Good bye to thumb sucking!!!!

I truly did not think I would already be writing this post.  Even thinking about breaking Clare from her thumb sucking habit scared me to death.  I would not even consider it until we went to the dentist and he told me it had to stop as she was developing an overbite. 

This is the first picture I have of Clare sucking her thumb and she was only 4 months old.  Knowing what I know now...I probably would have tried harder to break the habit then instead of thinking how cute it was.  At the same time, I don't know how you break a 4 month old of habits ;)

For some crazy reason that I could never begin to explain, Clare began to only suck her thumb when she had "Lammie" which was a huge blessing to us.  As long as we limited Lammie to her bed, she only sucked her thumb at bedtime.  It was a blessing in that she did not walk around with her thumb in her mouth.  It was a curse because she would be crying, overly tired in the backseat of the car and would never put her thumb in her mouth if we did not bring Lammie.  

So, when we talked about breaking the habit the first thought was that we would need to get rid of Lammie, which REALLY terrified and saddened me.  The dentist recommended Mavala Stop,which is a nail polish you purchase on amazon. 

I purposely waited until we got back from our trip to Michigan and had 5 weeks until our trip to Las Vegas, praying we would be done dealing with the issue.  We talked about it a lot and every time we did, Clare had the same response "No, I do not want to paint my nails, I like to suck my thumb."  Which terrified me even more!

On night one, I was fully prepared to have a newborn all over again.  She was not happy by any means and we had to go into her room at least 10 times to give her a drink of water because she had tasted her fingers again...and it was NASTY!!!!!  So that led to waking up 3 times that night to go potty...from all the water!  But each time she went right back down!

My next fear was that she would totally give up her nap, which a lot of friends said their children did.  Clare has taken a nap 85% of the time since breaking the habit, which is pretty normal for her age.  But she is happy to read books in bed til the end of rest time, even without sucking her thumb (Yes, I am proud!)

Night 2 was CRAZY!!  She went to sleep, no crying and no talking about it...just like a big girl.  LD and I were totally amazed.  I even snuck in a few times to make sure becaue I was sure she had just gotten used to the taste of the yucky stuff...but nope, no thumb sucking!!

Since that wonderful day 2, we have had our good days and bad days.  She doesn't ask to suck her thumb at all anymore and even without the stuff she won't do it, but it does take her a little longer to fall asleep and we have to be a little more firm about bedtime rules. 

I am so very proud of this sweet little girl.  During her very first nap with no thumb sucking I went in to get her to find Lammie in a drawer.  I was crushed when she said she no longer needed Lammie (and my mom was almost tearful!).  I think it was difficult because she wanted to suck her thumb when she saw Lammie, but she has gotten over the hump and Lammie is back snuggling with Clare nightly.  And now Lammie even gets to play outside of her room since she is such a big girl!!

Yay for Clare!!

I am so proud, but a part of me wants to cry because that was the last "baby" thing left about this big 3 year old!