Sucking thumb raw

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My son is a habitual thumb sucker, he's only two so it doesn't worry me or anything, actually I like that he uses it to sooth himself. When he gets upset he often uses it to calm down instead of crying, I think it's great. The problem is he does it so much that the skin is coming off and I'm worried he will get an infection or something. I don't know if it's hurting him or not, he can't express pain to me. I tried a bandwidth but he got it off in 20 seconds. I was looking for something to protect his thumb, but all I could find were devices made to stop thumb sucking. I don't want to take this away from him, I just want to make it so that he could do it without hurting himself. Any ideas?

Well, you could try putting the thumb from a small neoprene rubber glove over his thumb, and letting him suck that way, but that means ruining a pair of gloves. Do not use latex gloves for this. Some people are allergic to latex, or can become allergic to it later on. Another idea would be to use a pacifier. You could keep it pinned onto his shirts with a cord or ribbon, so he wouldn't drop or loose it. Discuss this in a nice way with him. I think at two he is old enough to understand why he should give his thumb a holiday, and use the pacifier instead.

I would not worry about him wanting to suck something at his age, or trying to get him to stop against his will. Most kids will stop on their own eventually. I stopped when I was about 5 and was in kindergarten. I had already cut down a lot, but once I was in kindergarten my feeling was that "big kids don't suck their thumbs", so I stopped doing it at school, and eventually quit entirely.--Besides, I didn't want to give the other kids any more reasons to pick on me. They already had more than enough.

Unfortunately I can't have discussions with him, he has severely delayed receptive language and can't speak either. He's limited to understanding some words for objects. Poor guy still doesn't know what the word daddy means. The glove is a great idea, although I'm a little worried about him choking on it. Maybe I could find some way to make sure it stays in, because a kind of protector is exactly what I'm looking for. We tried a pacifier but he has never wanted one, he just takes it and puts it in my mouth instead, it's really funny.

Most children who suck their thumb as they get older and their teeth mature develop a callous. Just look up pics for thumbsucker's callous. So part of it may be just letting the body do its normal job.

If you are looking for a replacement to the thumbsucking behavior as your child ages, maybe he would like Chewelry, Chewy tubes, or chewies for children with special needs.

Last edited by Eureka-C on 26 Jun 2012, 8:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Thanks for letting me know, a callous would be great! I hope it happens for him soon.

You are exactly right! My 3 yo used to suck his thumb raw but now has callous. What I used to do dometime is if it's really bad, I put the cream I use on his ecema on it (his dermatologist gave me that idea). I would put it on when he fell asleep and his thumb fell out of his mouth. Sometimes I would also put some antibiotic ointment on it. He never cared for a paci or any other substitute. I am hoping he outgrows the habbit before his permanent teeth comes in.

You could start to teach him the reasons to quit. Thumb sucking not only affects the thumb but also can affect teeth, gums and even speach. There is a fun product that teaches children in a fun and positive way to stop thumb sucking and it comes with a story book and matching thumb puppet. Kids love it and they can even go to bed with it on. Here is the info: It is called Thumbuddy To Love....just google it. It is better than paying for braces or apparatuses.