stargirl6072

Hi Reynaldo,

This reminded me of my own childhood. I was also a chronic thumb sucker. What exactly you do depends on the qualities of your son's Autism, I would expect. I am also not exactly clear on how severe a "serious problem" would be in this case, since long term thumb sucking was normal for me. I bit my thumb and scarred it unusually (the scar disappeared after a while), but never lost a nail, so have a hard time imagining exactly what you're describing. I hope my experiences help:

My parents tried everything and nothing worked -- especially not hot or sour liquids, as they can easily be wiped off, sucked off, or might even be enjoyed. The sock is nonsense as it is removed quite easily by a child who is desperate to get their appendage out of a strange "thing" (this was my case - it was not so much that I needed desperately to get at the thumb as the sock itself was irritating). I can't imagine that these things above (the ultimate uselessness of edible liquid and socks) wouldn't be universal to all children.

I was 10 before I began to quit. I believe that it was finally a combination of Iodine and the many life changes of pre-adolescence that precipitated the change. The color and smell of Iodine was and is distressing to me. I disliked it on other people's hands, much less my own. It turned my "friendly" thumb into something unknown and "unfriendly." This is also a taste so awkward as to possibly hinder nocturnal thumb sucking. Whether this would work for your son or not only you might be able to guess. It at least would be medically useful in battling infection. In addition, I was allowed to keep anything else that might have been perceived as childish and soothing, and I think this helped.

Try explaining to him that it's not about him, and the thumb sucking itself isn't bad, but that you're concerned about his thumb (and teeth?) becoming injured. ...As if it were a problem-solving exercise about the thumb nail. Depending on his personality/Autistic characteristics this might help, since the child might then be sent the message they are a partner in the mystery and good helper rather than a bad thumb sucker.

Edit: I ate Jolly Ranchers constantly after quitting the thumb sucking, but of course, this might not be appropriate in your case. My brother recently told me that working the mouth (the mouth/tongue is secondary only to the fingertips in nerves) relieves people who are naturally short of serotonin. I'm not sure how exact this is but it makes a lot of sense. If your son is a high functioning person, I might watch him to make sure he doesn't replace the thumb sucking with overeating or smoking as an adolescent. I have to suspect it is all related.