It's a Miracle!

If you have been around Megan for any length of time, you know that she is a serious thumb sucker. She could efficiently get her thumb in her mouth the day she was born. We pushed the pacifier with all our might and lost the battle. She would suck her thumb through socks or mitts . . . it didn't matter . . . she was bound and determined!

We have tried to at least confine the thumb sucking to bedtime. No luck there. She will be three in July, and her teeth are a mess. Her bottom teeth are pushed in, her top ones are pushed out. We decided that, without intervention, she would soon be able to put her thumb in her mouth without even opening her jaw (I'm not kidding!) Our plan was to attack that this summer. Julie is still a little on the edge from giving up her paci, so I really wasn't interested in taking on something else.

Since Julie gave up her paci, she has had her thumb in her mouth a lot. Not sucking it . . . more just playing with her teeth. I REALLY didn't want her to go from the paci to the thumb, so I decided to put a band-aid on each thumb. I thought that might just be enough to keep her from thumb-sucking until she's over the hump. Well, as I was putting Julie's band-aids on Meg came to me saying that she wanted a band-aid too. I decided to do it . . . at the same time thinking, "there is no way that this is going to even slow her down . . . she will peel it off, suck over it . . . she'll find a way . . . she always has."

The miracle is that those stupid band-aids are actually working!! She wore them for 2 days before it ever dawned on her to take them off, and when she finally did she cried and cried b/c she knew she shouldn't have done it. She hasn't taken them off again. I haven't seen her put her thumb in her mouth even once (it's been 4 or 5 days!) At naptime and bedtime she is taking forever to fall asleep and crying a lot, which is a bummer, but to be expected. If this actually ends up kicking the habit I will be shocked! Ali ended up having to get a habit device to stop her (to the tune of $600!) - a box of band-aids is certainly easier on the budget!