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Behaviour/development

Giving up thumb sucking

2 replies

gabbybaby · 31/07/2014 07:57

My just 5 year old was a terrible thumb sucker. She sucked her thumb and pulled her hair constantly and I hated it. Her teacher at school said it prevented her socialising and joining in, so we started putting stop and grow nail biting polish on her nails just for school which made a huge difference, although we took it off in evenings so she could sleep. Then one day about 3 weeks ago she just decided, all by herself with no pressure from anyone, that we should leave the nail stuff on because she wanted to stop sucking her thumb. We're amazed and so proud that she has followed through and totally all by herself has stopped sucking her thumb. The problem now is that, whereas before she would be asleep by 6.30/7 in the evening, she is now unable to wind down and soothe herself to sleep. It's getting close to 9 and last night was gone 9.30 before she finally just crashed. She's not getting up later in the mornings (up by about 6.30) so she's tired and grumpy all day. I'm desperate for suggestions for getting her to wind down now that she no longer knows how to self soothe. I don't want to underestimate what she's done as it's a huge achievement but I'm seriously considering telling her to just sucking her thumb again! Any suggestions from anyone who has gone through the same thing much appreciated!

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TheJourney22 · 31/07/2014 11:16

Prob not what you want to hear but I'm 37 and still suck my thumb

Hasn't prevented me being sociable or successful!

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gabbybaby · 31/07/2014 11:26

I could have coped with just the thumb sucking. It was the hair pulling that I hated. You could never see her face because she pulled her hair across her face. And her teachers made a point of saying that once we put the nail stuff on during the day there was an immediate difference in her socialising and putting her hand up in class. Having said that, we never told her she had to stop thumb sucking. She totally did it on her own. So I'm very reluctant to encourage her to suck her thumb again because it will make everyone's evening (and daytime!) a bit easier if she can fall asleep! She just needs to figure out a way to soothe herself to sleep without her thumb.