My seven year old son has sucked one specific finger since the day he was born; despite numerous attempts to get him hooked on a pacifier as a baby. Over the past several years we have tried almost everything under the sun to try to get him to stop sucking his finger. We have tried the over-the-counter stuff, putting pickle juice on his finger (he now likes pickles!), putting vinegar on his finger, putting a splint on the finger, putting band-aids on it; nothing worked. As a last resort, we took him to the orthodontist last September. The orthodontist attached a thumb guard; which is a device that is hooked to two of his molars on each side of his upper row of teeth. The device then spans the roof of his mouth, preventing any sucking motion when he puts his finger in his mouth.
Just before Christmas, it was decided that my son was doing so well with not putting his finger in his mouth, that the thumb guard could come out. I was really hopefully that he was completely broken of the habit. He started out really well, even saying that he no longer wanted to suck his finger. However, he has again started sucking his finger. With a great sense of frustration, I called the orthodontist this evening and scheduled an appointment to get the thumb guard placed back into his mouth.
Now, I just hope that this will be the last time we have to do this.
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