My 5 month-old daughter sucks her thumb if she wakes up in the middle of night as a means to soothe herself. The problem is that she now does it when she's just lying around too. I'm afraid of it becoming a bad habit, how do I stop it?

I sucked my thumb for a very long time, (7 years). I had to have braces, but probably would've had to have braces anyway. The way that they stopped it with me, was to put gloves on me at night. Nothing says disgusting like a mouth full of wool.

Thanks Lump. I sucked my thumb too and that's why I want to put a stop to hers! My mom had to bribe me...hehehe

The problem with gloves is that it I'm afraid that it will inhibit her motor development.

You could maybe try forcing a pacifier on her instead of her thumb. It's a whole lot easier to break a baby of a pacifier than it is to break them of thumb sucking. Has your child ever taken to a pacifier? Just my opinion! Good luck!

She refuses to take the pacifier. She pulls a disgusted face, looks at me in dismay and spits it out. I've tried dipping it in gripe water as she loves the taste but it doesn't fool her.

Hot sauce, vanilla extract, i believe there is other stuff at drug stores that you can put on her finger.
I sucked my finger for a long time, and had braces for 7 years!! It was horrible (my overbite was so bad they wanted to break my lower jaw to pull it out to match up with my uppers)

Good luck!
You can also ask your dentist. My mom is a dental hygienist and I'll ask her for some ideas too.

Maybe try distracting her with toys to hold or put in her mouth instead. My second DD went through a similar phase when she was younger too. I tried giving her a blankie to occupy her hands, LOL. And when her language began to develop more, she decided on her own that she didn't want fingers in the way.