How do I break my thumb sucking habit?!

I specialize in Thumb Sucking Therapy. I am a Certified Orofacial Myologist. I am also a past President of The International Association of Orofacial Myology. If you are ready to stop sucking, you need to work to make certain that your lips rest closed and that your tongue rests on the roof of your mouth so that first, there is no space for you to have your thumb in your mouth and second, so that you are allowing your body to calm itself by releasing serotonin each time you swallow using the pressure of your tongue into your palate.It also helps if you have someone you can report to each day. My patients all stop sucking on the first day! There are Certified Orofacial Myologists around the country who can help you.

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The chances are fifty-fifty that a natural thumb-sucker will quit on his own before he is five years old. Most children quit before they reach their eighth birthday.

1. The first measure in dealing with excessive thumb-sucking is to pacify the natural sucking response. Give a child more sucking time. Fix the bottle with a slow-flowing nipple if the child is at the bottle stage. A pacifier may also satisfy that sucking need. Fewer of the babies who use pacifiers for the first few months of life become thumb-suckers. Furthermore, those who become dependent on the pacifier tend to give it up sooner than the thumb-sucking children give up the thumb-sucking.
2. Refrain from fussing at, ridiculing, or making any negative comments about thumb-sucking as it would only add to child's tension and shame and may induce more thumb-sucking. Advise visitors, friends, and relatives to ignore it, in case they choose to comment on it.
3. Do not reward thumb-sucking unwittingly. Avoid touching, hugging or patting the child during the act of thumb-sucking. However, when child stops sucking the thumb, it's a good time to touch and hug and express your love.
4. Thumb- sucking is an automatic behavior. Break the automatic part of the habit by helping the child to become fully aware of the act of the thumb-sucking. Have him look at himself in the mirror while thumb-sucking. Ask him to describe how the thumb feels in the mouth and how the lips and mouth feel. Ask him to describe how the thumb looks immediately after the thumb- sucking.
5. Teach the child a technique of relaxation. You can use deep breathing relaxation or ask the child to make a tight fist with both hands, tensing entire arms right up to shoulder and then releasing them with a relaxing sigh. When the child gets an urge to suck his thumb, he may instead practice the relaxation technique.
6. Choose specific place/s and times when child may suck his thumb. Contract with the child to suck his thumb for a specific length of time. Use a kitchen timer to indicate that the time for thumb-sucking is over. Gradually reduce it every day by 10%. Suppose you made a plan for John to suck his thumb five times a day for 60 seconds each time. Make it 54 seconds for the next day, 48 seconds the following day, then 42 seconds, and each following day, go on reducing the length accordingly. Set the kitchen timer each time. Be there to supervise the entire operation and as the child stops thumb-sucking at the sound of the kitchen timer buzzer, reward him by praise, a hug or candy.
7. Give the child a "thumb sub" that he can put inside the mouth and suck on it. Some
children may be satisfied with squeezing their thumb and sucking on a hard candy.
8. Choose a "penalty", such as paying back a dime or a nickel from his pocket money to you. Inform the child of what the penalty is and when he would have to pay the penalty. If the child sucks his thumb other than the specified place and/or time, ask him to pay the penalty right away. Observe him and consistently charge the penalty. Praise him every time a day goes without a penalty or with lesser penalty. Chart the behavior and reward his efforts. A reward chart increases the chances that a child will practice a new behavior.

try to relax more, but if you're really desperate then put like nail polish remover or something on your thumb lol :) it'll definately turn you off the habit :)
have a peace week :)
jesse xo

oh hey while i'm here would you mind helping me out with something? if you could i would really appreciate it, cheers :)
http://au.answers.yahoo.com/question/ind…

It's not a new idea but chewing chewing-gum all the time may create another habit forever :( So I suggest you to use chewing-gum whenever you will feel to suck your thumb :) .

You will be safe from both habits.

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Try chewing gum instead. If not you can get some of that bitter stuff they sell in the baby part of stores that is like nail polish but tastes really bad.

Put something on it that tastes bad to you, like clear nail polish or something. Hope it works. You could also try putting band aids on it. Hope this helps.

Find a new habit. Like chewing gum or bite your nails.