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#1
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thumbsucking coming to an end
We have been warily watching our second daughter suck her thumb as she
has reached 3 this year. She sucked her thumb before she was born, so this has been a long term concern. At Christmas, she decided she wanted her ears pierced and has been talking about it since--particularly because we said she could when she was a big girl. A week ago, we noticed that the frequency of sucking her thumb had gone way, way, way down. When we talked to the dentist last week he lent us a book (David Decides--very useful) and suggested we try putting tape or bandaids on her thumbs as a gentle reminder and plan to get her ears pierced as a behavior modification reward to commemorate her success. We decided that on day 1, we would purchase a pair of earrings. After a week, she gets her ears pierced. It takes 6 weeks for her ears to heal, so we are going to give her a pair of earrings each week until the end when we give her a jewelry box. Well, we are on day 3. We bought her a pair of earrings on Day 2 as a reward for her first day. We plan to go get the piercing done next Saturday. This is great progress. We have found the trouble times--fatigue and boredom. The car is difficult, as is tv time. Her enthusiasm is great though, which gives me some reassurance in the finality of piercing her ears. Any suggestions on when to try letting her go without the tape? I am inclined to continue it for the entire month of habit breaking. She needs the reminder when I can't see her. Thoughts? Karen PS I know that 3 is very young to pierce ears. If it were not for the ending the thumbsucking and her strong desire, this would not be my ideal behavior modification. In the meantime, it appears to be successful--no flames please. |
#2
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thumbsucking coming to an end
Karen G wrote:
We have been warily watching our second daughter suck her thumb as she has reached 3 this year. She sucked her thumb before she was born, so this has been a long term concern. At Christmas, she decided she wanted her ears pierced and has been talking about it since--particularly because we said she could when she was a big girl. A week ago, we noticed that the frequency of sucking her thumb had gone way, way, way down. When we talked to the dentist last week he lent us a book (David Decides--very useful) and suggested we try putting tape or bandaids on her thumbs as a gentle reminder and plan to get her ears pierced as a behavior modification reward to commemorate her success. We decided that on day 1, we would purchase a pair of earrings. After a week, she gets her ears pierced. It takes 6 weeks for her ears to heal, so we are going to give her a pair of earrings each week until the end when we give her a jewelry box. Well, we are on day 3. We bought her a pair of earrings on Day 2 as a reward for her first day. We plan to go get the piercing done next Saturday. This is great progress. We have found the trouble times--fatigue and boredom. The car is difficult, as is tv time. Her enthusiasm is great though, which gives me some reassurance in the finality of piercing her ears. Any suggestions on when to try letting her go without the tape? I am inclined to continue it for the entire month of habit breaking. She needs the reminder when I can't see her. Thoughts? Karen PS I know that 3 is very young to pierce ears. If it were not for the ending the thumbsucking and her strong desire, this would not be my ideal behavior modification. In the meantime, it appears to be successful--no flames please. Well, I'm glad it's working. But... I think 3 is pretty young to be concerned about thumbsucking, but then we had a 6-yo who was still sucking. I'm not even sure when he stopped, but he decided when he'd do it, and he did it. (The last couple years, the sucking was only when he was tired) All the cajoling and reminding we could give didn't help an iota. I guess this isn't a flame, but why the big concern at age 3? Age 3 seems pretty young for P.S.D.S (as they say in RI ). Were it up to me, DD would still have unpierced ears , but BH made the good argument that as long as DD can take care of her ears -- the requisite cleaning for the first 6 weeks or so -- that was fine, so she got pierced just past Christmas. And BH's ear background includes a sister who had a horrid infection and is now allergic to any nickel studs. Anyway, I thought that was a good way to gauge a good time for ear piercing. YMOV Anyway, back to the original question, if you're still here -- habits are broken pretty quickly IME. Is she still bringing her thumb to her mouth -- when she stops doing that, dispense with the tape. I rather doubt it will be as along as a month. Maybe a good test would be to drive her around in a car as she watches a boring video on the DVD player :-D Scott DD 10 and DS 7 |
#3
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thumbsucking coming to an end
For what it's worth, I stopped sucking my thumb when I was 10 and went away
to overnight camp. I didn't want the other kids to see. My teeth were fine. Jayne |
#4
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thumbsucking coming to an end
For what it's worth, I stopped sucking my thumb when I was 10 and went away
to overnight camp. I didn't want the other kids to see. My teeth were fine. Jayne In many cases, it isn't a problem. My daughter has an inherited issue with overjet. The dentist has already seen that the upper teeth are narrowing a bit and she has a significant overjet. If we can stop her now, we may avoid jaw surgery to correct the overjet and with early orthodontics we can repair the narrowing that decreases the space in her mouth. Karen, who stopped at nine and had braces for 2 years and jaw surgery to correct the damage. |
#5
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thumbsucking coming to an end
Well, I'm glad it's working. But...
I think 3 is pretty young to be concerned about thumbsucking, but then we had a 6-yo who was still sucking. I'm not even sure when he stopped, but he decided when he'd do it, and he did it. (The last couple years, the sucking was only when he was tired) All the cajoling and reminding we could give didn't help an iota. I guess this isn't a flame, but why the big concern at age 3? We already have an overjet (overbite) problem. The dentist (and her mother who has already had a overbite correct with surgery and braces) suggested that if we can stop her now, we may be able to minimize the effects of the overjet and avoid surgery when she has all of her permanent teeth. Age 3 is pretty young to pierce ears. Were it not for the thumbsucking, we would not even consider it. I don't think I am going to drive her around in the car with a boring video on the DVD, but then again I don't have a DVD player or a tv in my car. The suggestion is a valid one though. Watch for her to stop bringing her hands to her mouth and test her. The main concern is that she is still trying to stop. Karen |
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