Well, here is the update with the thumb/finger sucking. JI did great! After a little less than 30 days, I haven’t seen him sucking his thumb at all. TJ, on the other hand, is a whole different story. I mentioned in a previous post that once we put the one thumb guardon him, he started sucking the other thumb. So, we put two thumb guards on. Then, he started sucking one of his ring fingers. So, we put DC’s old finger guard on him…along with the thumb guard. Yes, we put two guards on one hand. Take a look at the picture! Then, he started sucking his pointer finger. At that point, we considered it a lost cause. If only they made a hand guard. You know, that keeps you from sucking any of your fingers. I guess I could buy another finger guard and put three guards on one hand and get the same effect. But, they are not cheap and besides, he would probably start on the other hand, which would mean that I would need three guards for each hand…which would mean that I would have to buy three more finger guard sets. (I already have two thumb and one finger guard.) I just don’t think that will be happening. So, in the meantime we have taken the guards off and I suppose we will try again later on this year and hope that his finger-sucking obsession will be limited to ONE finger so that he will not just suck whatever finger is available! 🙂 Did I mention that we used the guards on the older set of twins (when they were about the same age) and it worked PERFECTLY! To this day, neither DC or JJ have sucked their thumbs/fingers since. If only the guards were that successful with the babies!!!
Disclaimer: The bands come in all different colors. On days when we planned to stay home, I used the more “non-boy” colors. I reserved the blues and greens for days that we were going out in public. Needless to say, I took this pic on a day that we stayed home…hence the PINK band! 🙂
~ Keara
I’m considering purchasing a Thumbguard for my avid 6 yr old thumbsucker. She wants to stop but has such trouble. This might be the right solution for us, since she is ready to quit. Love the picture, btw! lol
Anonymous
Hello,
My name is Jennifer I live in Duluth, GA and have two girls 3 & 2 years old. They both suck their thumbs. One more fiercely than the other. I thank you for your blog. I will order One. Yes, One, and hope that works..i will let u know. thanks..
Mama Jenn
Hi Joyce! Thanks for checking out our experiences with thumb/finger sucking! Not sure if you read my other post about it, but the guards worked PERFECTLY with my first set of twins!
As for the germ aspect, I did sterilize them a few times in addition to using plain old soap and water to clean them. Another thing that I did was to set them out in the sun for an hour or so. I mainly did this b/c if I didn’t take the guards off when they would eat spaghetti or something red, the guards would stain. Not sure how, but the sun took the stains right out.
I purchased mine from Everything Mother. (The customer service was awesome!) I updated the post above to include clickable links to the site to purchase from Everything Mother.
Let me know if I can answer anymore questions for you!!!
Joyce
I did a google search for thumb & finger guard and your site was one that came up. Your post on this was quite entertaining. My granddaughter is a pointer finger sucker, she will be four in July. What concerns me most is the germ aspect. Do you mind we asking where you bought your thumb & finger guards at? We can tell where her baby teeth are already starting to turn somewhat. Thanks…
Mama Jenn
Funny Diana!!! We tried the hot sauce on the boys and they liked too!
Diana
They invented these a couple of decades too late…my mom tried using Tabasco sauce. Maybe that’s why my brother likes spicy food.
Donalacasa
I never knew about these guards. My youngest 2 children did not take pacifiers. My son at 11 years old still sucks his bottom lip when he sleeps. I don’t know what to do about it. My youngest daughter, 9, sucked her pointer finger until a year or two ago. If I had known about the guards she would have stopped sooner!
Well Watered Woman
This is too funny. He’ll stop in due time. LOL
Kati
Too funny! I’m thinking you ought to duct tape his hands into fists, lol! I think that’s what I’ve resorted to doing with our lil’ finger sucker!!! I’m only kidding, though how tempting does that sound!