Thumb Guard Failure

I blogged about Camila's life-long thumb-sucking habit last November. After trying several things to get her to stop sucking her thumb we had finally reached the point of desperation. We bought the ThumbGuard and hoped it was $75 well spent.

The first night we opened it we let Camila look at it, examine it, try it out and play with it a little bit. We gave her the option of wearing it that night or the following night. Not surprisingly, she opted to wait a day. But the following night she let us put it on and kept it on all night. It went like that for about five nights. We thought we were on our way, the seventy-five dollar investment had saved us thousands of dollars in orthodontist bills years from now!

Then she woke up without it. She had squirmed her thin little hand and fingers out of the "guard". That night we made it a little tighter but the following morning she had a mark all around her delicate hand, so we loosened it again and explained to her that she should leave it on. She didn't laugh in our faces at that very moment, but I know she laughed because the next morning she woke with with a huge grin on her face and no thumb guard. In the meantime, she had started sucking her thumb all day long. Our efforts to stop her thumb-sucking had again driven her to suck it even more!

Talking about it didn't work, the evil-tasting Mavala Stop didn't work and the ThumbGuard didn't work. We've lost. Parents zero, Camila 1 and as I look into the future I push this image away:

Yes, the very troubled Amy Winehouse was a thumb-sucker.

So what does a mom do when the child wins? She pretends the ball is still in her court; "Camila, you know what I realized? I noticed you really don't like this thumb guard and it's okay if you don't want to wear it anymore... and you know what? I know you're a strong girl and when you're ready you'll stop sucking your thumb. I know when you choose to stop you'll be able to do it all on your own!" She looked at me with wide-open eyes. She wasn't on to me. "Okay!" She kissed me, ran to the couch and sat down, thumb firmly in her mouth.

It's been a month and the thumb-sucking has not ceased. Nor do I think it will. I'm considering a new strategy -- encouraging her to suck her thumb. Maybe even enforcing it at all times...

So I'm open to suggestions, ideas, proven methods. I just don't want her picture to end up on this adult thumb-sucking web site: http://www.thumbsuckingadults.com/mytsMainPhotoIndex.htm. Seriously, I'm begging.

Image credits: https://www.google.com/search?q=girl+sucking+thumb&hl=en&prmd=imvns&source=lnms&tbm=isch&ei=63QxT-SWEtPYiQKr87mwAw&sa=X&oi=mode_link&ct=mode&cd=2&ved=0CBcQ_AUoAQ&biw=1066&bih=529

Thumb-Sucker!

One of the most beautiful memories for me is that of my daughter, a tiny baby with a mop of shiny black hair, sucking her thumb in her seemingly giant crib. I have to thank that little thumb for helping my Camila be such a good sleeper. She has always be able to soothe herself to sleep because of that thumb.

That now calloused thumb is causing some serious problems now that Camila is four-years-old though. For a year her dentist has been telling me she has to stop sucking her thumb. We started off talking about it with her, "Honey, the dentist says it's important for you to stop sucking your thumb. It's bad for your teeth." Each time she sucked her thumb we reminded her gently, "Camila, your thumb honey." For some strange reason, this gentle approach worsened the situation. While she only sucked her thumb at nap and night time before we started telling her to stop, after our conversation, she started sucking her thumb during the day.

Six months later her dentist recommended Mavala Stop -- I call it truth serum because it's potent and disgusting enough to make you confess all your secrets. I know because as a loving mom (and evil wife my husband would say), I put a drop of the stuff on my tongue and on my husband's tongue before brushing it on Camila's nails like the dentist suggested. The result? Instant tears and gagging which lasted for four days (seriously) because the flavor reappeared any time we put food in our mouths. Still, as a strict and committed mom, I went ahead and put the awful stuff on Camila's nails while she was sleeping. The result? More tears... from me. I couldn't help it. I watched my unsuspecting little girl gag and examine her thumb again and again, never giving up and eventually sucking all the evil taste off her nail. I cried of guilt and pity. But her dentists was clear, her teeth were being pulled forward and out by her thumb sucking. So I brushed on some more Mavala Stop on her nails only to see her suck it right off, this time knowingly and determined.

My husband and I both sucked our thumb until we were four or five-years-old and our moms swear we stopped on our own. Our teeth are fine -- my are perfectly straight actually. So I put away the Mavala Stop. If Camila is so determined, and so in need of that thumb to soothe herself, who are we to get in the way? "She'll stop eventually" I said to my husband, as images of that thirty-something guest on the Dr.Phil show asking "is this normal?" while she sucked her thumb in her corporate office flashed through my mind and bit of doubt entered me.

That was almost a year ago. When we visited her dentist again las month, the news was really bad. Her teeth are crooked and her jaw is actually sliding to the right because of the strong suction she uses to suck her thumb at night. Yikes! She has to stop, the dentist warns. "If not, we'll have to put in an implant on the back of her front teeth that will prevent her from sucking her thumb." Double yikes!

So today I ordered this device:

It's not cheap, almost $75, and to be honest I am weary of the design and effectiveness. How bad can thumb-sucking be really? She probably would stop on her own at some point... But I have to trust her dentist.

I know I'll probably cry watching her unable to suck her little thumb, unable to soothe herself the best way she knows how. And I have a terrible feeling I'll be getting some middle-of-the-night calls from her. But I want her to have nice teeth and to be able to bite off and chew her food. So we'll see how this goes... it's better than oral surgery.