Alice is a thumb sucker. Always has been. I will admit it is sometimes pretty cute but now she is nearly three I think that maybe we need to start thinking about stopping it. I am well aware that will be easier said than done. I can’t exactly take her thumb off her.

When she was a teeny baby she wasn’t a great sleeper. We tried the dummy but she wouldn’t have it. Molly had a dummy so I wasn’t adverse to giving Alice one. But she wouldn’t take it. Not a chance. Then at around 4 months she found her thumb and that was it.

I will say that it was a lot easier than having a baby with a dummy. There was no middle of the night scrambles to find those elusive dummies in the dark. No tantrums as she got older over having her dummy.

It helped it sleep and it comforted her. It still does but I do know that mostly it is now just habit. It’s something that she has done for so long that it is hard to stop. The problem is she will suck her thumb most of the day. Whilst she is sat down, in the car or at bedtime. When she is playing or busy she doesn’t but as a child with not much stamina she has a lot of sit downs.

I am worried about her teeth and how it might be affecting them, and I wanted to find more info about the same. They are very gappy and the front and seem quite pushed forwards. However, the dentist hasn’t said that there is anything wrong and I do wonder if it is partly genetics as a lot of my family have very gappy teeth. I have also read that so long as she stops by the time her adult teeth come through she should be fine.

The thumb sucking could also explain why Alice has always had a lot of colds and illnesses. I guess she very easily transfers germs in to herself but I can’t continually wash her hands before she sucks her thumb.

When we took Molly’s dummy off her that was tough. Not because she caused a fuss but because she was just sooooo sad. She was two and a half so younger than Alice.

Around Christmas time I thought I had cracked it. Alice had been sucking her thumb so much that she had made it red raw. The cold weather and her propensity for eczema made it ten times worse. I just simply told her that she couldn’t suck her thumb as it was too poorly. I never thought she would listen but she did. She would keep raising her thumb to her mouth but would see me and stop. Sometimes she would raise her other thumb to her mouth and give that a try but it obviously wasn’t the same. Of course at night she would be found sucking it but I think that was an instant reflex more than anything. She went two weeks without sucking it in the day. I was feeling pretty smug. I also couldn’t believe how easy it had been and was super impressed that she had actually understood and listen to me.

Then one day she looked at me and said ‘Oh look mummy, it’s better’ and the thumb went straight in. Arghhh! That girl is far too clever. I have tried reasoning with her again but she always tells me that it isn’t poorly. So it seems that tact isn’t going to work.

I think she will listen eventually but it’s going to be tough. I’m thinking a reward star chart for every day she doesn’t suck her thumb could be a good option. Although I feel a bit bad as poor Molly didn’t have that choice. I simply sent her dummies to the dummy fairy. Then there is the foul tasting paint on nail stuff and I’ve also heard of people putting mustard on their kids thumbs which just seems cruel. There are also thumb guards you can buy which look rather odd and I’m not convinced she would keep it on. But maybe I don’t need to yet. She is still little but I’d rather try and break the habit now rather than when she is six or seven.

So my question is how do I stop the thumb sucking and when should I?

Image by Sophie Hewitt Photography