*sigh* I really hate to do this

I knew a guy who sucked his thumb into his twenties. He was a big tough guy, went to college on a football scholarship. He got some teasing for it, but it was no big deal.

Anything that tastes nasty should help break the habbit. Cheap perfume is good. It tastes bad, lasts a while, and doesn't burn like some of the other suggestions.

Wearing gloves, I think I read that it works somewhere, or maybe I just thought it up

Have your brother wear gloves OR put something NASTY on his thumb before sleep, as has been reccomended here already...

He's probably getting so much # about it from his "friends" he may quit just from that BUT of he needs help do the above and make him DEAL with it if he wants to quit...

But one has to wonder what fewkin' difference does it REALLY make? Not much. If he's a GOOD GUY than who gives a # if he sux his thumb in his sleep?!

But I KNOW the peer pressure at that age is HELL so help him out Big Brother!

PEACE...
m...

I would suggest chewing gum and putting bandaids or tape on his thumbs. Its just a bad habit, he just needs to stop doing it for a while and he will be fine

I sucked my thumb until I was 14. Then I got Braces and it wasn't comfortable any more. So I stopped, just like that (If only stopping smoking was that easier).

And yeah I have got buck teeth. Not as bad as they where before I got Braces, but still bad enough to get called Bugs (as in Bunny), for most of my School years.

i'm doing a catering course and to stop us touching our faces and things like that the first job our chef made us do was chop up a packet of chillis each i'll tell u wot its amzing really how many people suck there thumbs, rub there eyes pick there nose and other habbits all of which were brocken after this nasty test it might be a bit harsh but it works the only thing is he'll forever be paranoid about his thumbs what ever u do

hope it help keep us informed to how he gets on

The Fires of Heaven

It is not that big a deal. Make a bet with him or something like that. Or if you have a habit to stop, bet him a game of bowling or a dinner or something that you can quit first. That worked for me. I stopped at an older age than normal. But, still even if he doesn't it's no big deal. Could just be a sign of something bigger that is going on and he needs to get over.

1. Most potent tends to be paradoxical instructions like Milton Erickson was so gifted at. For most compulsions, he would schedule MORE of the activity.

But the person would have to do MORE of the activity to a schedule. It was probably say 15%-20% more over all than before but to a schedule. Maybe the first 5 minutes of every hour or the first minute of every 5 minutes or of every 10 minutes or whatever would be say 20% more than it is now.

And, you could insist or insure that a 3 X 5 hash mark record was kept on a 3 X 5 card.

You should insist that he be very diligent in applying himself to suck his thumb . . . say--"more fully, more thoroughly, better, more perfectly etc. until he can relax because he's finally done such a good job of it."

After probably a few days or a week or so, he would naturally begin to decrease it.

When this happens, you should protest and fuss and insist that he INCREASE the thumb sucking. That there must be something wrong. You could grudgingly TOLERATE a slightly less heavy thumb sucking schedult but make MORE OF A FUSS that he should INCREASE IT. You would be very artfully giving him a double message. The strongest overt message would be that he's not doing it well enough. He should be applying himself more diligently to sucking his thumb better or the method might not work etc. But sort of under your breath, in an off hand way allow that MAYBE it MIGHT be TOLERABLE to do a LITTLE less OCCASIONALLY if you don't see it.

As he naturally stops sucking his thumb more and more, you should fuss more and more but in a slihtly tapering off frequency about how the method is failing or you're not helping him right etc. etc.

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You could--after the beginning of the above say a couple of days or so into it, turn away, avoid attending to him or noticing when he sucks his thumb. Pay a lot of attention and give him warm loving friendly affection when he's not sucking his thumb.

It's good to INCREASE MARKEDLY his connectedness and emotional bonding so that he feels more secure and less in need of security blanket sorts of things and behaviors. It may be that he had inadequate emotional bonding age 1-6. The book ATTACHMENTS by Clinton & Sibcy is the best book on the topic and one I'd buy for everyone on the planet, if I could.

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So, the last part above is 2 pronged.

B) disattend his thumb sucking. Look away NOT obviously; walk away, start reading, whatever--don't notice it AT ALL.

C) MOST IMPORTANTLY, INCREASE DRAMATICALLY but gradually, affectionate, warm, attentive emotional bonding actions, behaviors. Help him to feel super close to you, warmly nurtured, respected, liked, chrished, loved--when he's not sucking his thumb.

About it.

1. Most potent tends to be paradoxical instructions like Milton Erickson was so gifted at.

sorry, accidental double post. Feel free to delete, mods

[edit on 18/2/2006 by BO XIAN]

He will eventualy get out of it hey i feel for you my older sister sucked a dummy till she was 14!!! :shk:

Tell him whats in saliva.

The list of things is highly motivating, at least for me to stop biting fingernails.

well this might not have anything to do with the subject at all, but if he didnt want to stop, and he wanted to make a fad out of it, like that peewee herman did with his stuck up bangs in the front, ahahahah


well you know how in public schools the newest music fad is being "ghetto"
or a rapper or a fake hardass and all that


dress him up like a real Gd up alfit, send him to school, and tell him that when people say something about it he saw a music video where ludacris or nelly or P.Dittideeee were doing it.

THATLL GET EVERYONE OFF HIS BACK.
and everyone in his school will be sucking there thumbs
ahahah

Some you guys can be so inappropriate lol! im sure a 12 year old doesnt want to know about old peoples bums. But seriously its just a habit, he just needs to force himself not to. it takes will power. Try some of that nail varnish stuff, specially made to taste bad when you put it in your mouth. Only costs about £5.

There are products on the market with denatonium benzoate in them that you just apply to the nail. Apparently it tastes pretty bad and is designed for just this purpose.

Google Mavala Stop.



It won't be so appealing after that stuff is put on it.

He sucks his thumb? No problem. Heck, I'm 15 and I occasionally pick my nose. If he keeps at it and can survive all the hardships it brings him, when its over he'll have the best and most loyal friends for which one could hope. Of course, the time it'd take to get that would be pretty hard. As a result of my "nose-picking" trials my Elemetary(sp?) years were horrid and I got suspended for threatening someone with a pair of scissors.
It'd be alot easier if you just smacked him in the back of the head each time he sucked his thumb. Or you could take someone elses suggestion, they all seemed good.
If anyone knows what peer pressure is, its me and it can be HELL during those years. It'd probably be easier to break the habit but I didn't break my habit and I don't regret it. The hardships that it brought me only made me a better person and eventually gave me the most durable friends that I could ever want.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do,
Void