Breaking the Habit
In the beginning….
There was a little girl
Who had a few brown curls
Right on the back of her head.
She stared with deep brown eyes
And always could mesmerize
The family who danced around her bed.
In was truly a matter of weeks before this sweet little thing learned to sooth herself, much to her Mommy and Daddy’s pleasure. At 6 weeks, she slept through the night.
Why? Because she had found her thumb.
And she loves that thumb. It gets cracked and dry in the winter. It wrinkles like a digit that has spent the day in the pool. It comforts. It heals.
And, now, she has to let it go….so says the dentist.
Her baby teeth have already moved, but we have to prevent the moving of her permanent teeth (or endure an eternity in braces - and some seriously messed up teeth in the mean time)
But this is NOT an easy process. The thumb sucking is a part of who she is…..
She sucks her thumb when she is hurt, when she is tired, when she is crabby, when she snuggles, when we read books and when she goes to sleep.
And now, we are trying to break that habit. I say ’we’ as though I can take any credit for it at all! Oh…and my sweet girl is trying so hard. She really doesn’t want to quit, but she is working at it. And she is making me so proud….
You keep at it baby girl! I know you can do it!
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AWE it’s gotta be hard! best of luck =]
Wow that sounds like a hard call! My little boy has always touched his ear while sucking on his bottom lip… and he is still doing it at 7½! We are trying now to break the habit as braces look like they are coming our way if he doesn’t…. I am feeling for you!
Hi Danielle,
I’m a journalism UCLA student and I’m interested to know how the news of that incident with your family photo went to public media, like Associated Press and Yahoo News. This is for a paper I’m writing on news and social media. I’m studying how news spread over the internet so any details you could provide would be very helpful.
I really appreciate your help,
Best regards
Ralph
THIS POST IS NEAR AND DEAR TO MY HEART. I HAVE 4 CHILDREN AND THE OLDEST AND YOUNGEST WERE THUMB SUCKERS. BOTH HELD ON TO SOMETHING LIKE YOUR LITTLE ONES DOES. MY SON HAD A BLANKIE AND THEN A PILLOW AND MY DAUGHTER HAS A KITTY. MY SON WHO IS NOW 17 DID GET BRACES BUT ONLY IN PART BECAUSE OF THE THUMB SUCKING. MY YOUNGEST IS 9 AND I CANNOT BELIEVE THAT WE HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO KICK THE HABIT YET, BUT SHE ONLY SUCKS HER THUMB AT NIGHT AND STILL HAS THAT PURPLE KITTY SHE HAS HAD SINCE SHE WAS AN INFANT. I KNOW THAT SHE WILL ALSO NEED BRACES BUT THE THUMB SUCKING IS SWEET AND IT MAKES THEM FEEL BETTER. SO I DONT PUSH THE ISSUE. BUT THINK ITS GREAT IF YOU AND HER CAN ACCOMPLISH THIS DIFFICULT TASK AS IVE TRIED SO MANY TIMES WITH MY KIDS AND GAVE UP AND FIGURE THEY WONT DO IT FOREVER
LOVE YOUR BLOG
It is such a hard process and for such a little one to comprehend WHY. I don’t know your family (altho I feel like I know so much) from what I can tell when my niece went thru the same thing it took the whole family loving her and supporting her and I see that with your family so I know she will do just fine. GO SWEETIE you can do it. I will ask my sister when I see her this week if she has any good advice on how to help.
Our little thumbsucker turns 3 next month. We’ll have the same challenge to deal with sooner than we’re ready.
Good luck!
Awe! I was a thumb sucker too and didn’t break the habit until I was 16. My parents tried everything, but nothing worked. I refused to give it up.
This is the reason I allow my children to use the pacifier until they are around 4 or 5. We just recently took away the pacifier from my first born son who just turned 5. He is doing great without it. I wrote a post about it on my blog - http://paintermommy.com/baby_kid_stuff/taking-away-the-bobo-tykelight-product-review
But I am so happy to hear that your daughter is trying hard. That will be really awesome if she breaks it. I know personally how hard it can be. You can’t take away the thumb like you can take away a pacifier.
Good luck! DAWN
LOL. She is adorable! I sucked my thumb until I was 7. It’s a hard habit to drop. And, of course, I had a HUGE overbite that had to be corrected with a retainer and some thing called a frankel. I’m not kidding on that last one. Google it. It exists.
My son was a paci user and gave it up on his own one day shy of turning 3 (I had talked it up for months and months but he ultimately was the one to say “it’s time”) And we “sent” it in the mail to the babies of the world (his Dad drove by and picked it up out of our mail box)
My daughter has never taken a paci but is a thumb sucker. She’s only 20 months now.
I can’t send her thumb away to the babies of the world, as we did with DS’s paci, so I hope she grows out of it on her own. We shall see!
keep us posted!
DD #3 loved to suck her thumb! She was born sucking her thumb actually.
I finally got her to quit at the age of 9. I took her to an orthodondist:. He had a frank talk with her about what her thumb would do to her teeth if she didn’t quit soon.
She is now 12 and has beautiful teeth. It was a difficult journey though for her. Wishing you both an easy transition!
Sorry to ignore your daughter - but what are those pecks on your husband! HOT
all four of my kids sucked their thumbs and my 7yo still struggles with it. his teeth are definitely suffering, and yet he is my most emotionally needy child and i worry that if we take that away . . . i go back and forth between encouraging him to quit and leaving him alone. i wish he wanted to give it up more.
ah, but aren’t thumb suckers the best sleepers?:)
My 6-year-old still sucks her thumb and I know what you mean about it being a part of who she is. Hannah has always had one thumb in her mouth and the other on her belly button - it’s her comfort thing. I know she needs to stop, especially now that she’s got adult teeth coming in too - but it’s a fight I just haven’t got the stamina for yet. I was also an incredibly stubborn thumb sucker as a kid, so maybe I’m a bit biased…
Good luck!
@PaisleyJade - it is so hard to break the habit, isn’t it? But I can see what it is doing to her teeth now….fingers crossed both of our kids can do it!
Danielle
My oldest sucked his thumb too. It never really occurred to me to break the habit. I am probably too laid back. But one day when he was around 4 I just noticed he didnt do it anymore. To be honest I was kinda sad, he was a big boy! Good luck
Deb~ I completely understand!! I really don’t want to fight her either, but am hoping, with some gentle persuasion (read: constant nagging) she will stop on her own. Crazy, I know. My mom had braces for 4 years after being a serious thumb sucker and I can already see her little teeth moving….but darn she is so sweet - reminds me she is still my baby.
xoxo
My daughter started to suck her thumb when she was a baby and everytime she does it, I removed it from her mouth. Every time. She quit sucking after less than a week. I didn’t want her to suck because it tends to deform the front teeth (make it protrude).
Best of luck in breaking that habit!
Sleeping through the night at 6 weeks! I’m so jealous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You have such a cute little girl. I love her curls. I hope everything gose well. It would not be fun to have to get braces.
That must be hard!
But heres an idea,
it might seem crazy, thoe.
When I was little, I could NEVER stop sucking my thumb.
So my mom did something alittle drastic.
She put nail polish on my nails that tasted horrible, so id stop sucking my thumb.
And,
the nail polish is completly safe.
Godd Luck!