So my 4-year-old has been thumb sucking forever, and I finally caved and bought that bitter nail polish stuff everyone talks about. Um...mixed results so far. First day was hilarious—her face when she tasted it was priceless, but now she's kinda getting used to it? Like, she'll make a face but still suck her thumb anyway. Anyone else had this happen or is my kid just super stubborn, lol?
We had a similar experience with our daughter—she made faces at first but then just powered through the bitter taste. Honestly, I think some kids are just determined enough to ignore it eventually. One thing that worked better for us was redirecting her attention whenever we noticed her thumb heading toward her mouth. Like gently suggesting she hold onto a favorite toy or stuffed animal instead. Took patience (lots of it...), but gradually she started reaching less for her thumb and more for something else comforting. Might be worth trying if the polish isn't cutting it?
We tried the polish too, but honestly it made me nervous about her accidentally rubbing it into her eyes or something...probably just me being paranoid though. Redirecting attention worked better for us too—especially at bedtime. We gave our son a special blanket to hold onto instead, and after a while he seemed to prefer that comfort over his thumb. Took forever, but eventually it stuck. Might be worth a shot if you're feeling unsure about the polish route.
"Redirecting attention worked better for us too—especially at bedtime."
Yeah, distraction seems to help a lot more than the polish did for us too. We tried giving our daughter a stuffed animal she picked out herself, hoping she'd get attached to it instead of her thumb. Worked okay-ish, but not fully there yet. Curious, did your son pick out his blanket himself, or did you just introduce it randomly? Wondering if letting her choose might make a difference...
We tried something similar with my grandson, though it wasn't polish but some bitter spray stuff. Honestly, he just powered through after a couple days too. Eventually, we found reading him stories at bedtime helped distract him enough that he gradually forgot about his thumb...mostly.
