Thumbsucking

[AJbaby]

I'm 27 years old and I hve been sucking my thumb my whole life. I do it all the time. I suck my thumb when I sleep, when i watch TV, or even when i'm traveling. I hold my blanket when i suck my thumb. It is almost like an addiction to me and i just wondered if anyone else does this.

[enfant]

I never had much of a thumbsucking habit as a child, but a few years ago during a really stressful period in my life, I woke up one morning to discover that I'd been sucking my thumb in my sleep, and it felt fantastic. I found that it would make my whole body relax almost immediately as soon as I put my thumb in. The habit of sucking my sleep stuck around for several weeks, then faded away, but it's come back a couple of times since when things were stressful again. Mostly I just do it when I'm awake--usually deliberately, but occasionally I've caught myself absentmindedly thumbsucking without meaning to.

There's a website and mailing list for adult thumbsuckers--google on "thumb sucking adults" and you'll find it. There's lots of people, men and women both--mostly people like you who've held on to the habit from childhood; people like me who rediscovered it as adults seem relatively rare.

(BTW, I was at a dinner party the other day, and a couple of the guests (who are parents of young children) mentioned their kids thumbsucking, and the conversation drifted to people talking about their own thumbsucking when they were kids. A couple of the women present mentioned that they'd only ever stopped because they got braces and the dentist told them they had to, and that they still sometimes missed it. One of them said that she'd tried to start again after the braces were off, but it wasn't the same anymore. )

[lynniehyde]

When I'm sans paci, I always rely on my good ol' left thumb. Even in public. I sometimes forget to bring my paci with me when I go out. I'm a right-hander, so my left is my favorite thumb. It facilitates transactions in stores and so forth. I am a confirmed thumbsucker, no doubt. I do prefer my paci, however, as my thumbnail tends to scratch my tongue and the roof of my mouth.

But, as any old sailor will tell you: "Any port in a storm.", right?

Cuddles,

--heidilynn

[Codymoogle]

When it comes to thumb-sucking, usually I suck my index/pointer finger, not my thumb. But, I'm definately more of a pacifier user.

~ moogle

[Necare]

Personally I don`t tend to suck my thumb in my baby moments, it`s always the paci for me. My thumb seems such a poor substitute, but that`s me. Cheers!

[tris]

Fingernail biting for me! I've tried the bink to derail it, but since I can't have my b with me everywhere, or even all the time, I'm still stuck chewing. Never was a thumbsucker or a pacifier kinda kid, though.

[sarah_ab]

i;ve been a thumb sucker since birth, my mum tried to give me a paci but would spit it out and put my thumb in, when i was in high school i had top and bottom braces, a pallet expander, whch is a contraption that is on the roof of ur mouth hooked to you back molars that you turn each day to widen your mouth, and a tongue gaurd which is a row of metal rods curved at the ends stuck on ur bottom teeth to fix a lisp... through all this i sucked my thumb, would wake up with red marks on it but just couldnt stop. The thing is, i didnt go to sleep with the tumb in my mouth, like i wouldn't consciously put it in there i woudl do it while i was sleeping.

when i found this whole ab scene, i bought a paci and would fall asleep with it in my mouth, and still do, but as soon as it falls out when im asleep, my thumb will go in.. still does...

but even as a kid (cept when i was like 3 and under) i never sucked my thumb anywhere except in bed... same now, only when im sleeping, but i will watch tv with my paci in my mouth

and welcome to the site aj, glad to seeyou here!!!

[Guest Sissy lil Lucy]

I love to suck my thumb... I had to stop when I had braces.... but i slowly started again after a while...

Now I find myself with just the tip of my thumb in my mouth anywhere i go.. usually when i get a bit nervous about something

Of course at home it's in there properly.. if my dummy(paci) isn't already there!

[Baby Bethany]

I don't really suck my thumb naturally, I may do it in age play but it's intentional. I bite my nails when I get stressed.

Beth

[storey]

Until a few years ago I didn't suck my thumb or bite my nails or anything. Then I met hubby who almost always has a nail in his mouth and that got me started on biting my nails! And now, I'm trying to quit LOL

[justagirl4fun]

No thumbsucking here. I didn't even suck my thumb or use a pacifier when I was a baby.

[BabyLex]

I tend to prefer pacifiers to my thumb. I tend to enjoy chewing/biting as well as sucking, which, I found, works far better with an inanimate object versus my thumb. ;-) Although, I do on rare occasions enjoy thumbsucking for the pure age play aspect of it, but again those are rare times.

I'm also a chronic nail biter. I don't think I've used anything other than my teeth to trim my nails since I was born.

--Lex

[Tadpole]

I don't really suck my thumb naturally, I may do it in age play but it's intentional.

I always wanted to be a natural dummy sucker, but like Beth I wasn't. And it bothered me. Finally when the NUK Medic Pro became available I knew I had a dummy that was big enough to used comfortably, and I set out to use it every night until I had broken the "non-habit". It took a month or so (hard to tell, because the transition from deliberately putting it in at night when I didn't want to, to not resisting, to actually longing for it was gradual). After two months I could not deny that I was a habitual dummy user and have been, without regret, ever since.

Interestingly, when I don't have my dummy with me, my thumb is a natural replacement - something that I hadn't been before taking to the dummy.

Tad.

[turtlepins]

When I suck my thumb (always the left) my right thumb and forefinger are always busy rubbing the silk part of my blankey between them. I have to do both and it seems as natural to me as breathing. (Gasp!) He he he!

[StarBaby]

I usually prefer my dummy, and I always carry one with me, but once when I forgot it I tried to suck my thumb instead. Unfortunately I didn't like it and ended up leaving teeth marks in my thumb because I just wasn't used to doing it, lol!

[Toddler Pampers]

In general, I do not suck my thumb. But on the rare ocassions that I poop in my diaper, I suck my thumb. I feel like a baby anytime I'm diapered, but never more than when I'm pooping in one, which is why sucking my thumb at that moment just seems so appropriate.

[I M Soaked]

I've been a thumb sucker pretty much all of my life. When I was little, my folks would do any thing possible to get me to quit, to no avail, including put Tobasco sauce on my thumb(didn't work). That's when they discovered that I liked spicy foods.

When I was 18, I went int the service and had to curtail my thumb sucking as much as possible, as I would be ridiculed if ever caught.

Since 1990, when I got out of the sevice, I have been a habitual thumb sucker, eccept when my kids are present. It helps me to relax, as well as get comfortable.

I have also been a cronic nail biter since a young age as well. My younger sister says it stems from my father using his nails as an attention getter, when I would drift off and not pay attetion to what was going on around me. He would grab me by the arm and inadvertantly dig his nails into my upper arm. I'm sure he meant no harm, but it has caused me to dislike long finger nails ever since.

I have tried Pacifiers, but nothing can replace "Ole Faithful"

[littlebabymelly]

Im a thumb sucker from birth and I still have a teddy from wen i was little which goes up to my face wen im thumb sucking tho i do not need it - I dont thumb suck in public but i do wen im in bed all the time. Its so relaxing and i just cant stop it.

[Guest Baby_brad]

I'm just wondering, but does everyone use the opposite thumb/finger from their dominant hand? I'm a true lefty and I can only suck my right thumb.

[jenniebear]

i do........but i also have TMJ............which basically means i grind my teeth in my sleep.........and i'll tell ya that teeth grinding with thumb in mouth while sleeping can wake one up faster then a bedwetting alarm under an undiapered AB/DL after a heavy night of drinking.......i've bitten my thumb so hard i had indentations the next day

[smarti]

Im a thumb sucker from birth and I still have a teddy from wen i was little which goes up to my face wen im thumb sucking tho i do not need it - I dont thumb suck in public but i do wen im in bed all the time. Its so relaxing and i just cant stop it.

That would pretty well describe me until the age of 13, couldn't get to sleep without it, much to chagrin of baby sitters. Always my left thumb (how I distingush right from left, to this day). It made my thumb go funny shaped and slightly buck teeth. Then I was sent to boarding school and a communal dorm, and in one brutal night stopped through fear of bullying and ridicule. Since then I do it occasionally but "it's not the same any more".

[littlebabymelly]

That would pretty well describe me until the age of 13, couldn't get to sleep without it, much to chagrin of baby sitters. Always my left thumb (how I distingush right from left, to this day). It made my thumb go funny shaped and slightly buck teeth. Then I was sent to boarding school and a communal dorm, and in one brutal night stopped through fear of bullying and ridicule. Since then I do it occasionally but "it's not the same any more".

I suck my left thumb - my right is dominant. Ive never had probs with teeth and my thumbs ok, its a bit different that dont bother me, stoppin sucking would n i doubt anything cud stop me.

[rickibrat2]

was always more of a shirt sucker my collar in the front was what i always got in trouble for sucking on.

many a hot night i fell alseep in my diapers and sucking on my shirt

[lildew4you]

I like to suck my thumb to

[Vic]

I was a habitual thumb sucker for most of my childhood. My Dad and Mom tried everything to get me to stop. My Dad got tired of bopping me in the head every time he caught me thumbsucking, so he tried wrapping my thumbs in duct tape. When this didn't help he went to hot sauce, still no luck (although now I enjoy eating hot peppers or spicy foods).

I finally stopped when I was in junior high school, but took up smoking to replace it. He should have left things well enough alone, but that wasn't his way.

He felt that there wasn't anything a kid does that couldn't be cured by a good ass kicking, the consequences? He had four hell raising boys totally out of control later in life. He's lost two, one eleven years ago, and one just six years ago.

In the end I hope he's learned his lesson, but I won't stop smoking if the Pope himself told me to. You trade one bad habit for another. Thumbsucking wouldn't have killed me, but I'm pretty sure that smoking will eventually.

Peace,

Vic