Some Thumb Sucking Progress

Earlier this summer, I mentioned in a post that we were considering several methods to get Ivy to stop sucking her thumb. She began sucking her thumb when she was about five or six months old. One night she just decided that she didn't want her pacifier anymore (which she loved before that), and she began sucking her thumb. I really didn't think much about it...in fact, I thought it was pretty cute and convenient. (We didn't have to remember to bring her pacifier everywhere...she could just suck her thumb if she was tired or upset.)

However, at her 18 month checkup, our doctor told us that Ivy must be sucking her thumb more voraciously than most children, because it was already affecting her front teeth greatly. The doctor said that if we didn't do something about it soon, it would likely cause very great problems with her teeth in the future.

So I began doing some research on the internet, trying to figure out the best way to get a one and half year old to stop sucking her thumb.

We decided to first try putting band-aids on her thumbs. I found a lot of testimonials from parents online claiming that this works very well. The first day I put them on her, I made a big deal about it...acting like it was such a NEAT thing to wear band-aids on your thumbs! I told her that big girls don't suck their thumbs, and I just kept emphasizing how neat it was to wear band-aids. :) And she totally bought it! She thought it was so cool to have band-aids on her thumbs. :)

She wanted to put band-aids on her baby's thumbs, too. So we did. (And yes, I know her doll looks very creepy...some of her eyelashes came off in the washing machine.)

We started out just having her wear the band-aids during the day when she was awake. At first she began experimenting with sucking some of her other fingers, but thankfully, she must have decided that she didn't like that, so she stopped after the first couple of days.

The next thing we did was reintroduce her pacifier to her. I know that a lot of parents are trying to get their kids to stop taking pacifiers at this age, but we are trying to get her to take one! I just feel like she needs some sort of a replacement for sucking her thumb, since it seems to bring her a lot of comfort.

After a couple weeks of just wearing the band-aids during the day while she was awake, I began leaving them on for her afternoon naps. It took a couple days for her to get used to sleeping without sucking her thumb, but then she began napping fairly well with the band-aids on. And just a couple nights ago, we left the band-aids on at night, too. The first night we did it, she went to bed at 8:00 (like usual) but didn't fall asleep until midnight! She didn't cry at all though...she was just in her bed talking, singing, playing with her babies, and occasionally laughing. I realized that night how much sucking her thumb really did help her sleep! The next night though, it only took her about an hour to get to sleep. So we're moving in the right direction. 

Hopefully it will continue to go well and she can be retrained to be a good sleeper even though she can't suck her thumb anymore! (And again...I'm totally open to advice or suggestions if anyone has had success with this before.) :)