Mission impossible?

With the first few weeks of life Siesa found her thumb. It was love at first suck. There were many benefits of her sucking her thumb like, she was a dream sleeper by two weeks old she was sleeping 9 hours at night, she has also been pretty happy and content since her comfort object was always at hand(ha ha) We decided that it was time to tackle the issue before she got too much older





A week and a half ago we explained to Siesa the reasons to stop sucking her thumb like that she is a big girl now and that it can cause problems with her teeth. I took her on a special trip to the toy store and let her pick out any toy she wanted. We put up a sticker chart and told her that if she went without sucking her thumb she could put a sticker on her chart and once the chart is full she can get her toy. I also made her a little “Thumbelina” puppet which was to help her remember to not suck her thumb. She only wore the Thumbelina for about a day and a half and then sort-of lost interest in that, but we have been putting bandaids on her thumb at night so she won’t suck it in her sleep. The first couple of days were pretty rough. Siesa walked around a lot and whimpered and didn’t know what to do with her hands. I felt like a terrible parent and almost wanted to call the whole thing off because she was so sad and miserable. On day number three we were driving in the car and she said, “Mommy, I don’t want to be a big girl anymore.” I said, “Why not, Siesa?” She said, “Because I want to be a baby so I can suck my thumb.” (Usually the only thing Siesa did while driving in the car was suck her thumb). I explained to her that she is not a baby and she doesn’t need to suck her thumb anymore. It has been over a week since I have had to say anything to her about sucking her thumb.



Yesterday she finished filling her sticker chart and got her toy a bus and another Polly Pocket doll. It’s actually been very humbling to witness her sheer willpower and how she just stopped. How many things in my life do I need to change, but just can’t and yet in just a matter of days a child who is not yet three can stop a habit she has had since birth just because of sheer willpower. The toy was a big factor everyday she would push the horn on the bus to hear the music play and dream about actually taking the toys out of the package.

Since Siesa has stopped sucking her thumb she is definitely a little more whiny and grumpy at times because she has lost her comfort object. On the other hand she has become much more vocal, playful, and involved in everything going on around her because she used to just stand and go into her own world and watch what was going on while sucking her thumb, but now she is right in the middle of everything. I thought it was going to be impossible but we have conquered the thumb! Yeah Siesa!