Monday, March 8, 2010

. . . . . . . All Thumbs

Ahh, my little Daven is getting too big to suck his thumb, but he just doesn't want to stop. Tonight I heard him coughing and coughing so I went to check on him. He had pulled the bandaids off his thumbs and was trying to lick off the cayenne pepper so he could suck his thumb(s) again. Hence, the coughing.

I say thumbs because he used to suck only his left thumb, until we started weaning him from it, then he decided his right was just as good, so now I have to keep both away. We have tried bandaids, tape, socks over hands, yucky tastes, etc. etc. and so far his habit has survived them all.

Suggestions anyone?? I thought the others were hard to break, but this little guy is down right determined!

BTW, I had a great day yesterday and a very good day today, my best days in weeks! I also heard back from Dr. C's nurse and she said we will have to wait another week until he is back in town before we move forward with anything else for my symptoms. So, I will be waiting for the call.

Now, back to the thumbs...post your ideas here please!! :)

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

How I wish any of my children would have been able to find solice and been content with something so simple as a thumb, a pacifer, or blanket alas we can't have everything.

wjmom said...

Why fight it? If they are happy and can live with the peer pressure, let them suck their thumb (chances are they will need orthodontia no matter what).

Love, The Thumbsucker

:)

britt said...

He is one determined little guy! How funny...easy for me to say, I know, since I am not the parent trying to break the habit. At least he is potty trained! They all have their stubborness, right?!
good luck~

Josh and Melinda Adams Family said...

Send him to a family member's house that he loves dearly and have them give it a try! I broke my nephew of it while he stayed at my house for the weekend, and he never went back! Sometimes bribery from someone besides mom & dad works better.

Nichole Giles said...

I never had a thumb sucker. But Brayden had a terrible pacifier habit. Every time we'd take one away and destroy it, we'd find him sucking another one. It was like he had them stashed all over the house--which must have been the case since he always knew where to find one.

In the end, we poked holes in them and let him keep them. Then every time he sucked on one, it went flat. Lasted a week, then he gave up.

I don't suppose you can find a way to poke a hole in baby D's thumb, though, huh? And it probably wouldn't go flat either. Sigh.

Maybe you'll have to scare him by telling him his thumb will fall off in the night. =) Kidding.

Good luck with that.

Anonymous said...

My parents ended up getting a cast on my sister's thumb so she couldnt suck on it!!

Chad and Stacey said...

I used to suck on 2 fingers at a time. It wasn't until I was 6 (!) I broke my arm and they casted it along with my fingers. I've never gone back. :) Good luck!!

Chad and Stacey said...

I used to suck on 2 fingers at a time. It wasn't until I was 6 (!) I broke my arm and they casted it along with my fingers. I've never gone back. :) Good luck!!

Anonymous said...

I would just let him suck it. My sister always sucked hers at night untill she was around 10 she has the best smile of anyone in the family even though the rest of us required ortho. she did not. when he's ready he'll give it up. I think sometimes we make things worse when we draw alot of attention to it:)

Anonymous said...

My daughter stopped just before she turned 6 after hearing the dentist talk about what it was doing to her teeth and would continue to do with her teeth. We set up a reward system, she invented the rewards herself. A day without thumbsucking=one starburst. A week=3 oreo cookies. A month= a party with friends, a cake and a present. She stopped immediately, only had to be reminded a couple of times the first day or so. Night time is a different story because she does it in her sleep. She still puts on a sock sometimes, but it's not frequent. Good luck!
Dorothea

Kara said...

Good luck with that one. I hope it doesn't come to this but my niece had to have hardware put on the roof of her mouth so she can't suck her thumb. It is definitely a hard habit to break!

Anonymous said...

Tie his arms behind his back before bed...it seems like a sure fire way he won't suck them. :-)

Anonymous said...

There has been so much going on in your family- maybe he needs this method of comforting himself for awhile. I agree...He will probably stop when he is ready- all my kids did!
:)

Anonymous said...

I was a DETERMINED thumb-sucker until I was 8 years old. My parents tried everything to no avail. I am now 50 and suffer no ill-effects. I transferred the habit to something less obvious. (thumb sucking is a tactile habit, it's the way the THUMB feels) I discovered I could wrap the fingertips of my right hand around the nail of my left thumb and it was calming and not as "in your face" as thumb sucking. I do it to this day.

Anonymous said...

the only one of my kids who was a thumbsucker decided on her own to quit in kindergarden. She wore a mitten to school all day for a week as well as at bedtime. She even had us put masking tape around it to hold it on at night. It was peer pressure that made her want to stop.
Teresa

Jodi Orgill Brown said...

Wow! So glad I am not the only one to face this challenge! :) Thanks for sharing all the great tips and stories. I'll let you know how it turns out!

carolyn said...

Let's see...Chelsea and I were thumbsuckers in utero, as infants and toddlers...however we outgrew it I think a thumb medicine had something to do with it! Its been so long I can't remember. Daven sounds like a determined little guy to not give up thumbsucking...oh he will...on the other hand be glad he's potty trained! Good luck!!