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Thumb Sucking

by Michelle
(Scotland)

Photo Credit: Stefan Baudy

I am a 24 year old woman, I have always struggled with low self esteem, I am a middle child and have an awkward, resentful relationship with my parents probably due to the fact that that they where lazy, irresponable, and our education suffered as a result of this.

To this day they need a lot of help and support to function normally in society, my real question is this...I still suck my thumb! I am ashamed of this, why haven't I grown out of this, is it some kind of coping mechanism I have developed? Or is it just a habit?

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Low Self Esteem
by: Bhumija

This habit of sucking thumb may be the result of low self esteem. A person with low confidence does things like thumb sucking, leg shaking, nail biting, excessive blinking, teeth grinding, etc. It makes them feel secure, or in some other way better. So maybe all you have to do is raise your esteem a little more, be a little more confident and just have faith in yourself.

Good luck.

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thumb sucking
by: Anonymous

Hi there,

I had the same experience with my son. All he loves to do is suck his thumb. I've tried all these different thing but he just switches to this other thumb.

I then just thought I would give up; I figured he isn't hurting anyone and that was his security blanked. Then I asked his doctor about it and he told me all the bad things that can happen as far as his teeth are concerned & its stops your chin development!

He told me to look at adults with no chin form and that most likely means they sucked the them...

So I searched the internet and found these pair of gloves...he loved wearing them & after a couple of months he has stopped sucking his thumb!

The funny part is we just bought him another pair because he loves wearing them...he calls himself Sonic the Hedgehog...lol

Here is the site in case you're looking

http://endthumbsucking.com/

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Disagreement
by: Anonymous

I just have to say that i suck my thumb, and I don't have any problems with my self esteem. I say it is just a habit, and my teeth are better than most peoples, so I don't think that is really relevant either. Nail biting can also just be because you lost the nail clippers and they are getting annoying. It varies person to person and i don't think either nail biting or thumb sucking is really anything to do with self esteem.

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