Dear Emmalyn
It worried us so much when we had to make your first trip to A&E 5 months back (read more here). From then on, we are determined to quit you from thumb sucking.
We are sorry to take away you most precious soother but we didn't want anything bad to happen to you. You almost had to go through a GA surgery. Thank God that you managed to heal without any surgery.
Thumb sucking isn't really a bad thing. It really soothes you well and it's probably to our advantages as we do not need face a fussy baby. We just need to place you in the cot and you will thumbsuck to sleep. You slept through the nights and put yourself back to sleep with your thumb when you wake up in the middle of the night. we know you will kick the habit when you are older someday, so many people have did that.
Sound perfect right? But that's only if you are thumb sucking. Things turned out different for you, you are thumb biting! You are a rather tough girl who isn't too bothered with small pain. You hurt your thumb each time you suck. Your thumb turns nasty red and sore (some times with pus too) every single time. You started off with sucking just left thumb to both thumbs and then 2 index fingers.
Thus, we tried to refrain you from sucking by putting on bandage and mittens/socks for months. We gave you pacifiers (3 different types!) when you were younger but you reject them all. You love your thumb so much that we find you so smart yet disturbing. You hid at a corner to suck, ran away when we wanted to remove your thumb, sucked very passionately like it's a world delicacies, pulled out the bandage & mittens/socks and said no no but continued to suck.
I read up many articles and forum about thumbsucking, we gave you toys to hug (you like to sleep with nothing in your way), kept your hands busy, beat your tights, scolded you and praised you (when not sucking) but they all doesn't work on you. Other than covering it up, we have also tried applying bittergourd, chilli sauce and black vinegar but it's all futile.
The school decided not to let us cover up your hands anymore after you promote to playgroup in Feb. We know that covering up is not a long term solution and it might affect your development Thankfully, you are still using your hands very well! You have mastered grabbing things and climbing around with mittens on! You could even peel and paste stickers without much problem. We don't know whether to laugh or cry when we see that you managed to climb up the giraffe ride with your mittens on, stand up and balance hands free.
We are desperate and decided to use the ultimate way that many people have shared with me. I dabbed chopped chilli padi on your fingers and told you to stop sucking as it is spicy. As expected you went ahead to suck your thumb after a while and burst into tears. Your lips turned red too. You stop sucking for the rest of the night. You tested it for the 2nd time the next day and then after you have not sucked your thumb when you are awake for a week.
You even managed to fall asleep on your own in the cot without your thumbs! It happens that Daddy has been training you to fall asleep in your cot instead of having me to pat you to sleep on our be. I tend to drift off to sleep and can't get more things done.
However, you still suck in the middle of the night subconsciously so we continued to put on the mittens after you fall asleep. Anyway, we are happy that you have kicked part of the thumb sucking habit. It's a great improvement! At least, we do not need to worry that you would hurt yourself. Meanwhile, we are praying hard that you could fully kick the habit soon!
Today, you realised that your thumb is not spicy anymore so you attempted to suck again. I guess you still need more time but at you are progressing. We are sorry that you need to be "spiced" but we did it for your own good! One day when you read back, you might find out the reason why you dislike or love chilli!
We love you,
Daddy & Mummy
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