Ta Ta, Thumb

Ally is 7 (8 next month) and my baby. And I let her suck her thumb WAY too long. I know this. She only sucked it when she had her blankie, “Fifi” and Fifi wasn’t allowed out of her room, so she basically sucked her thumb in her room at night. I had Tori quit when she was 5. But, in my defense, the dentist was on me to get Tori to stop sucking her thumb. With Ally, the dentist couldn’t even tell she sucked her thumb, so I didn’t have that outside pressure. We did see the orthodontist this summer and he broke the news to Ally that she needed to stop sucking her thumb. We decided to wait until she was back in the school routine and chose last Friday to start the process.

With Tori, we tried something we painted on her nails that made her thumb taste “yucky.” Didn’t work. We tried a thumb guard. Didn’t work. We put together a goal chart and worked toward small rewards for each few days she didn’t suck her thumb. To keep the thumb out of her mouth at night, we placed Band-Aids on her thumb. Worked. So we’re starting there with Ally. As I write this we’re on day 4, and so far, so good! The first night was hard. Really hard. She was a puddle of tears and it was all I could do to not give into that sweet little face and let her keep sucking her thumb. But, I was strong and stuck with the plan, and we have initial success! If she gets three more nights of no thumb sucking, then she gets a frozen yogurt treat. For her big treat after 30 nights in a row, she is deciding between a new Barbie or a Build-A-Bear.

Another milestone, another year closer to growing up. Maybe that’s why I was so hesitant to start this process. But, for better or worse, we’ve started and we’re making our way though it, one night at a time.