DD sucking her thumb entirely off her hand?

[brdgrl]

Done a bit of a search of old threads and not seen an answer, apologies if it is there and I missed it.

DD is 21 months. She thucks her thumb; always the right thumb. This is not an issue in itself, and I am not looking for a way to stop it altogether.

However, the last week, she seems to have been really over-doing it, and maybe gnawing on it as well - I think she could be getting some back teeth so maybe that is why? Anyway, her thumb is very sore, and actually cracked and bleeding. :( I have been trying to encourage her to change to her left thumb as a 'back-up', thinking that would give her poor rightie a break. But she doesn't go for it. I am trying to just keep it dry as much as I can, at the times she is not 'using' it.

To reiterate, I am not particularly interested in ending the thumbsucking (hence posting it here, rather than as a behaviour/development issue) - although obviously if we can't find a solution, I don't want her to continue to hurt herself either! But for 21 months it has been a complete non-issue... She has been an incredibly 'good' sleeper since 3 months old - when she found her thumb.I would prefer to find a way to let her keep her self-soothing and her beloved thumb for a while longer. She has never had a dummy, and I will not introduce one now.

Any advice from others who have been there and found a way? Thanks.

During the day, could you give her some other things to suck and bite on? My 5 year old weirdly likes to chew on her old rubber baby spoons, but you could also try teethers etc. Or the corner of a muslin, to suck on? That might give her thumb a break. As you say, keep it as dry as poss whenever you can. If it's cracked and bleeding there is a chance she might get an infection in it, so you may have to break the thumb sucking cycle...hope you can get her to switch. Could you try putting a scratch mitt on that side, to encourage her to swap?
On the thumb sucking in general, I do see that you don't want to stop it now...but I sucked my thumb until I was 19 (!!) and did lots of dental damage. My parents tried to 'help' me stop when I was a child, 8 or 9 I think, and again as a teenager. It didn't work, and I remember it being stressful. I do wish they had done it when I was littler....

Thanks, linspins! I hadn't thought of infection, but of course I should have...

She mostly sucks when she is tired, so during the day it is possible to keep her off it. I'll do as you suggest and try some teethers and rubber baby spoons (we never had those, might work well!); I put a teether in with her tonight in the hope that she'll try it herself.

Wow, sorry about your teeth! Good thing for me to think about. I've been assuming she will stop on her own by the time she's school-age, but I know that doesn't always happen.

Thanks again.