Finger Sucking

[3rdtimesacharm]

Happy Naptime, everyone!!
I sure do appreciate being able to bounce ideas and get advice from you all who get the day-to-day issue we have!! This forum is great!!
Anyways, I have another question today- I have a 16 month old who sucks his fingers. His index and middle fingers. Just like sucking a thumb, he does it walking around, sitting in his chair, on our walks, all the time!
I think it's very gross, especially when he has a cold and boogars and all over his face, then on his fingers, then all over my toys and his friends! Yuck!
Would you discourage this? And if so, how? I don't understand how to encourage a child to stop sucking their thumb, and at what age to start?
I had a little boy last year who graduated off to school and he was a finger in their mouth kind of kid as well, not as a comfort thing, but just always putting toys and fingers in his mouth! I was kind of happy to be done with that but here I am again!
I just don't know if I am being a little OCD about this or what?? What do you think?

[bright sparks]

I totally get this. I have a 26 mth old dcb who is exactly the same. I've been working on it since about 18 mths, primarily because everyone was having back to back colds and this wouldn't have helped at all. Honestly, I have seen a significant reduction and primarily because all day long I am constantly saying, "take your fingers out of your mouth" in a firm tone. At first it would have him upset, but now he just stops and skulks off to play.

[Crayola kiddies]

Yup keep saying " hands out of your mouth " then take him to wash and dry his hands .... Use a firm tone and keep on him because it's really not fair to the other kids to have to play with slobbery toys

[Lee-Bee]

When my daughter was just a few days old she found her thumb. I shoved a soother in and got her to forget about her thumb. My theory was I can make soothers disappear but her thumb will always be there. Very early on I limited soothers to the bed then I cut a slit in all the soothers and she called them broken and stopped liking them. Easily phased them out. The thumb takes a lot of patience and constant intervention by the adults. What are the parents thoughts? There is the bitter nail polish that can be used to break the habit but the parents would have to agree. Otherwise break the habit by interrupting and making him go wash his hands, over and over and over!.

[mickyc]

Unfortunately it is a very hard habit to break. I have one family whose almost 6 year old still sucks her thumb. Everything has been tried and she just learned to hide it!

[Suzie_Homemaker]

It horrible habit and I always tell child to take out of mouth. Very small child, I would gentle pull fingers away from mouth. It might not be totally broke habit if not being correct at home but it normally enough to make sure child removes finger, during time here.

[kindertime]

There is the bitter nail polish that can be used to break the habit but the parents would have to agree.

There was a story not too long ago on the news about this, I think. Couldn't find it just now, but I think it was kids being poisoned by something like this. I could be wrong about the cause, but was it for nail biting/finger sucking? Not sure but I think I'd stay away from this kind of thing anyway. Do you really know what's in that stuff?

[bright sparks]

There was a story not too long ago on the news about this, I think. Couldn't find it just now, but I think it was kids being poisoned by something like this. I could be wrong about the cause, but was it for nail biting/finger sucking? Not sure but I think I'd stay away from this kind of thing anyway. Do you really know what's in that stuff?

I think it might have been hand sanitizer, or at least I recall hand sanitizer being bad because of hands in mouths and it being in the media.

[kindertime]

Okay, thanks, I knew there was some story recently about something fingers-in-mouth related.

[Busy ECE mommy]

I put cotton gloves on my own child previously.