5 year old dd won't stop sucking her fingers

[Beaniemom]

My dd just turned 5. Since before birth she has sucked on the 2 middle fingers on her left hand. Doctors, friends, dentists all assured us she would out grow this habit but it has only gotten worse. What was a soothing habit has developed into a constant behavior and has evolv d into putting her hair in her mouth as well. Dd will take her fingers out if instructed but 2 seconds later they are back in her mouth. She has callouses on her fingers from this. Doctor and dentist still aren't concerned and are no help.

We are currently trying medical tape on her fingers which is slightly harder for her to remove than band-aids. She is an otherwise typically developed child but dh and I are worried about future consequences of this continued habit. Any suggestions from The Hive?

[Zydruna]

Maybe see if you could transition her to using the types of "chewies" that you can find for kids with SPD?  Like these:

 

http://www.therapyshoppe.com/category/1088-chewies-chewy-jewelry-autism-chews-sensory-oral-motor-tools

 

[AK_Mom4]

Would she be interested in taking a bribe?   When breaking a habit with little kids, it helps if you can get them motivated towards wanting to change (I guess that applies to adults too!)

 

I would offer something totally amazing for a 5yo as a bribe and then make it easy for her to "win".  For example, every time she remembers on her own to take her fingers out of her mouth, she gets a Big Star.  Getting thru a read-aloud session without fingers means a Big Star.  Five Big Stars mean some cool reward.

 

This is how we broke DS23 from chewing on fingers (and shirts!) when he was younger.  Amazing what that kid would do for a new baseball glove!

[Piper]

I sucked my finger until I was five...I remember having a callus on the back of my pinkie.  I stopped when I went to kindergarten and noticed that no-one else was doing it.  Positive peer pressure!

 

Both my kiddos were thumb/finger suckers, and it was starting to affect their teeth.  For both of them, at around age 4, the use of the "Thumbbuster" glove (it's on Amazon) along with an appropriate reward strategy, worked miracles.  They both quit within about six weeks of starting this.  Your idea of using medical tape is the same principle; I'd tie it to a sticker chart and some favorite toy(s) as a reward, or whatever motivates your dd.

[Muttichen]

When I wanted to break my kids of a habit like that, I put some m&m's in a jar in the morning.  Every time they did what I wanted them to stop doing, I ate one.  After dinner, they could have any that were left.  You wouldn't believe how quickly this worked on all kinds of habits.  So quickly that by the second or third day, I was wishing they'd do it so I could have an m&m!

[Tenaj]

My fourth son did this until about the same age.  We tried a variety of things but finally several things came together at the same time.  First we set a reward (I think it was a Lego set)  and combined that with duct tape around those two fingers . . . just a thin piece wrapped around each finger individually as a reminder.  It really didn't keep him from sucking but we emphasized the tape was there to remind him to not suck those fingers.  I also became a maniac about reminding him during the day.  We came up with a hand motion that I could do when I saw him absent-mindingly sucking so that he would be reminded without me needing to say anything and so that it wasn't obvious to everyone else.

I think the only reason it worked was that HE wanted to stop and that's why the reminders worked.  It only took about a week once we had all three of these parts in place.  I think we kept the tape on (replacing it - not the same pieces - LOL) for about two more weeks so that he wouldn't forget and regress.  

 

I'm also remembering now that he would wear a mitten to bed on that hand for a while.  I think the duct tape started because in his sleep he would take off the mitten and start sucking but the mitten stopped him from sucking while he went to sleep and then the duct tape was enough to remind him if the mitten came off. 

[Jasperstone]

I got my ds 2 to pick out the glove he wanted online. He was very excited when it arrived. We named it his Froggie- as it had frogs over it. :-D

 

My other dc made a big fuss at how special his gloves were etc... So he was super excited about wearing them. It only took 2 weeks for him to be over his thumb sucking

habit. It was a breeze, but only because of the gloves.

 

I'm sure they would have something similar for fingers. His Froggie only covered the thumb, and left the fingers free.

 

Check out ebay for products, as well.

[Beaniemom]

Maybe see if you could transition her to using the types of "chewies" that you can find for kids with SPD?  Like these:

 

http://www.therapyshoppe.com/category/1088-chewies-chewy-jewelry-autism-chews-sensory-oral-motor-tools

 

We have some of these from my ds who is a sensory seeker. Not as appetizing as her own fingers unfortunately. 

 

Would she be interested in taking a bribe?   When breaking a habit with little kids, it helps if you can get them motivated towards wanting to change (I guess that applies to adults too!)

 

I would offer something totally amazing for a 5yo as a bribe and then make it easy for her to "win".  For example, every time she remembers on her own to take her fingers out of her mouth, she gets a Big Star.  Getting thru a read-aloud session without fingers means a Big Star.  Five Big Stars mean some cool reward.

 

This is how we broke DS23 from chewing on fingers (and shirts!) when he was younger.  Amazing what that kid would do for a new baseball glove!

 

 

Alas even bribing with a big kid Lego set like her brother and sister did not work. We've also tried setting small times for her to try to keep her fingers out of her mouth such as "try to keep them out of your mouth during the video game car race" to no avail. 

 

I sucked my finger until I was five...I remember having a callus on the back of my pinkie.  I stopped when I went to kindergarten and noticed that no-one else was doing it.  Positive peer pressure!

 

Both my kiddos were thumb/finger suckers, and it was starting to affect their teeth.  For both of them, at around age 4, the use of the "Thumbbuster" glove (it's on Amazon) along with an appropriate reward strategy, worked miracles.  They both quit within about six weeks of starting this.  Your idea of using medical tape is the same principle; I'd tie it to a sticker chart and some favorite toy(s) as a reward, or whatever motivates your dd.

 

 

I got my ds 2 to pick out the glove he wanted online. He was very excited when it arrived. We named it his Froggie- as it had frogs over it. :-D

 

My other dc made a big fuss at how special his gloves were etc... So he was super excited about wearing them. It only took 2 weeks for him to be over his thumb sucking

habit. It was a breeze, but only because of the gloves.

 

I'm sure they would have something similar for fingers. His Froggie only covered the thumb, and left the fingers free.

 

Check out ebay for products, as well.

 

Peer pressure has not worked. It has actually increased during this year of pre-k. I think I am going to try the glove route. Not cheap but I feel better about it than irritating her skin with tape. 

[Shellydon]

A friend just had a dentist install an appliance for her 6 yo to stop finger sucking.

[Tree Frog]

My fourth son did this until about the same age.  We tried a variety of things but finally several things came together at the same time.  First we set a reward (I think it was a Lego set)  and combined that with duct tape around those two fingers . . . just a thin piece wrapped around each finger individually as a reminder.  It really didn't keep him from sucking but we emphasized the tape was there to remind him to not suck those fingers.  I also became a maniac about reminding him during the day.  We came up with a hand motion that I could do when I saw him absent-mindingly sucking so that he would be reminded without me needing to say anything and so that it wasn't obvious to everyone else.

 

I think the only reason it worked was that HE wanted to stop and that's why the reminders worked.  It only took about a week once we had all three of these parts in place.  I think we kept the tape on (replacing it - not the same pieces - LOL) for about two more weeks so that he wouldn't forget and regress.  

 

I'm also remembering now that he would wear a mitten to bed on that hand for a while.  I think the duct tape started because in his sleep he would take off the mitten and start sucking but the mitten stopped him from sucking while he went to sleep and then the duct tape was enough to remind him if the mitten came off. 

We did something similar with dd. We put a cotton glove on her hand and duct taped the cuff so it was tight enough to stay put. (The duct tape didn't touch her skin.) She wasn't able to suck because of the glove and it was uncomfortable to wear, so she stopped sucking her thumb.

[Reefgazer]

I sucked my thumb until I was about 12, DD is just about over it (she's 12) and DS (10) still sucks his thumb when he is tired or goes to sleep.  It's really unlikely she'll go to college as a thumb-sucker, so I wouldn't sweat it and I doubt it means she has any deep-seated psychological problems.  I'd let it go.  For a time, I offered DD a bribe if she sopped sucking her thumb for 30 days.  She did, got her reward, and promptly started up again.  Not worth the battle for a harmless habit (and before anyone tells me it's not harmless, our dentist told us that within 3 months of stopping sucking, teeth will settle into the position they would take without sucking).

My dd just turned 5. Since before birth she has sucked on the 2 middle fingers on her left hand. Doctors, friends, dentists all assured us she would out grow this habit but it has only gotten worse. What was a soothing habit has developed into a constant behavior and has evolv d into putting her hair in her mouth as well. Dd will take her fingers out if instructed but 2 seconds later they are back in her mouth. She has callouses on her fingers from this. Doctor and dentist still aren't concerned and are no help.
We are currently trying medical tape on her fingers which is slightly harder for her to remove than band-aids. She is an otherwise typically developed child but dh and I are worried about future consequences of this continued habit. Any suggestions from The Hive?

 

[MiMi 4under3]

Ds sucked his thumb till age 7, the age the pediatrician said he would stop. We never mentioned it to ds and seemingly overnight he stopped on his own.

 

One dd was a shirt biter. She would bite off buttons, embellishments, and gems from the front of her shirt leaving holes right in the front. Or she'd bite large holes in the cuffs and sleeves. She stopped on her own at about 7-8 years old.

 

But now she's taken to cutting the tags off of ALL her shirts and pants, leaving holes where the tags used to be. At least her hair covers the shirt holes, and her shirts cover the pant holes.  :laugh:

[wonderchica]

There are bitter flavored nail polishes that are supposed to help nail biters. I've known people who used them for thumb suckers as well. Me? Nothing stopped me (at night, anyway) until I got braces at 11 and they cut up my fingers. I needed braces due to the finger sucking. I would try my very hardest to get her to stop now.