5/09/2010

Goodbye Thumb... NOT

On Sunday March 7, we wrapped Ruthie's thumb, told her her thumb-sucking days were over and cried with her. She stayed up late that night watching Baby Einstein because she couldn't fall asleep without her thumb. We did this same technique with Austin at the exact same age. He gave up the thumb after only 2 days. I thought Ruthie would be easier. For 2 solid weeks we wrapped her thumb. Every nap and bedtime she wailed for 20-60 minutes. This was extra hard to take since Ruthie has been soooo easy to put to bed her whole life. Chuck her in the crib with her thumb and her favorite blanket (in the picture) and she basically goes right to sleep. Without her thumb, she soon learned to suck on her finger, or fingers, or her hand or arm or other hand. What were we to do? Put her in an upper body cast?

So yeah, Ruthie won the battle. The wrappings ceased. The thumb returned. Sleep returned. And everyone lived happily ever after.

(We figure that when she's 3 or 4 we'll try to help her give up the thumb using sticker charts and all that good stuff).

4 comments:

Michelle M said...

How funny that she started sucking on other fingers to cope without her thumb. Better luck next time Mom!

Julie said...

David sucked his two middle fingers for years. I tried many different methods to get him to stop and nothing worked. His pediatrician said not to worry till he was 5 or 6 and he actually stopped all on his own, thankfully, when he was around 5.

Rachel B. said...

Good for you mommy. I totally agree with your decision. We learned the hard way with Reese too. When we gave her back her "boppy" she slept again.

Cranberryfries said...

But she's so cute!