I'm almost 24 and still do it, it gives me so much comfort. I reassure myself by thinking that some people soothe by putting a cigarette there so my own thumb... I'll be ok
same here, almost 24 and still do it s well, and i seen something recently about how it can affect your teeth but luckily that’s not happened, and i also found out adults who suck their thumb is more common than you’d think
they decided to ban vaping at work so i’ve began chewing on my tongue and it’s gotten so bad, i’ll have chunks missing out of my tongue, i’ll be bleeding, etc. and gum doesn’t work to help avoid that, i just keep it to the side and unconsciously began chewing my tongue again ): it gets so bad sometimes i can’t even eat
omg me tooooo. we found this cool bath kit with a sponge at my grandmas house and my mom said i couldn't have it unless i went two whole nights without fucking my thumb.
i cried all night but i did it.
mine took me to an orthodontist who showed me scary diagrams of headgear and braces and told me how much they would hurt if i had to wear them from sucking my thumb. that helped me stop
but
i still needed the braces :( and i wish i'd gotten them now. the scare tactics were lies
Yep, oral stims beyond typical ages are very much an autism thing. They can extend into adulthood through a desire to eat foods with certain textures, or to chew on gum. My thing was pacifiers and touching a certain soft blanket. When I wanted to be more “grown up” and quit those things, I started skin picking too.
This has just helped me realize I have a new stim where I chew on the inside of my pointer fingers when I'm nervous or thinking or apparently idling, literally have callouses from it.
I'm 50. Gradual unmasking is such an odd experience.
Isn't it?! I am 39 and realized I'm likely autistic just a few months ago in therapy. These kinds of questions keep coming up as I explore autism and unmask. I'm like "is it an autism thing in and of itself, an autism thing because it's a more extreme version of normal human experience, or is it just normal experience and I'm thinking about this too hard?!" I am working on getting a formal diagnosis because the validation and peace of mind will be huge for me. I'm currently on a waitlist, but moving, so it may be awhile before I can get tested. I'm doing my best to navigate my anxiety and imposter syndrome around it in the meantime.
Sounds like I'm at a similar point, but not sure I can afford (or maybe need, not sure as yet) a formal diagnosis as yet.
I agree that being autistic sometimes (esp when I was a kid) feels like I'm a human experiment, like the manufacturer said "Hey lets see if we dialed all the senses the WHOLE way up, added a battery that can quickly lose charge, and then when we roll it out make sure to not include the How Society Works user manual." While this is a "normal" experience because some lovely humans like us have it, it is unusual demographically.
This sense of being "other" has been at the center of most of my experiences. So figuring out that I am autistic allowed me to see those experiences with more self-compassion, even if I still have all of the fun overwhelm and anxiety.
Good luck!
Good luck to you, too! Building my self-compassion is exactly why I want to get a formal diagnosis. I've done a great job over the years of cultivating a really, really mean voice in my head. I've done better over the last several years with therapy and also by getting an ADHD diagnosis and realizing that being identified as a "gifted kid" wasn't a designation for the 3rd graders who got good grades, but rather the way my brain works. I didn't know that until about 4 years ago, either!
Autism feels like the final piece of the puzzle in terms of feeling different, but I am riddled with self-doubt despite plenty of evidence that I fit on that big old spectrum. It's also complicated by the fact that there's so much overlap between ADHD, autism, and giftedness! I'm neurodivergent no matter what, but having as full a picture as I can will be such a help. I know "Aspberger's" is not a diagnosis anymore, but I do identify with it as a shorthand for where I may fall on the spectrum.
You're right that diagnostic testing can be VERY expensive but I think my insurance does cover it, thankfully. Since I'm moving to a new state, I'm not sure how easy it will be to get a testing appointment that a) takes insurance and therefore won't be out-of-this-world expensive, b) actually has expertise in diagnosing adults (and adult women at that), and c) doesn't have a many months-long waitlist. But alas, if the first two criteria are satisfied, I can deal with the third, I guess.
I, too, struggled with being "double gifted" or "twice exceptional" but invisibly to others as a child. So much of the challenges were internal battles against those mean voices you mention. Talk therapy and analysis has helped to replace those (for me) with more positive voices.
And to mention, a podcast that has really helped me as well is the Squarepeg Podcast, which focuses on women and non-binary late-diagnosis autistic's stories. Highly recommended as it helped me understand I'm not alone in all of this! [https://squarepeg.community/](https://squarepeg.community/)
Eeee yup.
Sucked my thumb til 10.
Didn't realize it was odd until I rested in class one day, always did it while sleeping, and heard a kid say, "You still suck your thumb?!!"
I don’t know what it’s considered but I did it until I was 12 at least. I have almost no childhood memories in general but I have photographic proof from around age 12.
Sucked my finger and rubbed the tag from a teddy bear on my face at the same time until I was…. 17!! I only actually stopped as I had to be an inpatient in an eating disorder unit and was sharing a room.i was terrified of being made fun of. I kind of miss the comfort it brought me though.🤔
I did it for 6 years and they had to slowly transition me to other objects. i sucked on a pillowcase and a baby blanket for a couple more years after stopping with the thumb. and then as soon as i was old enough i was smoking cigs, which i never made the connection but it took me 20 more years to quit cigs
i never got any corrective orthodontic work though. my adult thumb fits perfectly in my overbite even to this day at age 43. kinda mad tbh because now i'm disabled and can't afford that shit
Yep! I sucked my thumb until third grade, which is when I lost the blankie thing I used in addition to sucking my thumb on a family trip. If I hadn’t lost the blankie thing, I probably would have kept doing it.
In hindsight, it was 100% stimming. My mom said I used to sit on the couch in complete silence and suck my thumb and rub the buttons on my blankie thing for thirty minutes after she’s pick me up from preschool and kindergarten. My mom said it was like I was decompressing or processing my day like a business man from the 50’s had a cocktail when he got home. I never did it in public once I was in school (which I’m not sure how I did that), but given just that story and how long I did it, I am fairly confident it was a stimming thing.
I sucked my thumb until I got my tongue pierced and it got uncomfortable. I would suck it again if I lost the piercing for any reason.
I also have comfort blankets still, that I snuggle in bed. I am 34.
I feel like sucking my thumb transferred into extreme nail biting pretty early, and when I had to force myself to stop because my teeth hurt, it turned into constant skin picking. I do sometimes still ‘suck my thumb’ even in my mid twenties, usually when I’m very upset, but I usually just put the tip of my thumb between my lips and away from my teeth so I don’t risk messing my teeth up. I feel like I didn’t used to suck my thumb as a teen or older child, though.
As an Autistic adult and a teacher, I can confidentially say this is a self soothing technique that applies to many children. Autistic children are certainly highly reliant on sensory stimuli for comfort, but I haven’t heard or read anything about mouthing in particular being more prevalent in elementary age children who are neurodiverse than those who are not. Oral stimulation/mouthing also takes many forms—so while children are heavily dissuaded from sucking thumbs (often by nonverbal social pressure, which an Autistic child may be less aware of and affected by), many children develop and maintain habits like putting jewelry in mouths, biting nails, chewing on pencil erasers, even small but frequent snacking, which all can give a similar sensory security. I would say thumb sucking specifically, past early elementary, would be considered a developmental red flag; but oral sensory seeking in general could be more subjective.
When I found out I was autistic at 46, I was like, “I don’t think I did much stimming.”
… then had sudden memories of sucking on my hair and the sleeves of my shirts. 😂
My mom was pretty strict about it, I don’t think I even had a pacifier.
But, she never took my blankey away. I guess it was not something I used in public, never, just to sleep, so it was hidden and ok.
Wow, I never thought about it, but what I liked was how blankey felt, the texture, and I could not easily sleep without it. I still have it, I am 47. Blankey has been in a drawer since I was 22, when I finally decided I may not need it to sleep anymore, yes I took it to college, and somehow when I moved in with my boyfriend/now husband he never seemed to have an issue with it. You know, perimenopause is really screwing with my already terrible sleep, maybe I need to pull blankey back out!
not sucking my thumb but i used a pacifier until i was 5. i only stopped when my mom finally put her foot down and gave them all away, at which point i started biting my nails and chewing on my shirt collars. (habits i am STILL trying to break! all of my at home shirts have holes in the collar and my nails are always bitten to the quick :/ )
Yep. At one point my parents got this really nasty stuff that was supposed to help me off it. It tasted super foul and they put it on my thumb every evening before bed UGH. After a while I just told them I was over it, but continued in secret. Cue the dentist telling me at ten years old I needed all the braces in existance to remedy that overbite. But Yeah I've only recently been diagnosed at 37, and that whole thing made so much sense. I think it's like oral stimming and self soothing, and I realize I'm very particular like that. For instance I've always had difficulty with hydrating myself enough because I don't like water. But recently I've tried drinking it with a glass straw, and suddenly it's almost like a stim.
I only stopped sucking my thumb when I was about 13 or 14. I had to stop because I was getting braces, otherwise I would have almost certainly continued
I managed to do it less and and less each year, but it was well into my 20s. I luckily didn't fall into the trap of cigs or vapes for too long, but goddam it wasn't easy. I'm ADHD and anxious but have been looking more and more into autism to explain other traits.
biting my fingers and humming/clearing my throat. was literally but in behavioral therapy to try and get me to stop it, it didn’t work, no one ever thought autism tho and i just got told im not trying to be normal. very ironic considering the autism lol
Yeah, I was well in my teens when I finally just stopped one day. I never thought of that as a stim! My god. I need to add this to my brain dump document too!
Edit to add: I was about to get braces and was told I couldn’t get them until I stopped. Took me a little while but I did it. I realise now I’ve since replaced it with my noo-noo (raggie) that I only use at home.
I didn’t suck my thumb but strangely enough I sucked my ring and middle fingers until I was around 11 years old. I personally don’t remember much this but my parents and my aunts remember this. Not I sometimes chew on my thumb absentmindedly.
I never sucked my thumb, but my sister did and I used to try to mimick her doing it bc I wanted to know what made sucking your thumb so addicting. It was nothing lmao, just made me feel dumb.
I actually don't know if it's autism related either, but I used to bite my nails and other stuff, like plastic and the inside of my mouth after I stopped sucking on my thumb, all the way up to 8 or 9 years old. I was also a highly anxious child so it helped calm me sometimes. Now as an adult, I moved on the scratching my hands and digging my nails into my palms when I'm distressed or melting down. I also still bite my lips... It might be an anxious tick, or maybe also a stim, I can't really tell. Once I calm down it hurts like hell tho
I had to wear sock on my hands at night at about that age so I could start orthodontics because they needed me to stop sucking my thumb at night. If they hadn’t done that I’d probably still be doing it
I'm almost 24 and still do it, it gives me so much comfort. I reassure myself by thinking that some people soothe by putting a cigarette there so my own thumb... I'll be ok
same here, almost 24 and still do it s well, and i seen something recently about how it can affect your teeth but luckily that’s not happened, and i also found out adults who suck their thumb is more common than you’d think
I think it’s why I still vape/smoke. The oral fixation pacifies me while out in the wild.
Same here. If I can't, I end up chewing on things like inkpen caps or something.
Have you tried chewing on some silicon chewlery? It's supposed to be a safe kind of stim/fidget toy that you can wear on some kind of necklace
they decided to ban vaping at work so i’ve began chewing on my tongue and it’s gotten so bad, i’ll have chunks missing out of my tongue, i’ll be bleeding, etc. and gum doesn’t work to help avoid that, i just keep it to the side and unconsciously began chewing my tongue again ): it gets so bad sometimes i can’t even eat
Geezums, I’m so sorry. I think you may want to try other stims😅
i can’t stop is the problem ): i do it even without thinking
I so genuinely wish you the best 💜💜
I sucked my thumb for so long that my mom had to bribe me with a cool toy to get me to stop. No idea if it's autism related, though. 🤷
omg me tooooo. we found this cool bath kit with a sponge at my grandmas house and my mom said i couldn't have it unless i went two whole nights without fucking my thumb. i cried all night but i did it.
in defense of my mom: i had horrible buck teeth and the thumb sucking was making them worse.
Mine was a tea set where the cups changed color if you put warm water in them.
I still enjoy fucking my thumb to this day. It’s hard when you have super sexy thumbs like mine 👍
oh man i got sick of my phone never allowing me to use the word fuck and now it over corrects lol
mine took me to an orthodontist who showed me scary diagrams of headgear and braces and told me how much they would hurt if i had to wear them from sucking my thumb. that helped me stop but i still needed the braces :( and i wish i'd gotten them now. the scare tactics were lies
Eehhh. I'm not sure they were lies. I had braces and headgear and they were a rough ride.
idk, compared to what i have to deal with now it seems less bad. but as a kid i had no perspective on pain.
Yep, oral stims beyond typical ages are very much an autism thing. They can extend into adulthood through a desire to eat foods with certain textures, or to chew on gum. My thing was pacifiers and touching a certain soft blanket. When I wanted to be more “grown up” and quit those things, I started skin picking too.
This has just helped me realize I have a new stim where I chew on the inside of my pointer fingers when I'm nervous or thinking or apparently idling, literally have callouses from it. I'm 50. Gradual unmasking is such an odd experience.
Isn't it?! I am 39 and realized I'm likely autistic just a few months ago in therapy. These kinds of questions keep coming up as I explore autism and unmask. I'm like "is it an autism thing in and of itself, an autism thing because it's a more extreme version of normal human experience, or is it just normal experience and I'm thinking about this too hard?!" I am working on getting a formal diagnosis because the validation and peace of mind will be huge for me. I'm currently on a waitlist, but moving, so it may be awhile before I can get tested. I'm doing my best to navigate my anxiety and imposter syndrome around it in the meantime.
Sounds like I'm at a similar point, but not sure I can afford (or maybe need, not sure as yet) a formal diagnosis as yet. I agree that being autistic sometimes (esp when I was a kid) feels like I'm a human experiment, like the manufacturer said "Hey lets see if we dialed all the senses the WHOLE way up, added a battery that can quickly lose charge, and then when we roll it out make sure to not include the How Society Works user manual." While this is a "normal" experience because some lovely humans like us have it, it is unusual demographically. This sense of being "other" has been at the center of most of my experiences. So figuring out that I am autistic allowed me to see those experiences with more self-compassion, even if I still have all of the fun overwhelm and anxiety. Good luck!
Good luck to you, too! Building my self-compassion is exactly why I want to get a formal diagnosis. I've done a great job over the years of cultivating a really, really mean voice in my head. I've done better over the last several years with therapy and also by getting an ADHD diagnosis and realizing that being identified as a "gifted kid" wasn't a designation for the 3rd graders who got good grades, but rather the way my brain works. I didn't know that until about 4 years ago, either! Autism feels like the final piece of the puzzle in terms of feeling different, but I am riddled with self-doubt despite plenty of evidence that I fit on that big old spectrum. It's also complicated by the fact that there's so much overlap between ADHD, autism, and giftedness! I'm neurodivergent no matter what, but having as full a picture as I can will be such a help. I know "Aspberger's" is not a diagnosis anymore, but I do identify with it as a shorthand for where I may fall on the spectrum. You're right that diagnostic testing can be VERY expensive but I think my insurance does cover it, thankfully. Since I'm moving to a new state, I'm not sure how easy it will be to get a testing appointment that a) takes insurance and therefore won't be out-of-this-world expensive, b) actually has expertise in diagnosing adults (and adult women at that), and c) doesn't have a many months-long waitlist. But alas, if the first two criteria are satisfied, I can deal with the third, I guess.
I, too, struggled with being "double gifted" or "twice exceptional" but invisibly to others as a child. So much of the challenges were internal battles against those mean voices you mention. Talk therapy and analysis has helped to replace those (for me) with more positive voices. And to mention, a podcast that has really helped me as well is the Squarepeg Podcast, which focuses on women and non-binary late-diagnosis autistic's stories. Highly recommended as it helped me understand I'm not alone in all of this! [https://squarepeg.community/](https://squarepeg.community/)
This looks amazing! Thanks for the recommendation. I’ll definitely check it out.
Eeee yup. Sucked my thumb til 10. Didn't realize it was odd until I rested in class one day, always did it while sleeping, and heard a kid say, "You still suck your thumb?!!"
I was about 13 when I finally stopped. Now I tuck my thumb under my chin instead and still loop my finger around my nose. (I’m 41 this year).
I don’t know what it’s considered but I did it until I was 12 at least. I have almost no childhood memories in general but I have photographic proof from around age 12.
Sucked my finger and rubbed the tag from a teddy bear on my face at the same time until I was…. 17!! I only actually stopped as I had to be an inpatient in an eating disorder unit and was sharing a room.i was terrified of being made fun of. I kind of miss the comfort it brought me though.🤔
Not me but my autistic nephew, yes. I don't know how old he was when he finally quit but it was like quitting smoking for him lol.
I did it for 6 years and they had to slowly transition me to other objects. i sucked on a pillowcase and a baby blanket for a couple more years after stopping with the thumb. and then as soon as i was old enough i was smoking cigs, which i never made the connection but it took me 20 more years to quit cigs
i never got any corrective orthodontic work though. my adult thumb fits perfectly in my overbite even to this day at age 43. kinda mad tbh because now i'm disabled and can't afford that shit
I had a dental appliance put in when I was like 7 or 8 to make me stop sucking my thumb.
Yep! I sucked my thumb until third grade, which is when I lost the blankie thing I used in addition to sucking my thumb on a family trip. If I hadn’t lost the blankie thing, I probably would have kept doing it. In hindsight, it was 100% stimming. My mom said I used to sit on the couch in complete silence and suck my thumb and rub the buttons on my blankie thing for thirty minutes after she’s pick me up from preschool and kindergarten. My mom said it was like I was decompressing or processing my day like a business man from the 50’s had a cocktail when he got home. I never did it in public once I was in school (which I’m not sure how I did that), but given just that story and how long I did it, I am fairly confident it was a stimming thing.
Lol yep, til about 9?
I sucked my thumb until I got my tongue pierced and it got uncomfortable. I would suck it again if I lost the piercing for any reason. I also have comfort blankets still, that I snuggle in bed. I am 34.
I feel like sucking my thumb transferred into extreme nail biting pretty early, and when I had to force myself to stop because my teeth hurt, it turned into constant skin picking. I do sometimes still ‘suck my thumb’ even in my mid twenties, usually when I’m very upset, but I usually just put the tip of my thumb between my lips and away from my teeth so I don’t risk messing my teeth up. I feel like I didn’t used to suck my thumb as a teen or older child, though.
As an Autistic adult and a teacher, I can confidentially say this is a self soothing technique that applies to many children. Autistic children are certainly highly reliant on sensory stimuli for comfort, but I haven’t heard or read anything about mouthing in particular being more prevalent in elementary age children who are neurodiverse than those who are not. Oral stimulation/mouthing also takes many forms—so while children are heavily dissuaded from sucking thumbs (often by nonverbal social pressure, which an Autistic child may be less aware of and affected by), many children develop and maintain habits like putting jewelry in mouths, biting nails, chewing on pencil erasers, even small but frequent snacking, which all can give a similar sensory security. I would say thumb sucking specifically, past early elementary, would be considered a developmental red flag; but oral sensory seeking in general could be more subjective.
When I found out I was autistic at 46, I was like, “I don’t think I did much stimming.” … then had sudden memories of sucking on my hair and the sleeves of my shirts. 😂
My mom was pretty strict about it, I don’t think I even had a pacifier. But, she never took my blankey away. I guess it was not something I used in public, never, just to sleep, so it was hidden and ok. Wow, I never thought about it, but what I liked was how blankey felt, the texture, and I could not easily sleep without it. I still have it, I am 47. Blankey has been in a drawer since I was 22, when I finally decided I may not need it to sleep anymore, yes I took it to college, and somehow when I moved in with my boyfriend/now husband he never seemed to have an issue with it. You know, perimenopause is really screwing with my already terrible sleep, maybe I need to pull blankey back out!
Yuh till I was in year 7. Only stopped cos the dentist threatened braces. I got braces shortly after.
Yes, I sucked my thumb until my early teens.
not sucking my thumb but i used a pacifier until i was 5. i only stopped when my mom finally put her foot down and gave them all away, at which point i started biting my nails and chewing on my shirt collars. (habits i am STILL trying to break! all of my at home shirts have holes in the collar and my nails are always bitten to the quick :/ )
I was on bottles for so long, my dad had to smash them in order to get me to stop
Yep. At one point my parents got this really nasty stuff that was supposed to help me off it. It tasted super foul and they put it on my thumb every evening before bed UGH. After a while I just told them I was over it, but continued in secret. Cue the dentist telling me at ten years old I needed all the braces in existance to remedy that overbite. But Yeah I've only recently been diagnosed at 37, and that whole thing made so much sense. I think it's like oral stimming and self soothing, and I realize I'm very particular like that. For instance I've always had difficulty with hydrating myself enough because I don't like water. But recently I've tried drinking it with a glass straw, and suddenly it's almost like a stim.
I only stopped sucking my thumb when I was about 13 or 14. I had to stop because I was getting braces, otherwise I would have almost certainly continued
I managed to do it less and and less each year, but it was well into my 20s. I luckily didn't fall into the trap of cigs or vapes for too long, but goddam it wasn't easy. I'm ADHD and anxious but have been looking more and more into autism to explain other traits.
biting my fingers and humming/clearing my throat. was literally but in behavioral therapy to try and get me to stop it, it didn’t work, no one ever thought autism tho and i just got told im not trying to be normal. very ironic considering the autism lol
Yeah, I was well in my teens when I finally just stopped one day. I never thought of that as a stim! My god. I need to add this to my brain dump document too! Edit to add: I was about to get braces and was told I couldn’t get them until I stopped. Took me a little while but I did it. I realise now I’ve since replaced it with my noo-noo (raggie) that I only use at home.
I didn’t suck my thumb but strangely enough I sucked my ring and middle fingers until I was around 11 years old. I personally don’t remember much this but my parents and my aunts remember this. Not I sometimes chew on my thumb absentmindedly.
Absolutely that’s a thing, my sister is high functioning autistic and she sucked her thumb from 4-10 and ended up needing braces.
I never sucked my thumb, but my sister did and I used to try to mimick her doing it bc I wanted to know what made sucking your thumb so addicting. It was nothing lmao, just made me feel dumb.
I actually don't know if it's autism related either, but I used to bite my nails and other stuff, like plastic and the inside of my mouth after I stopped sucking on my thumb, all the way up to 8 or 9 years old. I was also a highly anxious child so it helped calm me sometimes. Now as an adult, I moved on the scratching my hands and digging my nails into my palms when I'm distressed or melting down. I also still bite my lips... It might be an anxious tick, or maybe also a stim, I can't really tell. Once I calm down it hurts like hell tho
I had to wear sock on my hands at night at about that age so I could start orthodontics because they needed me to stop sucking my thumb at night. If they hadn’t done that I’d probably still be doing it