Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Does it Taste Bad or Not?

Well, we did it. We bought the bad tasting goop to put on Luke's thumb to help him stop sucking. He was in agreement. He wants to stop sucking his thumb, but finds it hard to stop on his own. "My thumb has a plan," he says when we remind him to take his thumb out of his mouth.

Yesterday he asked us to put some of the stuff on his thumb. So we did. And a few minutes later he forgot it was on there and started sucking. I said, "Doesn't it taste bad?" surprised that he didn't react immediately. I guess he didn't notice the bad taste until I reminded him that it should be there. And it didn't taste like salad. "Yuck. It tastes like hair!" I'm not exactly sure what hair tastes like, but if it is "yuck" then maybe we've found the solution.

No such luck. A few minutes later he was happily sucking his thumb as if the gross stuff wasn't even there. He didn't even notice the taste until he took his thumb out of his mouth. So, what's the solution to that? Never take your thumb out of your mouth, of course!

Looks like our solution may have backfired. I guess it's back to the salad plan.

5 comments:

Angie @ KEEP BELIEVING said...

Our pediatrician told us not to waste our time or efforts on the stuff. He said avid suckers like Grant (and Luke) just develop a taste for it pretty quickly.

KEEP BELIEVING

Anonymous said...

As a reformed thumbsucker (til I was 12ish and I have the buck teeth to prove it), I would think Keeping a bandage on his thumb for a few days (or weeks) would do it. I can't imagine sucking a bandage would be fun.

Anonymous said...

Ooo a bandage idea sound good..
Gauze or something that would tast icky..

Unknown said...

I have a neighbor who actually had her daughters hand put in a cast to make her stop sucking her thumb (She only sucked one thumb and not the other)It totally worked!!

Good Luck!

Treasia Stepp said...

My son done this for a few years as well. Till one day he woke up with a infected sore on his thumb and had to be taken to the doctor. He bandaged the thumb (along with giving him antibiotics) and since it was bandaged for about two weeks he finally got over the urge to suck it.