Weaning of the thumb - any tips? Please share your stories

[Martini~]

Hi Ladies, DS1 is sucking his thumb and I am thinking if I should do anything about it. Is it possible he will ditch it by himself? I read children between 2 and 4 do it by themselves often, but was it true with yours?

Some facts:
- he sucks thumb only when having a bunny - his lovey, in theory is there is no bunny there will be no thumb sucking
- he uses it mainly to sleep but as he needs his bunny sometimes to comfort when OT or OS or something hurts him
- I cannot imagine putting him to sleep without his bunny...:O
- we are in nap dropping territory and maneuvering between UT and OT; younger brother has just born and probably it also will make some disruption in his life
- he is 2y11m now, 3yo in February
- I think his teeth are already impacted but that's shouldn't be a problem if I am right; his speech is above average for his age but I haven't checked if the pronunciation is correct and right for his age.

Any tips or BTDT experience?

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

My DD2 sucked her thumb until she was five (also tied to her lovey, a blanky - she only sucked her thumb if she had the blanky). She stopped when she got her first loose tooth because she said it felt weird (she also gave her blanky to DD3 for a bit too, but took it back a few months later!) With all that is going on for him I would wait until he is a bit older.

Afaik with the teeth it becomes more of a concern when they have their adult teeth in - our dentist has never blamed soothers or thumbsucking for their dental issues (lol it is all genetics and all from me!).  But perhaps a trip to the dentist could help with that.

[ENMS]

my DD1 stopped when she turned 5. we discussed it a lot around 4yo, and then between 4 and 5 but she really wasn't ready for it. her teeth were awful but within 6 months of stopping they all came back to normal.

she also had her teddy bear that she would hold when sucking her thumb, the teddy bear stayed and she still sleeps with it today but she stopped sucking the thumb on her own. she needed some help, lying with her to fall asleep for a few nights, and then asked me to put on bad-tasting nail polish to help her keep it up, and she got a reward after a few nights, that she got to choose herself so she was quite excited about that!