When Ethan was about 9 months, I took his binky away. He was such a good baby, and didn't seem to rely on it, that I thought we may as well get rid of the binky before he actually cared about the binky. I was so wrong on that one because he replaced the binky with two of his fingers. In the couple days it took me to realize my mistake, it had become to late. The binky was no more, and the fingers were what he sucked as he went to bed.
Luckily, I use comfort objects with my babies. They all have had a special blanket of sorts. Some that have had arms and heads of bears and elephants, other have simply been a blanket. I have loved this because I know it has helped my babies become good sleepers. They always go to sleep with it, and when they wake up in the night they snuggle with it and go back to sleep. More often that not, they also suck a binky, fingers, or a thumb when they are holding it. One thing I have found interesting is the fact that all of them have become particularly attached to a tag or a ribbon on the blanket, and either suck on it, hold it in their hand, put it by their face, under their nose, tickle their ear, etc as they go to sleep (really my kids have done all those things). While all my children except one so far have ended up sucking fingers and thumbs (Ethan was my only one that actually ever took a binky - and I spoiled that), I have been saved by this mere fact of a comfort object. Because of that they seem to associate the thumb/finger sucking with the blanket and the habit only happens when the blanket is in their hands.
Jayden and Bear
Jayden was able to kick the habit of thumb sucking when he was 5. We have the best pediatric dentist, and from the first time I took Jayden to him, he pointed out to Jayden how his thumb was sad from being in his mouth. So, twice a year, the dentist encouraged him to stop. As 5 years approached, Jayden and I talked about stopping sucking his thumb, and how we needed to be done with his bear blanket so that could happen. I told him when he was ready we could go to the store and buy a new toy, but he needed to be done with his bear and let me put him away. Eventually he was ready and we headed to the store. Jayden picked a game out instead of a toy, which I was fine with. And from then on, he hasn't had his bear and he hasn't sucked his thumb. Easy, peasy, lemon squeezy!
Ethan and his blanket
The dentist has been talking to Ethan about his sad fingers. Ethan has talked about stopping sucking his fingers, and just the other day I was looking at his fingers, and noticed they weren't "sad" anymore (the fingernails were back to normal). When I asked him about it, he said he had stopped. Then yesterday he told me he was done with his blanket and that I could put it away... and he wanted a game. So I told him we couldn't go to the store right then, but maybe another day. He said he wanted a game from my room (we store the most used games in my closet). Then he said he wanted the fishing game. I said "okay," went and got it and we played it. He informed that that now it was his game. Again... fine with me. Then he told me to put it back in my room. And with that - we have officially finished with thumb sucking and comfort objects by only 3 and a half! I am amazed!!
Dylan and Blue
On a side note, Dylan was the one who didn't suck anything, and was also the one who didn't want to give up his comfort object. I think he was around 6 when Blue got "lost" (in the closet) and we haven't found him since. ***wink,wink*** I felt totally mean doing this, but for Dylan it was too much for him to actually decide to be done. He would pick out a toy at the store, and then put it back on the shelf saying he wasn't ready, then he would pick either the same or a different one out, and then put it back. Eventually nearly in tears he would just decide he couldn't do it. After several times of this... the loving shove was given... and he was able to move on. Hopefully there are no permanent emotional scars there that he will tell me about when he is grown. =)
Austin and his blanket
Lets just hope my luck keeps going with Austin. He does only suck his thumb if his blanket is in his hands... so we've got that going for us again...
2 comments:
So funny how different kids are. I haven't had to be stressed about breaking a binkie, thumb sucking, or comfort object habit with any of my kids. The closest thing was a blanket that Tyler loved and finally gave up this past year after it was officially in threads. But, I wonder if the baby years would have been easier if we had tried harder to get our kids attached to those things?
Your kids are just so cute!! I worry about Suzie and her blankets!
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