Kate has been a thumb-sucker from the beginning. She found her thumb when she was a tiny baby, only a few weeks old. I promptly took it out. I was not going to have a child that sucked her thumb. No way. I popped a binky in instead. She tried it out for a while, but never liked it as much as her thumb. I tried for months to get her to change her mind. Finally, when she was about 5 months old--I gave in and decided to let it be. And in some ways it was great. No more searching for a lost binky in the middle of the night. Being able to sooth herself when life got a little rough. It didn't take more than her blanket and her thumb to cheer her up. But ever since I gave in, I have worried how it would end. I worried that she would be in high school and still sucking her thumb on the sly. I thought about how I would have to make her wear a glove to bed to get her to stop. Or paint on some other bad tasting medicine. I worried about her teeth. I worried and worried. (Isn't that what moms do?)I shouldn't have worried. Kate's done--done sucking her thumb. And it happened over night. Just like that. Because she was ready.
We've talked about stopping for months, even years. Kate told me she would stop when she was 3 1/2, but that came and went. She didn't want to stop, she said. So she pushed it back to 3 and 3/4. Then 4. Finally, a few months ago, Kate pointed out to me that she only sucked her thumb when she had her blanket. And when pressed on it, she admitted that she would stop sucking her thumb if she didn't have her blanket. I now had a plan.
However, I felt a little mean at the thought of taking away her blanket. She has slept with it every night since birth, and despite the fact that it is very worn, she loved it. I hated to take away something she loved. So I put it off.
A few weeks ago we had dinner with some friends. They have a little girl Kate's age whom Kate adores. In the course of the conversation, we started talking about the thumb sucking dillema and they told me they had taken away their daughter's blanket and she had stopped sucking her thumb. Kate was sitting by me during the conversation and heard the whole thing. So the next day, we decided to try it. Kate willingly gave me her blanket and told me she was going to stop. And she did! I couldn't believe it. She hasn't put her thumb in her mouth once and hasn't fussed about it or asked for her blanket back. We decided when she gave it to me that she could have it back after she was definitely done sucking her thumb, so I might give it back eventually. We'll see.
I'm so proud of her!
By the way, she potty trained the exact same way--over night, when she was ready.
6 comments:
What a great little girl! Isaac is still sucking at night - maybe I should read him this story and see if it inspires him!
(All three of my kids have potty-trained that way too. We just waited until they were ready and they were done immediately. Nights and everything. It was great!)
Awesome! She is such a cute little girl! I wish that Parker would stop sucking his thumb. I worry that he will be the one at school still sucking his thumb. I might have to pull out all the stops.
Hooray for Kate! Hooray for YOU! I miss my one thumb-sucker. I was ready for him to stop...at 9 YEARS OLD! But I secretly miss it. It was so cute and convenient (when he was younger).
Awesome! Good job to mama and child for having enough patience with each other. =)
Yeah!! Congrats Kate!! Yet another story that proves it is okay, and much more pleasant to just wait til they are ready. I'm glad it went so well.
Good job Kate! And look, her teeth look great still! Glad to hear about the potty training over night, Lily's being stubborn but I think that's how it'll be for her too, when she's ready ;)
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