My little one is 5.5 and about to start Kindergarten and she's still sucking her thumb. I thought she was done with it or just sucking her thumb at night,. but I just caught her for the second day in a row! I've tried everything: reward charts, bandaids, gloves, and even that bad-tasting nail polish... Do any of you have any tips?
Married 7/10/2009 * DD 12/2/2010 * DS 4/24/2014
2 babies in heaven (mc)
Blog:
ForLoveofCupcakes.com
Re: Thumb Sucking
If you think she was pretty much down to night sucking until recently, it could be that she's going through some developmental changes that are stressing her slightly, and she's reverted to her sucking habit to ease the stress. If so, she may get control of it again when she's feeling a little more confident and relaxed. Or, she could be slipping back into the habit when she's bored. Boredom and idleness are a kind of stress on kids that age too.
One good thing about kindergarten is that kids are VERY busy. There's always something to do with your hands, whether it's reading, writing, drawing, using scissors, fiddling with math manipulatives, jumping rope in PE, typing on a computer keyboard, etc. Kindergartners are pretty self-obsessed; they may notice that another kid is sucking his/her thumb, and may even comment on it, but there's usually not a lot of teasing/bullying about these types of things until 2nd grade.
So, kindergarten may help her kick the habit. Of course, you may see a surge in sucking behavior when she gets home in the afternoon, especially while she's adjusting to school. Ultimately, I wouldn't worry too much unless you've gotten a dire warning from your dentist. This will work itself out in the next year or so as she matures.