Well, it's been 2 weeks since we went to the dentist and he told us that Sammy must stop sucking her thumb. It has been...well, do you want the truth or do you want the sugar coated version?
Here's the sugar coated version: it has been difficult but not as bad as I had feared.
The truth: sometimes I feel like it's not as bad as I had feared. Other times I feel like I was right to dread this moment from the very first time I saw her sucking her thumb. It's basically like watching a drug addict try to resist a drug that he's holding in his hand. There have been times when it has been simply brutal. As a substitute, I've been laying with her to help her sleep. This worked great until she figured she needs help in the middle of the night too. Cue multiple nighttime wakings, lots of crying and you've got a party. So, that had to stop too. Of course, this all had to happen when the whole house got sick. Rotten timing.
But, we have survived. Like Sammy says, "it's pretty tricky for me but I know I can do it". It has been 17 nights since Sammy has had to suck her thumb to get to sleep at night. She now puts herself to sleep without the aid of her thumb or without anyone laying with her. The hard part is stopping it in the middle of the night. She truly doesn't realize she's doing it. We started off with bandaids but she would suck those without knowing it. My next step was the awful tasting stuff on her thumb. I opted for a natural route from the health food store but she sucked that without knowing it too. The latest is we tape up her thumbs with medical tape to make them thicker and less pleasant to suck and then top them off with a fancy bandaid of her choosing to soften the blow. I'm not sure how long we'll have to do that for! Anyway, she's very proud of herself and when she has finally kicked it for good, we're redoing her room, complete with new bed, quilt, paint, the whole works as a reward.
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6 comments:
GO SAMMY! I'm totally rooting for her! She can do it! :)
I've been wondering how this was going! I bet it won't be long before she kicks it completely. Go Sammy!
Yay Sammy! I feel for you having to watch her try to resist the temptation. So hard!
I'm sure it is quite hard for her to even know she is sucking it in the middle of the night. I'm hoping the end is in sight so you all can get some rest again.
I love her attitude!! You can do it Sammy!
I'm so excited for her and you! Around the time Sammy went to the dentist we really came down hard on Tot. She's been asking to get her ears pierced so we told her that if she wants them pierced, she has to show responsibility, starting with the no thumb sucking. Looks like ear piercing is in our future.
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