CutiePatootie

My 13 year old STILL sucks his thumb... we've tried hot sauce, that nail-polish style stuff, discipline... nothing is stopping him. What would you do?

times4

I wish I had the answer. I sucked my finger (not thumb) until I was about 11, but since I understood the social stigma of it, I only did it in private, mostly when I was going to bed. I still get a twinge in that finger at times as if it wants to go to my mouth! I have a girlfriend who is 30 and she sucks her thumb in front of me and some other close friends. I think being a boy, and being as old as he is, he will have to fight that demon on his own - you won't be able to stop it for him. Social stigma will probably send his thumb sucking underground until he no longer feels he needs it as a crutch. At least that's how it was for me.

M&M

Yep, I was 12 when I quit, and that's what it was for me. I just had to decide that *I* was going to quit, and then I did!

I guess social stigma doesn't do it for everyone, either, though... we were at a museum last spring and there was a teenager sitting by the wall in one hallway thumbsucking. So, who knows?

cameron

My best friend just told me last night she sucked hers until she was 14. Her husband right beside her looked at her and said "you never stopped, you were keeping me up last night sucking on it!" She said the same thing though that she stopped about 14 but subconsciously sometimes it still happens.

Youngster

I sucked my thumb also, until I was about 14. I would only suck it at home and in my bed when my old ripped out blankie was convenient. Sucking my thumb until my late ages was a coping thing for me because my parents got a divorce when I was 5. I read up on it because my brother is 25 and still sucking his thumb before bed. All it took for my to quit was reading about all the germs that could be on your hands. It was simply a turnoff.