Thumb-Sucking

After three years of having her thumb to calm and soothe her whenever she was tired or anxious, I finally had to take steps to bring it to an end.  I was happy to hear that in the past six months that the dentist said her teeth had not changed, she was still at 25% overbite with a 7mm overjet.  Even without any changes, I was afraid to let her continue sucking her thumb this often.

She had gotten better at school, but she didn’t like it when the teachers put a band-aid on her thumb to help her stop.  They were required to make her wash her hands whenever she was caught (to stop spreading and catching germs), which I’m sure was exhausting them in the beginning.  But as soon as she hit her car seat, the thumb went in.  When at home in front of the TV, the thumb went in.  When reading books, the thumb was in.  When lying down for bedtime, the thumb was in…and stayed in most of the night.

I felt we had no choice but to intervene.  So this past Thursday morning, I applied the Mavala Stop – a bitter tasting nail polish.  I brushed it on her soggy, disintegrating thumb nail on her right hand.  I invited her to choose any one of Mommy’s nails and allowed her to brush it on one of my nails as well.  I explained it was a reminder not to suck her thumb.  I learned that she thought it was going to hurt.  So sad.  I told her that since it was on my nail, too, I would know what it tasted like and would think of her if I chewed my nail or got a taste of it. 

We both found out pretty quickly how foul the taste was.  She was finishing her breakfast in the car (it takes about 3 sittings for her to eat enough in the morning!), when she licked the butter from her bagel off of her thumb.  It broke my heart to hear her crying and spitting it out in the backseat and I couldn’t hold her.  Later that morning I, too, licked my thumb after eating a snack and understood her strong reaction.

Nighttime has been the hardest.  She would sit on the sofa watching TV while rubbing a toy across her mouth.  She struggled to get to sleep these first two nights.  Last night I realized it was nervous energy…I think she was afraid to lie down not knowing how to relax herself.  So we let her sleep with us last night so she could at least hold our hands.  I woke up during the night to see her thumb resting on her cheek (close, but not in her mouth).  I keep telling myself that this will be best in the long run, but I wish we could get her to latch on to something else to help comfort her when she needs it.

This sucks.  (No pun intended.)