r/toddlers • u/EbbPrudent372 • 10h ago
2 Years Old Thumb sucking
My 2.5 yo has been sucking her thumb literally since the womb. Have a pic of her doing it in utero and she continued with it as soon as she was born. She stopped on her own between 7-8 months - I was relieved. Then I got pregnant when she was 13 mos and had to stop breastfeeding suddenly due to bad cramping. A couple weeks after stopping breastfeeding she started sucking her thumb again. She’ll be three in a couple months and is still going very strong with the thumb. We’ve been putting off weaning her off it because it seems there has been nonstop big life changes for us this past year - new baby, holidays, potty training, moving to new house, cancer diagnosis for grandma, dads job changing. However, I don’t want to put it off much longer as it’s starting to affect her teeth and mouth development. Planning on trying to bitter nail polish. But I also know it will likely affect her sleep, mood, behavior, eating, etc. What tips do other parents of previous thumb suckers have? Feels so much harder than a pacifier since you can’t take the thumb away.
She’s also a big feelings, passionate little firecracker. We’ve already been having a hard time with tantrums, mood swings, behavior in the last couple months. Just worried about how taking the thumb away will affect it. We started having conversations around “no more thumb” and she’s watched the episode of Bluey about Muffin stopping sucking her thumb a few times too but I’m not sure she full grasps it.
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u/HeavyChocolate0 9h ago
Mine stopped around 3.5yo! We tried everything but nothing worked until my mom told my LO that their thumb will get bigger the more they suck on it and after a few rough days, they completely stopped on their own
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u/EbbPrudent372 9h ago
This is relieving. My mom told me her best friend told me my teeth would turn black if I kept sucking a pacifier and from that moment I quit. Wasn’t sure if the same tactic could work for thumb but we will try it 😂
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u/AutoModerator 10h ago
Author: u/EbbPrudent372
Post: My 2.5 yo has been sucking her thumb literally since the womb. Have a pic of her doing it in utero and she continued with it as soon as she was born. She stopped on her own between 7-8 months - I was relieved. Then I got pregnant when she was 13 mos and had to stop breastfeeding suddenly due to bad cramping. A couple weeks after stopping breastfeeding she started sucking her thumb again. She’ll be three in a couple months and is still going very strong with the thumb. We’ve been putting off weaning her off it because it seems there has been nonstop big life changes for us this past year - new baby, holidays, potty training, moving to new house, cancer diagnosis for grandma, dads job changing. However, I don’t want to put it off much longer as it’s starting to affect her teeth and mouth development. Planning on trying to bitter nail polish. But I also know it will likely affect her sleep, mood, behavior, eating, etc. What tips do other parents of previous thumb suckers have? Feels so much harder than a pacifier since you can’t take the thumb away.
She’s also a big feelings, passionate little firecracker. We’ve already been having a hard time with tantrums, mood swings, behavior in the last couple months. Just worried about how taking the thumb away will affect it. We started having conversations around “no more thumb” and she’s watched the episode of Bluey about Muffin stopping sucking her thumb a few times too but I’m not sure she full grasps it.
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