Thumb sucking

Alexander has always been a thumb sucker. Even when he was in my tummy he was a thumb sucker.

Once on the outside he avoided sucking his thumb because he was wrapped so couldn't get his thumb out. But as he got older his thumb started to make its way back to his mouth.

1 month old

3 months old

It continued into being a 1 year old.

And into being a 2 year old.

And even now as a 3 year old.

James and I have tried chatting with him about 'thumb stays out'. He could even say it to us and knew what to do but he just loves to suck his thumb when going to sleep and when asleep. He would even ask to have one of us stay with him for a bit at bedtime but then ask us to leave because he wanted to start to suck his thumb and knew we wouldn't allow him to if we were still there. We have tried some different strategies to try and help him stop sucking his thumb. Not only are we worried about damage to his teeth as he gets older but also he sucks his thumb very hard, leaving a large callus on his thumb which does sometimes cut and get infected.

Some strategies we have tried are a bandaid on his thumb - he just sucked his other thumb. Bandaids on both thumbs, he just sucked his thumb anyway. We tried socks on his hands so he can't reach his thumb - he wakes up, pulls the sock off and starts to suck his thumb again. Not so helpful. 

Tonight we have tried a new plan of action. We have bandaged up his hands, including his thumbs so he can't suck them and then we have put socks onto of his hands so that he can't pull the bandages off. Hopefully this will stop him sucking his thumbs and hopefully he can break the habit. I am hoping that it doesn't result in him waking upset a lot of the night. However, if bedtime is anything to go by I don't like our chances. He called out many many many times tonight because he was just out of sorts without sucking his thumb. Wanted cuddles, wanted to read (hard to do without thumbs), wanted to chat, wanted to get up, wanted to drink water, etc. Many call outs. But hopefully this is short term pain for long term gain where he stops sucking his thumbs while asleep. I guess the small blessing is that he only sucks his thumb when sleeping and not during the day so there is hope.

**Update - Day 3. The 1st night he pulled off one sock and bandage and sucked his thumb during the night. The last 2 nights though both socks and bandages have stayed on and his socks aren't wet either so he isn't trying. He also didn't wake last night at all so hopefully he is going to be fine when the socks and bandages come off.**