Tonight is Girl's Night with Elizabeth. Popcorn. Harry Potter Movie Marathon. Pedicures. Thumb-sucking Intervention.
At 6, it's obvious to the entire family that Greeny (her blanket) and sucking her thumb isn't going away on it's own. Permanent teeth are poking up from baby tooth holes, and it's time for Mom and Dad to step in before she damages her bite.
I bought a bottle of Malava Stop Bitter Nail Polish and told Elizabeth that we're trading Greeny in for a trip to Build A Bear. (Greeny is part of her ritual. She needs one to complete the other, so getting rid of Greeny seems to be the logical first step.) I explained why she needs to stop sucking her thumb, what the plan is to help her, and I'm gearing myself up for a rough couple of weeks while she...uh...detoxes.
The reviews said the bitter polish is so gross that kids gag on it--so I'm sleeping in her bedroom to catch any midnight, unconscious thumb sneaks that lead to horrific freak outs at 3 am. I'm totally sympathetic to her battles with this. I sucked my fingers until I was NINE--and I spent many a night with a sock pinned to my pajamas, tweaking like a crack-head and testing my willpower to not rip the thing off.
(I almost always FAILED.)
Some parents say breaking the thumb sucking habit by force is cruel, and only a monster would paint something on their kid's thumb and take away her method of self-soothing.
Mmmmmmmm. I don't buy it.
"Cruel" is a roomful of dental assistants pinning a 10 year old down in the chair so they can jam her mouth full of goo for dental impressions. Head-gear is cruel. Three years of painful braces to correct 9 years of thumb sucking is cruel. A week of bitter nail polish and Mom sleeping on your floor for support is...parenting.
11 comments:
I am not a parent, and I wasn't a thumb-sucker, so I have no clue what's proper, but your plan sounds right to me! I was a braces-wearer, and if there had been something that could have prevented that need... I would have wanted my mom to do it, because braces sucked.
(My issue was huge spaces between each tooth, so there was really nothing to prevent that... genetics are fun!)
SO HAPPY TO SEE YOU BACK!!! Your blog was missed. :-)
i've got 2 kids and i think what you are doing is absolutely right on! you are being a proactive parent. sometimes it is hard and they will hate it but our goal is to raise them to be the best people possible, and you are doing your best.
First; YAY to see you!
Second; NO ONE has the right to judge you for your parenting - unless you are harming your child. Which you are not.
Third; in my opinion, you are doing the right thing. You do what you gotta do. Sometimes it may not be "nice" or "easy" or "pretty" but then no one ever said that parenting was easy or for the weak - again, you do what you gotta do or deal with the fall out later on down the road.
I wish I had advice to offer; but I didn't have a thumb-sucker; so all I can do is wish you luck.
I say, it has to be done.
My kids were knew thumb suckers. They had pacifiers and we just took them away and put them in the trash. I guess you can't really do that with the thumb. Ripping off the thumb would be cruel. No?
My daughter always sucked her thumb while snuggling her "Baby Bear." Then Baby Bear got lost (no~really, he was lost!) and she stopped sucking her thumb so I think you're right about taking away the blanket.
BTW, she actually found Baby Bear about a year later and sleeps with him again but still no more thumb sucking.
yay you're back!
My son is a thumb sucker and is 5 years old. I was a thumb sucker until I was 10ish. (Probably longer...) I think you have found something that will work for you and your family, so go with it! My parents didn't really do much to help me quit, or whatever they did do didn't work. I just stopped on my own. But then had years of braces, head-gear and rubber bands. I do believe a bad week with my mom in my room would've been much better than the dental agony!! Please keep us posted....I want input for when it's my turn to do this with my son!!
I don't know because I still have baybees. But I was just creeping on your blog and wondering when you'd post again.
So, hello! I am of no help to you at all but at least I'm not a troll? Happy Saturday to you, Jaci!
I used to think you should just let the thumb sucking thing run its course. Then, when I was teaching high school, I saw the student body president sucking her thumb as she walked down the hall.
My cousin had a burr placed under his tongue to stop him from sucking his thumb. Yucky finger polish sounds way better.
Jesus, way to take away her single method of comfort - since you clearly aren't giving her any. You're just awful.
You know I just got my 3 year old to stop sucking her thumb with that nail polish stuff and it worked within 3 days but now she's this bitter, angry little girl that snaps at everyone. It's like she turned into some middle aged man that's trying to break their smoking habit overnight.
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