Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Medical Intervention

I could watch my kids pretend play all day long. I love watching their imaginations soar.

Yesterday as I was doing dishes, I overheard the kids playing doctor out on the deck. It really struck me because never have I heard all three of them pretend playing together. Nika was the patient, Mason was the Daddy and Payton was the doctor. Well, those were the roles Mason assigned, at least.

So I grabbed my camera. Surprised? Shush.

"Open your mouth. Show the doctor your mouth. It's okay ... Daddy is here." {Do you see how crazy long Payton's tongue is?!}
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"Okay Nika, it is time for your shots. You want Daddy to do it? Okay ... Daddy will do it."
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"C'mon Nika ... it is time to go home. You did so good! Daddy is so proud of you!"
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Speaking of medical intervention, I have got to do a medical intervention on Nika and her finger sucking. She sucks her pointer and middle fingers on her left hand and her fingers are a mess. After getting confirmation from the dentist that I need to tell her to stop, I have been doing that. She has good days and bad days as far as the sucking attempts go ... and sometimes she tries to hide it from me, which is actually quite comical.

Here is a picture of her hand ... check out her pointer finger and that little mark there. That mark is from one of her teeth and that spot is actually calloused from the extent of sucking. It actually looks really good right now because I just peeled a layer of calloused skin off of it. And there are several layers to go. Sigh.
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My biggest hurdle is how to handle the finger sucking at naptime and bedtime ... I've tried putting a sock on her hand, but of course that lasts about two seconds.

So I set off to buy one of these contraptions. I checked it out, figured I could put it on any two fingers and hoped she wouldn't just try to suck on the plastic.

Until ... I added it to my cart and saw it was $74.95!

LOL ... are they kidding?! Seriously! What about that thing is worth $74.95?! That price baffles my mind!

So ... I am back to square one. Please, if anyone has any bright ideas ... please do share.

19 comments:

  1. CUTE pretend play!
    I don't know about those fingers but I LOVE LITTLE DOWN SYNDROME HANDS! OMG I love em!
    What about batting gloves,because they velcro on and even though they may be a bit too big, they would prevent her from sucking and the velcro would make them stay? Right? I know they come in XX-small T-ball size.If you put them on both hands she probably couldn't get them off right? Or would that be mean? I guess it depends on your level of desperation! Best of luck!

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  2. There is this bitter apple spray you can get from the pet store! omg thats awful but it's basically a bitter spray that dogs and cats, and kids, don't like the taste of. I've tasted it.. it's awful! Check if its safe for kids maybe that would help.

    Would bandaids help? I know that the elastoplast ones taste awful. I remember as a kid that rubber bands tasted terrible too but you don't really wanna do that! omg where is my head today! don't listen to me Bethany I don't know where my brain is!

    Good luck!

    I sucked my thumb till i was 14 so I'm not really one to ask any way!

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  3. LOL I have tried bandaids. She actually split the tip of her one finger by sucking it so vigorously and I bandaided (is that a word? LOL) it up and she sucked right on the bandaids. Ugh...I digress.

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  4. Maybe try something like this? Of course if we can be sure its 100% safe. The reviews seem to be good...http://www.folica.com/MAVALA_Stop_for_d442.html

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  5. These pictures are too cute. I'm visiting for the first time...and have added you to our blogroll :) on Bridget's Light!

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  6. Wow, and for that price you are 5p short for the free subscription to the Family Fun thing! H!

    Um, I would maybe put a mitten on her hands with a strap around it so they can't come off? It all sounds sort of mean but then letting her hurt her hand is worse so you kind of have to don't you?

    And honestly, could you for once put a rubbish photo up for us so we can imagine that we could aim to be as good at photography one day lol?!

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  7. Caroline does the same thing with her thumb. When she wakes up in the morning it looks like an old lady's thumb.
    Her teeth are also EXTREMELY bucked from it.
    I stop her from doing it during the day, but the night.....
    Let me know if anything works.
    ~amy

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  8. This is the cutest little story. You really are quite a good story-teller, Bethany. But I'm with Lu- please- throw us a bone here! : )

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  9. Hi Bethany,

    They have stuff at the drugstore that you can paint on your child's fingernails (for nail biters) or their thumb. It is yucky, like the other person posted, but could do the trick.

    Another idea is to sew a very heavy sock into the sleeve of Nika's pj's. That way when she puts her jammies on, her hand is inside the heavy sock! If she can get her pj top off herself, then you can do the same thing with pj's with feet. How would that stop the problem you ask?!?! You cut off the feet, turn the pj's around, so they zip up the back, and your little one can't get their top off, so the sock stays on all night. This also works great for kids that like to remove their diaper while in bed! *Yikes*

    Hope these ideas help! Love Payton's Valentine gift. That is one lucky teacher!!

    Susan

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  10. No ideas on the sucking/finger issue - Aleena still sucks her thumb and I haven't started the weaning process.

    But, LOVED the story and pics of the pretend play!!!! So cute! So sweet! Gotta love Mason!! ;)

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  11. I love the pictures from the pretend play! Also - as a teacher (I taught middle school Spanish before staying home with Anne & Whitney) I think the hand lotion with the hand cutouts is absolutely ADORABLE and the teachers hearts will melt when you give them the Valentine gift!!!

    About the finger sucking - Anne sucked her thumb and soon after she turned one she started sucking her thumb almost obsessively. I thought - there has to be something I can do to stop this before it gets out of hand... she was no longer just sucking her thumb for comfort or to get to sleep - but starting to do it just for something to do in addition to comfort and sleep... so I tried Nexcare medical tape (we had the clear kind, like what you would tape gauze with)... I wrapped it around her thumb (she was about 14 or 15 months old) and when she tried to put it in her mouth she did not like the feel of it. She pouted, but could not figure out how to get the tape off so she was stuck with it. I retaped it before bed and then again in the morning. I think I did this for 3 or 4 days in a row. I am very lucky - she never sucked her thumb again after this. I am not sure if it would work for you guys - some of the other ideas sound really good too... good luck!!!

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  12. Joel still sucks his index and middle finger ... I don't think his skin in between the two fingers has been dry for 2 1/2 years. It is so gross because it never dries out to heal. We have just been redirecting him everytime like you do with a verbal "Hands down" or "No mouth". I've tried socks early on and chewy tube attached to his shirt with no luck.

    I'm gonna order this shirt for nap and bedtime.

    http://www.myspecialshirt.com/order.php

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  13. Love your photos of the kids playing - and doesn't Mason look so proud holding his little sister. Very sweet.

    Wanna come take pictures of my kids?

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  14. Does she see an OT yet? When Joshua was really little, our early intervention OT made him a little splint out of splinting material. It's purpose was to put his thumbs in a functional position because they were VERY flexible and he would bend them way back. It doubled as an anti thumb sucking/chewing device. If you see one, maybe she can make something similar to that expensive contraction. Sounds like you have lots of good ideas to try:)
    Wendy

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  15. They are so cute all together - I love that they are pretending to be at the dr.

    I sucked my fingers and I remember that my mom bought some icky stuff that she'd put on them and it tasted bad. I hated it so much that I snuck into the cabinet, dumped it down the sink and replaced it with water. Hee Hee.

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  16. hey I looked up the finger guard and the $74.95 price is average for this "plastic" guard. Some places it was even more. There is one website that has an awesome cloth thumb guard but they didnt have one for fingers. bummer... I found some stuff that you paint on her nails but it had alcohol and a bunch of junk in it that I wouldnt put in her mouth. I thought of bandaids too but they can come off easy. How about wrapping both fingers in that tape stuff that you wrap around gauze that sticks to itself? All of the home remedies suggested in the other posts were great ideas but It is going to be hard on you because that is her comfort and if she cant do it she will be upset.

    Tal

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  17. I love the story!!! OMG, I'm still laughing. What cutie pies.

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