Breaking the Habit

My little Logan has been sucking his thumb for quite some time. In fact, he was caught sucking his thumb by the ultrasound technician during my pregnancy with him. Apparently many children give up thumb sucking on their own before their third birthday. I watched, and hoped, but his third birthday came and went and he was sucking his thumb as much as ever, day and night, not showing any signs that he would ever quit willingly. Well, Logan will turn 5 next month. When I took him to the dentist in December I told him we were ready to try any method necessary to kick the habit. He told me about an appliance cemented into the top of the mouth. Within a couple of weeks the habit is gone. The advantage of the appliance method is that it's stuck there even in the middle of the night when he'd suck his thumb without realizing it. It cost a pretty penny of course, but I'd recommend it highly. It's called a Bluegrass appliance. He whined a little the first night about wanting to suck his thumb, but hasn't complained since. He's had some trouble with food sticking in it, but taking small bites seems to help. We'll leave it in for a couple of months, just to make sure the habit is completely gone.