I’m embarrassed to say that until quite recently my youngest still sucked her thumb…And she is almost 5 years old.
All three of my kids have been thumb suckers at one point in their baby/toddler life. The twins both stopped at about the same time and it was so easy that I didn’t even give it much thought.
With one, the dentist told her it was bad for her teeth and she needed to stop. That VERY day she stopped and never started back up again. Thank you dentist! I told the other child that thumb sucking wasn’t allowed if she was going to be a BIG GIRL in a BIG GIRL bed, and she was done.
I naively assumed it would be just as easy with #3, But I have tried all my tricks to no avail. I actually think all my tricks made her suck her thumb more!
1) We tried the dentist warning—it didn’t work
2) We tried bribery. She said she wanted a three-layer cake (weird), but she quickly forgot about that promised cake and kept sucking her thumb.
3) I bought these gloves on Amazon. But she would just take them off after we tucked her in. That was $29.99 down the drain.
And then I accidentally stumbled upon the solution.
Two weeks ago I took her to get a manicure and pedicure because her sisters had something special going on at that time. We went to this little nail salon on Scottsdale Road and Thunderbird called NS Nails & Spa. The best part is they have four children’s pedicure chairs with stuffed dogs and princesses. So cute.
So she had her manicure and pedicure plus jeweled designs on her thumbs. She loved her nails so much she declared, “I am not going to suck my thumb because I don’t want to ruin my pretty nails!” Can I get a hallelujah! I found my solution for this kid!
It has now been two weeks and she hasn’t sucked her thumb once. If I have to pay $15 every two weeks to get her to keep up this good behavior, it is totally worth it! At some point, She will probably remember that three-layer cake I promised her and I will have to follow through on that too. But for now we will be spending some time at the nail salon twice a month.
Anybody else have any tricks to stop the thumb sucking if my nail salon visits backfire on me? Anyone else think it is so funny how every kid is so different? They sure do like to keep us on our well-pedicured toes!
Any ideas for my son…..my husband would kill me if I polished my son’s nails, even if it were for a good cause! Sandi
Sandi I did think of that! Not such a great idea for boys. I would go the bribery route, earn stickers on the sticker chart for a new truck or whatever toy you know he would like.
But every kid is different with what motivates them!!
I just found & starting following your blog. My daughter is 4 and still sucks her index finger. I’ve tried everything too! She is really girly so I am gonna take her to that nail place this weekend. & maybe it will work. 🙂 who knows?> fingers crossed lol
Fingers crossed for you Paige! Maybe I will see you there, my daughter is due for another manicure. But I have to say I am so proud that she still has not gone back to sucking her thumb!
Comments are closed.