I noticed a thumb shoved in his mouth out of the corner of my eye. I was hoping that Jonas wouldn’t have to suck on anything. Elijah was a paci baby and it was a nightmare breaking his addiction. I won’t allow my kids to be thumb suckers! My twin brother and I sucked our thumbs and we didn’t kick the habit until we were five. I didn’t want the same misfortune for my children. I decided to give Jonas a paci.
Babies have a strong need to suck for the first 6 months, and a paci addiction is easier to break than a thumb. What am I going to do to his thumbs? Cut them off? Our opposable thumbs are what separate us from the rest of the world’s lesser creatures after all. Jonas would try to sneak in the thumb when he got tired, but I could pop in the paci and he was content.
At the six month mark we decided the reign of the paci needed to come to an end. It would be easier now to break than 2 years or more down the road. Unfortunately Jonas was quick to reacquaint himself with his pudgy digit…the opposable one. We thought we found an easy solution to this problem: socks. We put socks on his hands. He would suck his socked fist making for a nice soggy treat in the mornings but it kept the thumbs out of his mouth. That Jonas is a clever little one though. He started biting the socks and could pull them off within seconds. If it were an Olympic sport he’d be a gold medalist. The other day I walked in to get him up and he had the sock hanging out of his mouth. He looked like a rabid dog, foaming socks from the mouth. While it made for a cute scene (I should have taken a picture), it also made for a dangerous choking hazard. Good bye socks. I won the first few battles, but as usual the kid won the war.
I’m open to suggestions, and by open I mean begging for them.
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Tabasco sauce on the thumb. That’ll cure it. =)
My grandpa did that to me when I was little. It worked for about an hour, but after that I was back to it. Kind of cruel too… I’d expect nothing less from you though Danny.
I had a buddy whose 2 year old son starting licking other people’s hands. Tabasco sauce cured that problem…
danny´s last blog ..Knowing God: The People Who Know Their God
I love that pic! My son had a pacifier but I only gave it to him at sleep time. When he was about 16 months old, he got a small canker sore just inside his lower lip that the pacifier irritated so he didn’t use it for a few days. During that time, I quietly put it away and he never went back. I was probably really lucky. My daughter wouldn’t take a pacifier, wanting only her thumb. We finally broke her of that when she was about four, threatening her with big horrible braces on her teeth to fix what she was doing (yeah, I know, the therapy bills will be big but it worked!) The point is, every child is different and you’re going to have to do a bit of experimenting to see what works in your family. Good luck!
Kat´s last blog ..Thank You Stinky
Hmm, now there’s an idea Kat. I wonder how you give someone a canker sore. My mom used bribery to get us to stop. Looking back I should have asked for something better. All I got was a small stuffed Garfield wearing a party animal shirt.
You have such a fun blog… I really like your writing style! It sorta makes me laughsmirkgigglegrimacegroannodinagreementsmile.
Blessings!
Amanda
Amanda´s last blog ..Make My Hair Turn Gray Kids
Thanks so much Amanda, that’s exactly the reaction I was going for. What a great compliment.
Having been there for your childhood I feel I have an obligation to keep you honest with the details of your post. It was your middle finger and ring finger and we were about 8 when we were bribed to quite.. I have to concede to the fact that we should have held out for something bigger than the lets party Garfield. They had to be less than 10 bux. Then again I remember dad getting us to sweep the side walk for a dime. I digress. I also feel an obligation to share amusing details related to the subject. I can’t remember which finger it was but you got a splinter into one of them and decided it did not taste good any more and switched to just the one finger. I wouldn’t recomend putting a splinter in you child’s thumb though.
You’re right bro. I initially had the minor details but it kind of turned into a tangent so I tried to keep it simple. It was the middle finger that got the splinter and ruined its flavor.
I think I’m too laid back about this stuff to give advice. yeah, I let my boys keep their paci for faaar tooooo loooong. And I’m cool with it.
Some may think that makes me a “bad” parent…I prefer to think I choose my battles
Heather of the EO´s last blog ..From the Mouths of Miles AND Asher
My wife uses that line a lot when I give her the look for letting something slide. I think we all do it. I’ve yet to meet a person whose the perfect parent all the time. This gig is just too tough for that.
I am with Heather on this one. A kid with a pacifier in his mouth for his first couple years isn’t such a bad thing.
Also, what a smart child to figure out how to get the socks off his hands.
I guess it depends on the child Casey. If your child wakes you up several times in the night because his paci fell out and he needs you to put it back in for him then it is a pretty bad thing. We didn’t really have this problem with Jonas though, only Elijah. I think when the paci fell out of Jonas’ mouth he just put his thumb in. Hence us trying to break his desire to suck anything in his sleep. Right now he only sucks on his thumb in his sleep. If it stays that way then it won’t be a big issue.
My son is going to turn 2 this month. He’s a thumb sucker. He never used a pacifier that much. We’re not sure how to cure him. We would try tabasco, but he likes hot stuff.. o.O
My grandfather told me a story about biting his nails.. His mother made him go out and clean the bird house with just a rag. Poop was all over the ground. he got the bird poop in his nails. He never bit his nails again.
So, you got any bird houses available to you?
Eric´s last blog ..Babies In Beards: Week 2
Hah, I think Jonas would still suck on his thumb even if he had bird poop on it. The first thing he always goes for when placed on the floor are shoes. They must have a ton of flavor.