Stop Thumb Sucking with Dawn’s Thumb Guards
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I was given 2 thumb guards to facilitate my review. All opinions are my own.
My son just turned three in June and he was a terrible thumb sucker. Whenever he was the least bit tired, his thumb was in his mouth. We tried talking to him about how it will mess up his teeth and that he was making a boo-boo on his thumb. We would tell him he needed to stop and he would take it but within a matter of minutes his thumb would be back in his mouth. It seemed we were constantly telling him to remove his thumb. Of course, we were not able to tell him when he sleeping. This was when the major thumb sucking would happen.
The next step we took was buying the anti-thumb sucking liquid to put on his thumbnail. Let me tell you now – it was a waste of money. Do not buy it. My son went about sucking his thumb like nothing was different. He even said it tasted good. When that didn’t work, I turned to Google. What did I find? I found Dawn’s shop on Etsy and decided this was the way to go.
Dawn had been through the stop thumb sucking ordeal with her son and these wonderful thumb guards were the outcome of her child overcoming the habit. Her shop is very easy to order from – just pick boy or girl and the fabric print you want. You will have to measure your child’s hand to ensure the right size. I ordered size small and my son enjoys Cars and Scooby Doo so those were the fabrics I choose for him.
As you can see, the guard completely covers the thumb and is fastened around the wrist. Some of you may be thinking, “Well, my child will just take the thumb guard off.” WRONG! My son loved wearing it. It didn’t bother him at all. He even called it his Scooby or Lightening, depending on which one he was wearing.
To start out with, he wore the thumb guard all day and all night. Only time I took it off was bath time and if he was going to be doing something messy. He only had to wear it constantly for maybe a week and a half. We tried it without the guard for a day and found that he no longer needed to wear it during the day. When he got tired, the thumb didn’t go in!! So he was just down to wearing it during nap and night time.
After about another week, I forgot to put the guard on for nap time. Turned out, he didn’t need it for nap time any longer. I did have him continue to wear the guard at night for about two more weeks. Then he just didn’t need it anymore. I would have been able to tell if he was sucking his thumb due to the place where his teeth rubbed on his thumb. It was healed up and stayed that way. So, for my son, it only took about a month for him to break his habit!
I recommend getting at least two guards per thumb (in case your child will suck on both thumbs). This way, when one gets dirty, you have a back up. To clean, I just put them in the wash with his clothes and let them air dry. I didn’t put them in the dryer for fear of them shrinking.
We give Dawn’s Thumb Guards a thumbs up. Don’t even try anything else! If you want to stop thumb sucking – go to Dawn’s shop and get a couple of guards.
Such a clever product. I wish my kids used binkies or their thumbs and not me lol.
Wow! That’s great! So glad that worked for him! (and you!!)
What a great idea! My son sucks two of his fingers. I wonder if I can find a product for that!
You could always ask Dawn and see if she would be able to come up with something for you. It would be worth a shot anyway.
What an ingenious idea! So glad you found something easy and painless that worked. They’re cute, too!