?     I imagine it's harder than with pacifiers, because at least with pacifiers you can outright take them away if needed (which I've never really have had to do, but it's a possibility at least). Of our 5 kids, 4 have taken pacifiers at some point and 3 have stopped of their own volition (usually abruptly).     With the one who didn't stop on his own, we gradually lost them (and I simply stopped replacing them as he misplaced them) and it was a case of "oh, well, they're lost, let's do XXX instead". Redirected them, in other words. I weaned toddlers from nursing by redirection too. Could something like that work? It's work on your part, because as the parent you need to keep on top of it, but at age 4 they're still pretty young to follow through on something like that when it's not their idea.     You said you tried switching him to another comfort item, but how did you do that? Did you hand it to him here once and expect him to use it instead? At that age, you would probably need to hand him the comfort item each and every time for several weeks, if not months, and still I would still expect him to "sneak" in some thumb sucking in private.     Or you could try restricting thumb sucking to just certain situations, such as bed time, in bed, once the lights are off for example. I know when I reach a certain point in the weaning process from nursing, we will only nurse at home (i.e. not outside of the house), then only in a certain chair, then only at wake up and go to sleep times, etc. It restricts the time where that activity is "allowed", and enables the child time to find new strategies for comforting that work outside of the allot time/place without completely making them quit cold turkey.     You could also try bribing. If he goes XX amount of days without you catching him thumb sucking, he gets some sort of reward. I would start with maybe 3 days if you say he will go a day or two now. Gradually extend the time to earn the reward.     Hopefully some of those suggestions are helpful. " I'm a little concerned about his teeth, as I've heard horror stories about permanent damage to teeth from thumb sucking. I'd also like him to have a "better" coping mechanism/comfort thing, especially for when he starts school. Other kids can be mean enough and he's pretty sensitive so I don't want to give others more ammunition to make fun of him.     Thank you for the suggestions.     We have been working on weaning it down. He always sucks his thumb when falling asleep or when watching tv (which isn't often). He will sometimes do it other times when his hands aren't occupied with other things, but it isn't often at all, so it is less often than it used to be.     I tried switching him to something else, making it super special and bringing it in consistently: now he just uses both. He has a stuffed dog that he plays with the ears on. My theory was that as he gets older, it could transfer to just playing with fabric, so the edge of his t-shirt, sweater, etc.     The times we've went a few days without any thumb sucking, something "traumatic" has happened to bring it back - being sick, a broken toy, etc.     Thanks for the suggestions though. I'll definitely keep working at helping him and incorporating some of your ideas. "

Aw, it sounds like you're doing ok then. Unless the dentist is saying something I wouldn't worry too much about his teeth. It sounds like the activity is self-limiting and he's not doing it 24/7. I would worry then.  
 
As fopr transitioning to the dog, that's actually fantastic that he's using both. It's the first part of the process. And I would expect him to have setbacks if he's having a bad day. It's a process, after all.  
 
I would worry too about him gertting teased, so good for getting the ball rolling on learning different strategies. But know too, as cruel as it seems, that sometimes peer pressure is the only thing that will nip a habit like this is the bud.  
 
Good luck!

We used mini gloves at bedtime and bribed with candy in the morning if he kept his gloves on all night. Bribe him with something he loves so he will be motivated to keep the gloves on. Don’t chastise him if he fails, just withhold the reward. Also you could tell him that the dentist wants him to stop sucking his thumb—the dentist was a good motivator for our son. Luckily our little guy wasn’t able to put his gloves back on by himself so it was obvious to us if he took them off overnight. After a couple mornings without candy he became very determined to keep the gloves on and he proudly showed us each morning. It might be tougher at 4 years old because he will be able to get the gloves on and off without help. Maybe check on him after he falls asleep to see if the gloves are still on? We also promised a bigger reward if he didn’t suck his thumb for a whole month.

We also used mini gloves or even better was the bike gloves, where your fingers stick out. We told our son he was cool and looked all grown up, when he wore them. It took us a long time afterwards, to get him not to wear the gloves, lol! The cloth comes up high enough on the thumb, that it will deter him.  
 
Good Luck

My son was a major thumb sucker, he has since broken from it, so we thought. He is 9 now and wakes up in the morning and tells me he sucked his thumb at night. I have never seen it but he must he gets a sore cracked thumb from it. We have started to wrap a bandaid around that thumb and he also asks for it, in those nights it seams to work so we will stick with that.

I did it until I was 12, my son about 10-11. He wanted to stop and so I didn’t put pressure on him. I didn’t want it to become an “issue”. He only did it in our home and only when he was really upset or sleeping. When he said he wanted to stop, I just said “okay” and asked what he wanted to start with. Every few days I’d ask how it was going, as he said he wanted to try himself first, and then he started talking more about it and how it went the night before. He stopped on his own. Now... chewing nails. That’s one I’d like to get him to stop doing! Lol

My oldest daughter was a thumb sucker. We painted a product called ‘Stop ‘n’ Grow’ on her nails. It tastes absolutely disgusting. She wanted to stop sucking her thumb, I forget how old she was and she asked me to buy some (we had talked about it a little while before that). I got some and we had it for ages before she would let me put it on her nails. She would say in the morning that she wanted to put it on that day, but as the day went on and got closer to bed time, she always changed her mind and would say ‘maybe tomorrow’. Once she decided she would let me paint it on, I only had to apply it once. She hasn’t sucked her thumb since. My youngest is a soother sucker. She is now two and a half. I have a feeling that stopping that is going to be much harder than stopping a thumb sucker. We have managed to convince her that the dentist said she could only have it for nap and bedtime. Now I am trying to tell her that she needs to give her ‘plug’ to the tooth fairy so she can take it and give it to a baby, but she’s having none of it lol.

Drop on the thumb and that will fix them.

It's very good that you're being proactive. But don't get too worried at age 4. The habit has to be extremely severe for it to cause issues at that age. If he were past age 6 or 7 and still doing it frequently I'd be more concerned.  
Pediatric Dentists suggest that the best success is seen when the child wants to quit.  
There are also reminder techniques that have been mentioned already: ie putting a band aid on his thumb or a piece of tape. I've also heard of people putting a drop of tabasco under the bandaid too.  
Last resort, if he gets older and nothing else has been successful, I can give you the name of dentists in the area who can make an appliance that prevents thumbsucking

I used to suck my thumb a lot. This continued until one day, I noticed my younger sister had a blister on her finger from doing the same thing. I was horrified that this would happen to me, so I quit right then & there. Unfortunately, by this time I had already developed "buck" teeth from this bad habit. I was always aware of this & didn't smile much in pics. Please try anything you can think of to stop this.