Thumb ****ing?

[daycarediva]

At 2?

dcb is CONSTANTLY, and I do mean CONSTANTLY ****ing his thumb. I have to remind him to take it out to eat, repeatedly.

Dcb is new (here 4 weeks) and the dcp's have said NOTHING to me about this. How do I bring it up without sounding like a jerk? I know he ****s it in front of his parents, Mom said to dcb "give me that thumb"/playfully and took it out of his mouth. He put the other one right back in and she did nothing. So I take from that it isn't a huge deal.

It drives me BONKERS! He drools while it's in there, and touches toys, and I am constantly having him wash his hands (more so than usual). He had a mild cold Monday, was out yesterday and sent home today, and now I have another dcb getting sick as well so GERMS are on every dcp's mind.

[Blackcat31]

I had a DCG a while back who had a thumb ****ing issue. The worst part was when she ****ed her thumb she also had the other hand busy down her pants. I posted here looking for ideas and/or suggestions to help her break this habit.

NannyDe had a wonderful suggestion (that not everyone agrees with) but worked fantastic for me and this dcg's mom who was just as troubled by the child's actions as I was.

She suggested mitted sweatshirts. The kids are perfectly capable of playing with the sweatshirt on and it helped her "remember" to not put her hands in her pants or her thumb in her month.

She didn't wear it ALL the time and honestly within a few weeks BOTH her habits were long gone.

Nan's mitted sweatshirts look like this:

[Country Kids]

What do you do though if a parent just wants the child to outgrow it? I have had a few like this who would rather have the child outgrow it and wanted them to be able to just **** whenever.

[daycarediva]

What do you do though if a parent just wants the child to outgrow it? I have had a few like this who would rather have the child outgrow it and wanted them to be able to just **** whenever.

That's my fear when approaching dcp. It is CHRONIC, ALWAYS, ALWAYS in his mouth. He puts it in there and chews food on the other side of his mouth, etc. He talks with it in there (very very hard to understand). It is also GROSS, he pulls his soaked thumb out, line of drool falls to the floor/table and then whatever he just touched is soaked. It's a very infant like behavior (imho) and I have never encountered a kid this bad at this age/now that I only take kids 2+.


I will ask about the mitted sweater if dcm is open to working on the issue. I don't even know how to approach it. dcb naps with his thumb in his mouth the entire time he sleeps, and leaves a pile of saliva on his pillow. icky.

[Country Kids]

One of mine is 4 and does it. I do understand as all of my own were thumb ****ers but not constantly. We have an ultrasound picture of one of ours thumb****ing in the womb so it does start very, very early.

Also, mine didn't get everything slobbery wet and wipe it on things.

[Blackcat31]

Here are some other threads about thumb ****ers

https://www.daycare.com/forum/tags.php?tag=****ing+thumb