Aubrey is about to turn 3 in a couple of weeks, and she still sucks on her fingers today as much as she did when she was 6 months old and got tired of losing her pacifier. She does it to fall asleep, she does it to comfort herself if she is sad or scared or stressed, but she also does it when she's bored, when she is watching a show, or when she is trying to get out of doing something (i.e. therapy). I hate to make her stop doing something that brings her comfort...but it has got to stop some time. Her teeth are already a mess, and I shutter to think what all this finger sucking is doing to the structure of her mouth. Does anyone have any suggestions? Please?
11 comments:
I LOVE the wrist roll in the first picture. I've heard of bitter fingernail polish meant to get kids to stop biting nails.
Please tell us know if you find something that works. My 18 month old sucks his thumb for all the same reasons as Aubrey. Most people have told me that their children stopped on their own around 4 or 5. Before school at least is what I'm hoping for. Good luck!
My neighbor has a 3 year old that sucks the very same fingers as your little girl for all the same reasons. I was reading on-line a bit and I read that most kids stop sucking fingers at around the age of 4. So, you still have some time! Not that you need a time line. Maybe your dentist would have some tips? Good luck to you!
I don't know if it will help, but maybe put bitter spray on her fingers? Walmart sells some, at least I know they do in the pet aisle (we used it for Pocket when she was teething and trying to chew on things) and it's supposed to be safe for babies too.
If that doesn't help. . .I've heard of people using things like tabasco sauce, or vinegar - anything that will get them to have bad connotations with putting their fingers in their mouths.
Come to think of it, maybe I should try this on Michael. Maybe he'd finally stop chewing his nails.
So, we bought this stuff called THUM from wal-mart. It's in the pharmacy, you just have to ask for it, and it's basically a really bitter, slightly spicy nail polish. I put it on Spencer's nails when he was biting them. I've heard about tabasco, vinegar, etc. but I worried about him sticking his fingers in his eyes. The best part is, to get this stuff off, you have to use nail polish, so it stays for a long time!! Let me know what you decide to do!
Unless your doctor or dentist has shown concern I wouldn't worry about it too much, she is still young enough to need that comfort!
Also, I'm so glad that Aubrey is feeling better, it's so scary when your "baby" is in pain and you can't help.
my brother's little girl sucks her fingers too. They've just about broke her of it by wrapping her fingers in athletic tape every morning. She got used to the spray and it didn't bother her anymore, but the tape seems to be working.
Hmm I dont know what to say. Olivia is super attached to her binkie and I also worry about her teeth and etc. I was told that a binkie you can throw away and fingers you cant BUT if she is attached to it i wonder if she will go to the finger once i do get away with the binkie... Anyway... have you asked your dr? did he say anything? when u do find something that works, let us know!
We have the exact same problem with M! Her dentist wasn't to put a retainer in that should help, the only problem is it's about 50% effective with finger-suckers (90% with thumb-suckers). It has to do with breaking the suction, which I guess is the addictive part. We have a "consultation" at the end of this month. Hopefully it works because her front teeth are already moving. Before that our dentist told us to just use a lot of praise when she's not sucking instead of scolding when she is sucking. The problem for us was that it seemed she was ALWAYS sucking! I'm going to try that THUM stuff. Maybe that will fix it and we won't have to go the retainer route!
So I bought that nail polish stuff and it worked for about 6 hours, until M decided her habit (finger sucking) was more important than the nasty taste.
Okay, we actually had success with this!! Abigail sucked her thumb until she was about four and a half, and it felt like we had tried EVERYTHING. Here's what finally worked for us: we promised her a princess Barbie doll if she would stop. And we wrapped her thumb in princess Band-Aids to remind her of the Barbie, plus the band-aids tasted gross and interrupted the sucking, but she looked at them and saw the princess and so she didn't rip them off, since a) she liked the princess and b) it reminded her about the Barbie. But keep in mind that she was a year and a half older than Aubrey, so it was easier for her to understand all the reasoning behind it, etc.
We used Thum a LOT and it was pretty much worthless. I painted my own fingers with it and yes, it tasted awful at first, but it wore off really fast.
Good luck!!
Post a Comment