Advice on Night-time Finger Sucking

I would tell you not to do anything. Self soothing behaviour is usually not harmful, and trying to stop a child from doing something in their sleep in pretty much impossible. There has even been a big turn around in recent years regarding thumb sucking. Most pediatricians will tell you to just let it be. Why do you want her to stop? Maybe examining why you feel the way you do about it will help you come to some kind of acceptance for now, most kids grow out of it before age 5.

c.

I have two children, 15 and 11. My 15 year old sucked on a blanket, my 11 year old sucked her thumb, then on a pacifier. It is important that children can soothe themselves. Your child probably soothes herself back to sleep at night without you because she sucks on her fingers - a very valuable trait. I would encourage her not to suck all the time, and work towards her stopping in the next year or so.
The reason the dentist was concerned is that sucking on fingers can push the teeth out of alignment leading to the need for extensive orthodontia. I believe there is a balance between the child's need to soothe themselves, and their learning not to suck on something.

My daughter is also 3 and we did the pacifier until about 6 months (with all our children) thinking that would stop the need for any finger sucking - WRONG. if i could do it all again i'd at least let her have the pacifier til 12 months. then take it away. Now we battle with putting socks on her hands at night, which she inevitably removes, so we've resorted to taping them around the wrists so they can't be slipped off over the hand. (obviously not cutting off any blood flow!). It caused some resistance at first, but now (when we remember) we do that and really don't have a problem. Too bad we can't have socks (or gloves) on her hands all day! Good luck though - and if you find something definitive that works - Please SHARE!
K.

Deanna

I know it is very very hard to try to break your daughter from sucking her thumb but you have to try, try, and try again until it's over. My neice is now 7 and she STILL sucks her thumb. She has severe dental problems from it. Her jaw is not lined up correctly, her teeth don't connect because they grew around the thumb circle position, etc. She is going to have major orthondic work done in about 2 years (including breaking her jaw) all because of her thumb sucking. My brother and S-I-L have tried everything to help her stop. So trust me when I tell you that I know how hard it is. I think that they waited too long before they tried stopping her. You can try now, you still have time. I don't know to what extent your daughter sucks her thumb, and your case may not get as bad as my nieces but I just wanted to let you know what "could" happen. Good luck!

I was a finger sucker for YEARS! I so desperately wanted to get my ears pierced that my mom made the deal that i could get them pierced when I stopped sucking my fingers. I did stop, for the most part, sucked when I was sick or hurt.
I was lucky to not have any major ortho. problems except for some crowding which the dentist does not attribute to sucking my fingers for so many years.
I remember being little and my mom putting bad tasting stuff on my fingers (made for the purpose of getting finger suckers to stop) but I would wait til she went to sleep and then get up and wash my hands!]

Good luck!
R.