Comments on: Crack’d

By: Mamato3

Mamato3 — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 00:15:06 +0000

Thank you for your blog being public so that I could read this! I have absolutely no advice, but I do have a 14 month old lil thumbsucker of my own. I was freaking because his thumb looks so hideous and scary. It’s bleeding in two places, and I was typing in the description to find out what was wrong with it. I didn’t even realize that this was a normal side effect of the thumbsucking, since he is the first thumbsucker that I have known. Thanks Again OmegaMom!! Congrats on the smooth bed transition and Kudos for you on patient bedsharing.

By: sster

sster — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 22:35:14 +0000

I’m going to jump on the don’t-stress bandwagon. I sucked my thumb (at home) until I was fifteen. At that point I decided (by myself) that I had developed other coping mechanisms for the stresses in my life. It was a moment of self-chosen maturity and I’m glad my parents didn’t impose it on me. I’m guessing that social pressures will curb it in public and it will eventually peter out on its own. And if it doesn’t? Oh, well.

By: Anocat

Anocat — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 20:30:22 +0000

Stop’n'gro? Or is that as bad as the hot sauce?

By: Miss Cellania

Miss Cellania — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 19:50:19 +0000

I don’t think there’s anything guaranteed to work. But maybe you should stop stressing over it. Thumb-sucking is easier to take than sleeping with your parents through adulthood. And it’s better than seeing her start smoking.

By: Jen

Jen — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 18:57:21 +0000

I can’t offer any advice about the thumb-sucking, because we are still avoiding dealing with that issue (what? avoidance is a legitimate parenting technique, right?) but had to offer congrats on the end of co-sleeping! I know what a big huge hairy deal that is!

By: Lisa

Lisa — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 17:46:02 +0000

I’m guessing she only sucks her thumb at night and at home? I don’t know how to break a kiddo of that, but I would slather the thumb with lotion or neosporin and bandage it before she goes to school. That way her poor skin will have a chance to heal.

By: Erika

Erika — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 13:54:08 +0000

I sucked my thumb until I was 5 or 6 as well - my parents went the bribery route. When I went one week without sucking my thumb, I was allowed to pick out any toy I wanted at the toy store (there were probably some restrictions, but all I remember is that I had total freedom to choose). I had the chapped thumb/calluses situation that your Dotter has, so it was pretty obvious when I had indulged. I would do it in my sleep, so I wore mittens for a while to break that part of the habit.

By the way, I have a friend who, at 34, still sucks her thumb. Obviously she only does it at night/in private. She had braces, and even after all these years of thumb sucking her teeth are still nice and straight. Not that I think your Dotter will be 34 and still sucking her thumb, but, you know, just as some info.

Not sure if this helps or not, but good luck!

By: Blog Antatonist

Blog Antatonist — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 11:55:50 +0000

I don’t have any advice, I’m afraid. My oldest sucked his thumb until he was nine, and like you, I sucked my thumb into my teens. I noticed that the more we talked about it, the more he sucked it. It was stressing him out. So we just decided to make it an non-issue. The braces were a foregone conclusion anyway. It turned out that his peers accomplished what we could not.

That said, my 7 year old nephew was a thumb sucker, and my sister was beginning to despair of ever getting him to stop. When we were home for Christmas, all of her kids marvelled at PPO’s braces. He told my nephew how much the palette expander hurt (unprompted by me) and how he has to go have them tightened every month and how much that hurts. He laid it on pretty thick about how much having braces sucks.

Two weeks later nephew quit sucking his thumb. So, if you know anybody who’s kid has braces…..

By: Courtney

Courtney — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 08:30:18 +0000

I sucked my thumb until I was eleven, and honestly I think I had to just grow out of it. Sorry. I grew up in the PNW, though, so didn’t have the horror of the chapped thumb. Yikes. Mine was pretty sour smelling though, from being in my mouth all the time.