Thumb sucking adults

Specialties Ob/Gyn

Published

I have to say, this is the first time I've seen this in an adult. I recently took care of a G3P2 at time of delivery and immediately after. She was in her mid 20's and was sucking her thumb and cuddling a lovie up to her face. When I got report from the nurse going off shift, I almost didn't believe her when she told me that this patient sucks her thumb. Until I saw it for myself while doing a post delivery fundal check.

Yep, sucking her thumb, with a lovie (blanket scrap) right next to her face. I'm guessing she has some possible childhood issues to work on. PMH includes being in foster care, but no notations of childhood abuse.

I felt so bad for her :crying2:

The off-going nurse had even said something to her about it, and the patient even admitted that her 4 yr old child teases her about it.

Specializes in NICU.

I have an ex-boyfriend who used to suck his thumb and had a baby blanket for comfort. His mother used him as a scapegoat when he was growing up, treating his brothers like princes and smacking him around at times. He was also the middle child. (Eventually I realized he had borderline personality disorder, but I'm not sure if that came out of his childhood trauma or if it was just biology.)

Case in point: All three brothers had blankies that they used for comfort all their lives. My ex only had HALF a blankie though, because when they were little his younger brother lost his and the mom CUT my ex's blankie in half, to give some to the brother!!! He never got over it.

When my daughter was in 2nd grade, she had a friend who sucked her thumb - okay, so far not so unusual. In third grade, my daughter started having problems in school. In September, her teacher told my husband that my daughter would fail third grade because the teacher didn't have the time to give my daughter the individualized attention she needed. A little while later, I call the teacher to discuss my daughter's schedule and she tells me, "I'm concerned about M's social-emotional development. Do you realize she still sucks her thumb?" "What do you mean she STILL sucks her thumb?" I replied, "She never sucked her thumb, even as an infant!" This teacher had my child so stressed that she started sucking her thumb. Soon after, I pulled my daughter out of school to homeschool her. She is now in middle school back in public school and doing well after three years of homeschool.

And you know what - I still have never seen her suck her thumb!

I have to say, this is the first time I've seen this in an adult. I recently took care of a G3P2 at time of delivery and immediately after. She was in her mid 20's and was sucking her thumb and cuddling a lovie up to her face. When I got report from the nurse going off shift, I almost didn't believe her when she told me that this patient sucks her thumb. Until I saw it for myself while doing a post delivery fundal check.

Yep, sucking her thumb, with a lovie (blanket scrap) right next to her face. I'm guessing she has some possible childhood issues to work on. PMH includes being in foster care, but no notations of childhood abuse.

I felt so bad for her :crying2:

The off-going nurse had even said something to her about it, and the patient even admitted that her 4 yr old child teases her about it.

1) Don't feel bad for her. Sounds like it is a bad habit she never got over. If the off-going nurse knew the 4 year old teases her, she probably would have known of any horrors by history that were being blamed.

2) It causes problems because it is socially unacceptable behavior for anyone who is not still in diapers. If her 4 year old can recognize it as inappropriate, certainly adults with whom she comes into contact can see it as such.

3) It should stop because it is a problem--we wash our hands to stop contagion, but can you imagine what is on that thumb? (and someone said they had a CNA who sucked her thumb in report? A CNA? EWWWWWW!)

4) She won't be motivated to make any changes until it becomes a problem in her own view. It doesn't mean it isn't a problem.

Are these people developmentally delayed? We learn socially acceptable behavior by attending to the feedback we get from others. (Consider how we choose what clothing to wear. Same deal.) They are not "getting it."

I have to say, this is the first time I've seen this in an adult. I recently took care of a G3P2 at time of delivery and immediately after. She was in her mid 20's and was sucking her thumb and cuddling a lovie up to her face. When I got report from the nurse going off shift, I almost didn't believe her when she told me that this patient sucks her thumb. Until I saw it for myself while doing a post delivery fundal check.

Yep, sucking her thumb, with a lovie (blanket scrap) right next to her face. I'm guessing she has some possible childhood issues to work on. PMH includes being in foster care, but no notations of childhood abuse.

I felt so bad for her :crying2:

The off-going nurse had even said something to her about it, and the patient even admitted that her 4 yr old child teases her about it.

I read this quote and frankly I was a little offended. I am nurse. I am a young adult. I still suck my thumb. I do NOT want people to look down on me and especially do not want people to feel bad for me. It's not an illness. I don't have psychological issues. I've been doing this before I was born. It didn't development due to fear or as a coping mechanism. I had a good childhood. I have even researched this subject, which is how I found this message. It's horrible how people (nurses!) pass judgement like this. They automatically think this person has issues. Over something so trivial they have already decided that something must be wrong with this person if he/she is sucking their thumb. Wow! That doesn't seem quite right. By the way, my teeth straight and I didn't need braces. And for any parents out there who have children that indulge in this act and are worried, if this is all you are worried about then you have got it made.

Specializes in OB.
I read this quote and frankly I was a little offended. I am nurse. I am a young adult. I still suck my thumb. I do NOT want people to look down on me and especially do not want people to feel bad for me. It's not an illness. I don't have psychological issues. I've been doing this before I was born. It didn't development due to fear or as a coping mechanism. I had a good childhood. I have even researched this subject, which is how I found this message. It's horrible how people (nurses!) pass judgement like this. They automatically think this person has issues. Over something so trivial they have already decided that something must be wrong with this person if he/she is sucking their thumb. Wow! That doesn't seem quite right. By the way, my teeth straight and I didn't need braces. And for any parents out there who have children that indulge in this act and are worried, if this is all you are worried about then you have got it made.

Bravo... well said! :) We as nurses, especially since we are nurses, need to learn how to be be nonjudgmental to all our patients regardless of who they are and the things they do that may not agree with us.

Specializes in NICU.

Well, grown adults don't tend to suck their thumbs. Perhaps doing so is benign, but as nurses, we tend to wonder when we see things like that. Is it a red flag about something else or is just a habit that the person has had their whole life?

Specializes in RN, BSN, CHDN.
Well, grown adults don't tend to suck their thumbs. Perhaps doing so is benign, but as nurses, we tend to wonder when we see things like that. Is it a red flag about something else or is just a habit that the person has had their whole life?

A habit the person has had all their life, nothing more or nothing less.

Just like picking your nose, you either do it or you dont :rotfl:

Madwife...What the heck is up with you? Should I flag you if you have red hair or a nervous twitch. That is totally ridiculous and offensive. I don't suck my thumb that much and it isn't something I think about or worry about. I was born sucking my thumb. I am sure you have things you do that might surprise or bug me but people who are bugged by things like that, nurses or not, seem to me to be the ones harboring discomfort..We (thumb suckers) are usually fine with it...

Specializes in Med-surg > LTC > HH >.

Thumb sucking is a stress reliever or coping mechanism, and that is all it is. Would you rather walk in and see the your pt. in bed with a bottle of vodka or a crack pipe. I'll tell ya another thing it is alot healthier than smoking. You won't inhale any second hand smoke from these thumb suckers:angryfire , this coming from a former thumb sucker as mentioned in my above posting. And what an "ignorant" post to say that these people may be developmentally delayed or whatever. You have to be pretty developmentally dalayed yourself to make such an idiotic statement.:angryfire If the worst thing I ever see one of my pts. doing is sucking his or her thumb, I'll be a lucky nurse.

Specializes in RN, BSN, CHDN.
Madwife...What the heck is up with you? Should I flag you if you have red hair or a nervous twitch. That is totally ridiculous and offensive. I don't suck my thumb that much and it isn't something I think about or worry about. I was born sucking my thumb. I am sure you have things you do that might surprise or bug me but people who are bugged by things like that, nurses or not, seem to me to be the ones harboring discomfort..We (thumb suckers) are usually fine with it...

I wasn't meaning to be offensive, I was being silly. As as matter of fact I do have red hair and a nervous twitch :rotfl: Am I bugging you yet lol

Seriously half my family suck their thumbs and I may be a secret thumb sucker myself, I have absolutly no problems with anybody sucking anything. so i apologise if you took offense

Gompers-

How funny about your ex-boyfriend (not really)! When I was reading through the posts I was thinking about my momster who has borderline personality disorder. She still has blankets and loves to talk in baby voices. She relates to me as a child and voices her desire for me to be the adult and her to be the child. I haven't spoken to her in two years, being the eternal scapegoat who is always painted black is not much fun.

Specializes in NICU.
Gompers-

How funny about your ex-boyfriend (not really)! When I was reading through the posts I was thinking about my momster who has borderline personality disorder. She still has blankets and loves to talk in baby voices. She relates to me as a child and voices her desire for me to be the adult and her to be the child. I haven't spoken to her in two years, being the eternal scapegoat who is always painted black is not much fun.

It's a very...interesting...disorder, no? I haven't spoken to him in years, either. The last time was when he called me, out of the blue, at about 2 or 3 am on a weeknight. He was crying about how lonely he is, because he's screwed up his life, wanted me back, even as a friend, and all that. I told him, in no uncertain terms, that calling someone you haven't spoken to in a couple of years in the middle of the night is unacceptable behavior, and he had a real psychological problem and needed psychiatric treatment. He said he had seen "counselors" and nothing helped, so I told him he needed an actual doctor. I wasn't going to give into his manipulations like I had for years before. I wasn't going to be the one he called everyday to latch on to, be possessive over, even as a friend. It was hard, because I always worry about him being suicidal, but I know that enabling his manipulation is not the answer. Sorry to hear about your mother. :sniff:

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