The Battle of the Thumb

Thumb sucking is hard habit to break!! Our youngest sucked her thumb in utero and within minutes of birth soothed herself by putting her thumb in her mouth. My daughter, now 7 1/2 years old, sucking her thumb is becoming more of an issue that needs to be cease. Over the past couple of years we have tried many of the normal tactics to help her stop sucking her thumb. Eventually, like a best friend, the thumb finds its way back. The adage that "30 days will break a habit" did not ring true for us. We do have some extenuating circumstances that makes stopping the habit much more difficult than your average kid. Due to a medical condition called FPIES my daughter is unable to eat. Add in Sensory Processing Disorder and the task becomes like climbing Mt. Everest. Thumb sucking is a calming, self soothing technique that my daughter has used since before birth. Recently, while looking through a site containing tools to help kids cope and deal with a wide variety of issues I came across ScratchSleeves. Oh, how I wished I would have had this when my middle child was younger to help her deal with her severe eczema!! It is like a shrug with mittened hands. The material is so soft and the hand mitts are made of silky satin. It is extremely sensory friends for those kiddos that having various clothing issues.