My kid sucks his thumb & he's 3 ! how can i stop him?

Question

he is 3 years old and after a month he will be going to school !! i dont want him sucking his thumb there! i've been teaching, supervising, and managing the kgs section at school for 10 years now, and kids this old do not suck there thumb !!

ps. ive tried a bitter spray ...it doesnt affect him !

Answer 1

Try more love, hugs and attention and WAY LESS judgement.   Even a 3 year old knows when his mother/father is judging them as s******g up.  The difference is the 3 year old doesn't differentiate between doing wrong and being wrong.   Try rewarding him for periods when he doesn't suck his thumb and give him hugs and distraction when he sucks his thumb.   get him doing something that requires two hands.

Talk to him about the fact that you love him whether he sucks his thumb or not.   Let him know that most of the other kids at school won't suck their thumbs and if they say anything rude, to talk to you about it.   Be supportive if he does have trouble, but chances are he'll only be teased once before giving up the thumb, at least at school.

Answer 2

put spices on her thumb  every   morning and she'll see              its spicy and she wont suck it again just put the spices every morning and it will be fine good luck

Answer 3

Don't worry about it until he is about 6 years old.  Talk to your doctor.  He is only trying to comfort himself.  

Answer 4

Don't worry about it- he will stop sucking it when he is ready- it is not a big deal. He will grow out of it

Answer 5

i don't see the big deal it a confront for him

Answer 6

This might not be what u want to do but my dad told me that if I kept sucking my thumb it will fall off I never sucked it again.

Answer 7

put hot sauce on his tongue

Answer 8

every time you caught him doing it, take the thumb out of his mouth....

keep doing it until he learn his lesson....

Answer 9

Just let him grow out of it. He will eventually. There definitely is other kids his age who do it because I have a 3 1/2 year old little sis who does and I did till I was five. I've known kids who did until they were like nine.  

Answer 10

My sister is 10, and she is still suckinq on a pacifier. We have tried so many time to qet her to stop. We threw away most of her pacifiers, but she just diqs them riqht out of the trash, and starts to suck on it aqain. There really is nothinq you can do. Your son will just have to learn that he's a biq boy now, and he needs to stop.

Tell him "Your friends don't suck their thumbs anymore." Maybe he'll stop. I don't know, but maybe it's a mental issue. Because my little sister (10) also wets the bed. I heard someone can wet the bed until they are 15.. maybe its that way with suckinq of thumbs too.

Hope I helped some.!

Answer 11

Aw my daughter sucks her fingers and she has been going to a nursery for a year now, she is 3. Why is it so important for him to stop?

If it comforts him then it will be a real help for him when he starts nursery

Answer 12

My mother told me that I used to suck my thumb just to soothe myself. I stopped at age 4. Maybe your son sucks this thumb to calm himself. It's not really a big deal until a certain age.