I love pictures of babies sucking their thumbs. They look so sweet and innocent. All three girls sucked their thumbs (Beth included her index finger as well) and with each baby I was happy that they found their own means of soothing themselves. Somehow pictures of babies hiding behind big soothers aren't so cute. I always want to flick them out of their mouths so I can see what they really look like.But it stops being cute when they don't stop.
Beth had a fear of looking like Bugs Buggy (instilled in her by Dr. Laura, our dentist) and she stopped on her own with tactics she thought of by herself.
Laura stopped without our knowing. I just watched her fall asleep one night and realized that she hadn't gone near her thumb in the process.
Miss Alice increased her thumb sucking in kindergarten this year. She wasn't nervous or unhappy or stressed, but for some reason she sucked her thumb as soon as she stopped moving. TV, computer time, storytime, and of course naptime and bedtime.
It wasn't as cute anymore and my nagging was starting to bother even me. And it had no effect on Alice. Nor did Dr. Laura's warnings about the shape of her mouth and the way her teeth were growing.
Even her overbite was kind of cute when she was little, but getting less cute all the time. Our financial fear of braces finally made us do something about it (besides the ineffective nagging).In June, Alice introduced DJ to almost everyone she met.
DJ (or Dental Jewellery) is now cemented onto her back teeth and is shaped like a lovely flower in the roof of her mouth, stopping her from sucking her thumb.
The first two nights were not without struggle. For the whole of her short life she had never fallen asleep without the soothing comfort of her thumb. The first night she was up until about 11:00 with cries of "I'm never going to sleep until I'm an adult! I'm going to be so tired!" Yes, yes, she would be very tired, and she was dragging Yvon and I down with her, so at least she wouldn't be alone. The second night was easier and she feel asleep crying again, but much earlier.
And then it was over. She didn't seem to need it or care. Now DJ was truly just jewellery to be shown to everyone and she could proudly say she didn't suck her thumb anymore.
I won't get another picture of her sucking her thumb every again. Now I wish I'd taken a sleeping picture in her last days with thumb access. Maybe it was still kind of cute.
I may just be imagining it, but it's only been a mouth and I'm sure that her smile has changed. She shows off more than just two teeth for sure. She'll wear her jewellery until Christmas (giving it to Santa as a gift) and hopefully never revert to her thumb again.
And yes, that's a real baby skunk and deserves a post of it's own.
6 comments:
Awwwww. . .
Fortunately none of my kids sucked their thumbs much :)
You absolutely MUST post about the skunk!
So is dental jewellery there to serve a corrective kind of purpose or did you get it just to get to stop sucking her thumb? Just curious, because even though Simon has mostly stopped sucking his thumb, I still notice him doing it while he's sleeping...
such a sweet post - they don't stay little, do they? Next time we're in AB, we'll try to get together! Yvon commented on my blog that you've made something similar to the Note Taker - I'd love to see pics if you have some!
Tamara: The post about the skunk is coming soon.
Bon: Yes, it's correcting her thumb-sucking and getting rid of an old habit. The hope is that without the pressure of the sucking, the roof of her mouth may flatten out a bit (giving more room for teeth) and the lack of pressure on her front teeth will allow the teeth to settle back into their correct spot. Hopefully this will get rid of her need for braces later.
Coralee: I'll send you pictures of some of them. They differ every time.
so I was laying in bed this morning thinking "I don't think I've linked Evelyn's blog on mine yet" I usually am so quick to do this... anyway, you're linked now!
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