Butterscotch

When we were pregnant with Jude Todd and I talked about the probability of us having 3 kids that preferred sucking their thumbs over a pacifier. At that time both Jadon and Haven preferred the thumb, even with much effort on our part to get them to take the pacifier. I didn't work.

I'm pretty sure that Jude was our earliest thumb sucker too. Great, another one to have to break from sucking their thumb.

I know some parents I have talked to would have preferred thumb suckers. Their reasoning is that it's hard for the child to lost the thumb. I agree with that, we never had nights of crying because they couldn't find their pacifier or having to wonder around retracing steps to find where they lost it.

But that's our argument for being against having thumb suckers. You can't just get rid of it when they reach a certain age. It can continue to be a struggle for them long after you think it's over.

We have been in a back and forth battle with Haven for about a year now trying to stop her from sucking her thumb. We have tried putting band-aids on her thumb, she just took those off. We tried putting hot sauce on the thumb and band-aid, she just waited for the hot sauce to be wiped off. We tried putting hot sauce directly on her tongue when we caught her and even though it caused her to throw up a couple of times she continued on.

Finally, I offered her a present. I put an offer of a stuffed horse on the table along with putting athletic tape on her thumbs and using the hot sauce on the tongue.

It finally has worked. She has been free from thumb sucking for a whole month. So, we went and she picked out her horse, Butterscotch. I am so proud of her.

Here she is with Butterscotch and her unicorn that she's had for a while now, Pinkie Star also known as Alice on occasion.

Jude wanted to get in on the pictures too.