Julie - posted on 05/13/2012 ( 2 moms have responded )
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Before I even begin, let me say that I wish I had used a pacifier with my daughter when she was an infant rather than letting her suck her thumb. I already know I am likely to get a lot of comments about how a pacifier can be taken away, but a thumb can't. So I already know what I "should have done". The question is, what do I do now?
My daughter is 6 1/2 and still sucks her thumb. She does it at night, and when she is watching a video and so is not physically active with all parts of her body. She does not do it during other activities. When she watches a video, she likes to get her pillow and blanket and cuddle up with them, so I recognize a connection there with sleep time. Blanket in hand, thumb in mouth.
Of course, I can always forbid bringing the blanket and pillow with her as she watches a video (which is not terribly often) That should at least help with the daytime thumb-sucking, but does not guarantee preventing it as my daughter is very clever about finding substitutes. But how can I help her get past the nighttime habit? I've tried to use one of those bad-tasting concoctions to put on the thumb nail to discourage nail-biting and thumb sucking. My daughter was put off by it for a while, but eventually, she apparently decided that she was willing to put up with the bad taste in order to keep her habit. She simply sucked furiously until the taste was gone and enjoyed the thumb for the rest of the night.
He habit is affecting the shape of her mouth, causing a bit of an overbite, so I won;t be surprised if she eventually needs braces, but her dentist told me that it might be ok after all, so we'll see.
One thing that might help to minimize the long-term damage is that she had a bad fall about 18 months ago and hit her mouth, loosening the two upper front baby teeth. We managed so save the teeth for a while, but they eventually came out prematurely. Her secondary upper teeth still have not made their appearance, although she has lost both lower front teeth and gotten her new ones. So now when she sucks her thumb, perhaps there is not so much to pull against. I can always hope. :)
Do any of you have any suggestions of how to get an older child to stop this habit? The best I can do for now, as far as I know, is to remove the thumb from her mouth when I go in to check on her before going to bed myself. I'd really appreciate any suggestions beyond the nasty-tasting stuff that I already know didn't work for her. Thanks so much.
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