Zoe discovered her thumb when she was just a few months old, and the two of them have had a love-affair ever since. Not a night would go by that she didn’t use her thumb as she drifted to sleep, and as recently as last summer she would occasionally suck her thumb during the day (though, interestingly, never at school). We tried using big milestones (“You’re turning five!” and, later, “You’re in kindergarten now!”), incentives (“You can pick out ANY present once you stop”) and even scare tactics (“Your teeth are going to look like a bunny’s if you keep doing it”), but nothing worked. I actually thought it would take teasing by friends – perhaps at a sleepover when she was older – to get her to finally stop, but it wound up being something else altogether.

In October, one of Zoe’s teeth became loose – and she found it uncomfortable to suck her thumb while the tooth wiggled. She came to us one day and basically announced she was ready to stop sucking her thumb, and so each night we would carefully wrap up her thumb in adhesive tape (and later Band-Aids) to prevent slip-ups. It was very difficult at first: Though she was on board in theory, she very much wanted the familiar comfort when tired – and there were many nights of tears in the beginning. (“Please, Mommy, take off the Band-Aid – I need my thumb,” she would cry out, breaking my heart a little.)

It took awhile, but Zoe’s nights became easier – and a few weeks ago we stopped using Band-Aids altogether. She has had a few relapses (she woke up two or three nights with her thumb in her mouth and called us into her room, all upset), but the normal nighttime scene is her in bed clutching Hippo with her hands at her side.

I sometimes feel sad that she had to give up something that brought her so much comfort, but I know it was way overdue. And mostly I just feel free proud: It wasn’t easy, but she did it! (And yes, now she can get ANY present that she wants.)

-M

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 18th, 2012 at 10:10 am and is filed under 78.Two kids-December 12. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.