Thumb Sucking in 2 1/2 Year Old

Nothing worked for my SD & she sucked her thumb until she was 10 but that's because she was very stubborn, trying to control her world which she had very little control over (her mom & dad divorced).
I'm sure your child will let it go very soon. He's still very young.
I would just it go at this age.
He will most likely not go as long as she did.
My husb tried everything & nothing worked.
I would let it go for now.
It's his coping, comfort mechanism.
I think the real trouble exists when they continue after their permanent teeth come in like she did.

stop stressing, mommy!
it's just a thumb. he'll quit sucking it by the time his grown up teeth come in.
there are way more important things.
:) khairete
S.

I asked my boys dentist what is the proper age to start bringing them in... 2 years old... I would be concerned just because thumb sucking is an emotional reaction and am told is very hard to stop and all it will bring is future dentist trips with retainers or braces... which inturn will put your child in pain and no parent wants their child to hurt. I wish I would have gone sooner as my 7 year old has already done the damage of thumb sucking.

DID NOT WORK!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Tons of money wasted.

My Hudini daughter got her thumb out no matter how I did it, and she managed to suck her thumb until she was 5. I went through the same thing as you are. At 2 we tried the polishes etc and she did the same thing. Then we tried the guard did not work.

What finally worked for us at 5, was we put the polish on and then we put socks on her hands (They have to be on tight or they take them off) If you put duck tape around the wrist so they can't slide off, but don't do it too tight that you cut off circulation. It is a fine balance there. The first 2 weeks were ROUGH!!!!! But it kicked her habit.

EDIT: For those that say don't stress about it, that irked me to no end when dealing with this. Each situation is different, but my daughter would suck her thumb so hard, she actually reshaped the roof of her mouth and if we didn't get her to stop she would have needed an implant to open her mouth again. It isn't just a thumb that doesn't cause problems. The problems are real that come with thumb sucking. We are still having issues with our daughters mouth and it wasn't just the dentist that was concerned, but her Dr. too.

I absolutely do NOT agree that it is "no big deal." I sucked my thumb until I was 7, did major damage, had braces from 8-16, and STILL have issues at age 48 that are all due to thumb sucking as a child. My teeth don't line up perfectly even with 8 years of braces so I grind my teeth at night. I ground my teeth way down and finally got a night guard, which helps, but still I have a slight case of TMJ and my teeth don't look right.

I have a 3.5 year old son who is in the process of ruining his mouth with thumb sucking. The dentist told us on Friday that he is actually malforming his jaw and, of course, is getting buck teeth. We have an appt scheduled next week with an orthodontist. There is an appliance that they can put in their mouth that ruins the feel of the thumb in there. . . it kind of pokes their thumb. Talk to your dentist and see if they think that your son needs to go to the orthodontist. Sorry, I don't buy into the "pyschological" aspects of letting them continue with thumb sucking. What about the far greater psychological aspects of having their appearance ruined for life?

I can't agree that it is not a big deal. His jaw is forming and being reshaped. My daughter sucker her fingers and she had a recessed jaw that was just awful from the side. From the front it wasn't too bad.

I would definitely take her to a pediatric dentist so they can start as soon as possible on fixing this issue. They may have some ideas or tools that would make the sucking undesirable too.

There is a clear nail polish called "No bite" by Orly it's around $6 you can put this on his thumb it tastes yucky or maybe a band-aid that tastes yucky too.