No More Thumb !
9:00:00 AM
It's something so special and heartwarming to witness a baby sleeping all cuddle up nice and warm.....so sweet. It's even more adorable and over the top cuteness when you see a baby sucking his/her thumb. It's amazing that babies have been known to suck their thumb while still in the womb, which if you see one of my earlier ultrasounds of my daughter, there she is sucking away. Like most things with children, what's cute at one one stage when they are younger, sometimes develops into an issue that parents have to contend with at another stage as they get older.
Fast forward 4yrs later, now I have a pre-schooler who is struggling to stop or rather her parents (my husband and me) are trying to make her stop sucking her thumb. I myself struggle with the decision to prevent her from TS mainly for the fact it's an indicator to us that she is sleepy, and when she was an infant it was her cue that she was ready for bedtime.
As she has gotten older it has developed into a habit that makes her feel safe, comfortable, and whenever she feels stressed or upset, in goes the thumb and she calms down within seconds.
So I asked myself:
1. Who am I to stop or prevent her comfort?
2. Socially is it acceptable that an almost 5yr old still sucks her thumb?
3. Am I really that concerned and will she grow out of it?
As mentioned prior, when she was younger, sucking her thumb was her non-verbal way of letting us, her parents know that she was ready for bed which is why I let it go on for so long and never really stopped it........up until now.
When I noticed the other day that her teeth were being pushed forward, spaces were forming between them, and she began sounding like Cindy Brady whenever she would try to pronounce words with "th" like the word "the" I realized that I might need to take action and be a bit more proactive to help her cut down on the amount thumb sucking she was doing.
It had gotten to an all time high when it was becoming ritualistic on the weekends, a lazy Saturday or Sunday afternoon while watching her play-doh eggs surprise on one of our old devices, curled up in the corner of the couch with her gauze blanket, and man let me tell you,........thumb sucking in overdrive!
I began doing research on various thumb-guards, potions, solutions, gloves, etc......that by the reviews and opinions from other parents, some worked well while others were just a gimmick. My husband and I were about to drop $80 big ones to get the top of the line pediatrician approved thumb-guard when it occurred to me that there is a possibility she would figure out how to get out of and remove the guard? and before committing and going through the semi-pricey process, what could I do economically to test the theory of binding her thumb to break the mental desire to put her finger in her mouth?
Me being thrifty, partially frugal, and the DIY queen, my answer came in the form of a self-made, magivered, homemade rigged, thumb guard, A.K.A an old Ace bandage that was in my linen closet.
Moved by the "spirit of now" and there is no time like the present, I took the bandage and wrapped her thumb. Mind you we had been prepping her or others would call it warning her for a year that if she continued to suck her thumb she was going to get the dreaded and feared "thumb guard"!! I can admit that at times, I definitely used this as leverage and to my advantage when I wanted her to behave a certain way.....hey it happens, as a parent sometimes you have to use whatever tool is available.
Anyway I digress, what end up happening is nothing shy than amazing, because in just 4 short days, a little shy of a week, we were able to break the mental bond she had with her thumb and I can safely say present day she is about 90% TS free! I am not going to lie, there were moments when it looked bleak, however like most things and especially when it comes to kids, you have to be consistent for anything to stick. In no way am I knocking other amazing products out there in the market, this just happened to work for us.
Here is a great article put out by WebMD on thumb sucking and some helpful Do's and Dont's tips:
This is the pediatrician approved thumb guard we were going to purchase and honestly if the ace bandage didn't work, I was two seconds from buying regardless of the price.
I hope this helps anyone trying to get their child to stop sucking their thumb. Don't forget to share and subscribe !
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