thumbsucking coming to an end

[Karen G]

We have been warily watching our second daughter suck her thumb as she
has reached 3 this year. She sucked her thumb before she was born, so
this has been a long term concern. At Christmas, she decided she wanted
her ears pierced and has been talking about it since--particularly
because we said she could when she was a big girl. A week ago, we
noticed that the frequency of sucking her thumb had gone way, way, way
down. When we talked to the dentist last week he lent us a book (David
Decides--very useful) and suggested we try putting tape or bandaids on
her thumbs as a gentle reminder and plan to get her ears pierced as a
behavior modification reward to commemorate her success. We decided
that on day 1, we would purchase a pair of earrings. After a week, she
gets her ears pierced. It takes 6 weeks for her ears to heal, so we are
going to give her a pair of earrings each week until the end when we
give her a jewelry box.

Well, we are on day 3. We bought her a pair of earrings on Day 2 as a
reward for her first day. We plan to go get the piercing done next
Saturday. This is great progress. We have found the trouble
times--fatigue and boredom. The car is difficult, as is tv time. Her
enthusiasm is great though, which gives me some reassurance in the
finality of piercing her ears.

Any suggestions on when to try letting her go without the tape? I am
inclined to continue it for the entire month of habit breaking. She
needs the reminder when I can't see her. Thoughts?

Karen

PS I know that 3 is very young to pierce ears. If it were not for the
ending the thumbsucking and her strong desire, this would not be my
ideal behavior modification. In the meantime, it appears to be
successful--no flames please.

[Scott Lindstrom]

Karen G wrote:
> We have been warily watching our second daughter suck her thumb as she
> has reached 3 this year. She sucked her thumb before she was born, so
> this has been a long term concern. At Christmas, she decided she wanted
> her ears pierced and has been talking about it since--particularly
> because we said she could when she was a big girl. A week ago, we
> noticed that the frequency of sucking her thumb had gone way, way, way
> down. When we talked to the dentist last week he lent us a book (David
> Decides--very useful) and suggested we try putting tape or bandaids on
> her thumbs as a gentle reminder and plan to get her ears pierced as a
> behavior modification reward to commemorate her success. We decided
> that on day 1, we would purchase a pair of earrings. After a week, she
> gets her ears pierced. It takes 6 weeks for her ears to heal, so we are
> going to give her a pair of earrings each week until the end when we
> give her a jewelry box.
>
> Well, we are on day 3. We bought her a pair of earrings on Day 2 as a
> reward for her first day. We plan to go get the piercing done next
> Saturday. This is great progress. We have found the trouble
> times--fatigue and boredom. The car is difficult, as is tv time. Her
> enthusiasm is great though, which gives me some reassurance in the
> finality of piercing her ears.
>
> Any suggestions on when to try letting her go without the tape? I am
> inclined to continue it for the entire month of habit breaking. She
> needs the reminder when I can't see her. Thoughts?
>
> Karen
>
> PS I know that 3 is very young to pierce ears. If it were not for the
> ending the thumbsucking and her strong desire, this would not be my
> ideal behavior modification. In the meantime, it appears to be
> successful--no flames please.
>

Well, I'm glad it's working. But...

I think 3 is pretty young to be concerned about thumbsucking,
but then we had a 6-yo who was still sucking. I'm not even sure
when he stopped, but he decided when he'd do it, and he did it.
(The last couple years, the sucking was only when he was tired)
All the cajoling and reminding we could give didn't help an iota.
I guess this isn't a flame, but why the big concern at age 3?

Age 3 seems pretty young for P.S.D.S (as they say in RI ). Were
it up to me, DD would still have unpierced ears ;), but BH made the
good argument that as long as DD can take care of her ears -- the
requisite cleaning for the first 6 weeks or so -- that was fine, so
she got pierced just past Christmas. And BH's ear background
includes a sister who had a horrid infection and is now allergic
to any nickel studs. Anyway, I thought that was a good way to
gauge a good time for ear piercing. YMOV :)

Anyway, back to the original question, if you're still here --
habits are broken pretty quickly IME. Is she still bringing her
thumb to her mouth -- when she stops doing that, dispense with
the tape. I rather doubt it will be as along as a month. Maybe
a good test would be to drive her around in a car as she watches
a boring video on the DVD player :-D

Scott DD 10 and DS 7

[Jayne Kulikauskas]

For what it's worth, I stopped sucking my thumb when I was 10 and went away
to overnight camp. I didn't want the other kids to see. My teeth were
fine.

Jayne

[Karen G]

>For what it's worth, I stopped sucking my thumb when I was 10 and went away
>to overnight camp. I didn't want the other kids to see. My teeth were
>fine.
>
>Jayne

In many cases, it isn't a problem. My daughter has an inherited issue
with overjet. The dentist has already seen that the upper teeth are
narrowing a bit and she has a significant overjet. If we can stop her
now, we may avoid jaw surgery to correct the overjet and with early
orthodontics we can repair the narrowing that decreases the space in her
mouth.

Karen, who stopped at nine and had braces for 2 years and jaw surgery to
correct the damage.

[Karen G]

>Well, I'm glad it's working. But...
>
>I think 3 is pretty young to be concerned about thumbsucking,
>but then we had a 6-yo who was still sucking. I'm not even sure
>when he stopped, but he decided when he'd do it, and he did it.
>(The last couple years, the sucking was only when he was tired)
>All the cajoling and reminding we could give didn't help an iota.
>I guess this isn't a flame, but why the big concern at age 3?

We already have an overjet (overbite) problem. The dentist (and her
mother who has already had a overbite correct with surgery and braces)
suggested that if we can stop her now, we may be able to minimize the
effects of the overjet and avoid surgery when she has all of her
permanent teeth.

Age 3 is pretty young to pierce ears. Were it not for the thumbsucking,
we would not even consider it.

I don't think I am going to drive her around in the car with a boring
video on the DVD, but then again I don't have a DVD player or a tv in my
car. The suggestion is a valid one though. Watch for her to stop
bringing her hands to her mouth and test her. The main concern is that
she is still trying to stop.

Karen