I hate dummies and was determined I would never give them to my girls…I didn’t! However, it never occurred to me that any of my children would be a thumb sucker and that in some ways this could be a whole lot worse.
Rosie has sucked her thumb since she was in the womb. In that very first scan she was curled up sucking her thumb inside me. I thought it was very cute but didn’t think much else about it.
As a newborn she was no trouble at all. We quickly settled into a new routine and within a few weeks I was able to lie her down in her cot at 7pm, go and sort her big sister out (take her for a wee and tuck her in) to come back and find she had gone off happily sucking her thumb. It was pretty handy I can tell you.
Over the years she has been a pretty easy child, only really sucking her thumb when tired. I have never had a problem with it thinking she was only young but after five years I’m now afraid it could affect her speech and teeth so really want to try and help her to stop. Its a tough one though because unlike with dummies, there is no thumb fairy who can take it away and you definitely can’t cut it off. I did mention on twitter that I wanted to help her but it appears that there are lots of grown ups out out there who still do it and that you can’t make someone stop if they don’t want to. It made me question if I am mad to try and stop her doing the thing that she does to self soothe.
Over the past few months we have tried the nasty tasting nail varnish and admittedly have been getting increasingly frustrated, telling her off when we see her doing it. Now though we are trying a new approach. We have a book, are gently encouraging her and rewarding her for stopping. Will it work? Who knows but we’ve got to at least try don’t we?
Watch this space for an update coming soon.
Karen x
Notmyyearoff
November 23, 2015 at 12:38 am (9 years ago)Good luck! I don’t really have any tips other than to say that my brother sucked his thumb till he was 6. He had a blanket he carried about everywhere too.
Helen Tristram
November 23, 2015 at 3:52 pm (9 years ago)I hate dummies too. She will stop in her own time. My daughter was a thumb sucker from birth and finally stopped at age 14. We tried from time to time to reduce the thumb sucking but she just went off into a corner and hid when she needed the comfort. I once taught an 18year old who would suck her thumb occasionally when tired. So you have a few years to go yet.
Sandra Azar
November 24, 2015 at 9:50 am (9 years ago)my one and half year old baby boy also sucks his thumb. i am really worried about it as someone told me that by this his thumb will be thinner. i really don’t know how to get rid of it!
babykitted
March 15, 2016 at 11:45 pm (9 years ago)I’ve heard some comments about thumb sucking and some people tried pepper on their kid’s thumb. She will stop it, she’s still growing and with a lot of support and help, she can do it!