Tackling night-time thumb sucking
Tackling night-time thumb sucking
My 4 year old sucks his thumb and on advise of the dentist we really need for him to break this habit...any suggestions? I should add that his thumb sucking is currently directly related to his cuddle blankies so we are discouraging the blankie during the day with some success (2 days down) but not sure how to tackle the night times... Appreciate your advice! Cheers
You could try a rewards system to start with, each time you check on him in the night & he isn't sucking his thumb, you could place a sticker on a chart or something similar, so that when he wakes in the morning it's the first thing he sees, that he can celebrate. Other options could be getting him to choose a character Band Aid that is applied to the thumb each night just before bed, or even a puppet or a sock. Clear nail polish may also help. You could also ask the dentist next time you are there, to have a chat with him about what may happen if he doesn't stop sucking his thumb.
