I could cry right now.

[megster20185]

I know this is for the best but I am so upset right now. My dd had an orthodontist appointment on April 23 that is now going to be pushed back because of social distancing being effective until the end of April. She is 8 almost 9 and is moderate functioning autism. She still sucks her fingers. I have been trying anything and everything for years to get her to stop. I am drawing a blank on the name of it right now but she was going to be getting a device put in where she physically won’t be able to get her fingers into her mouth. We were waiting on the necessary teeth to grow in which is why she hadn’t gotten the device put in yet. And now her appointment is postponed. Like I said I know it’s for the best but I’m just so frustrated. Any suggestions for getting her to stop finger sucking welcome although I’ve likely tried them all.

[cricketwife]

This is not a big deal at all. However, I’m sensing from your posts that you are struggling to cope with the offshoots of quarantine/social distancing. Not seeing your parents, no Easter, it’s a lot for everyone. Can you identify a way to boost your mood and/or release some stress because it seems like you are living right at the tipping point? Something easy like going for a walk or scheduling some FaceTime or a zoom with a good friend or several. Heck, I’ve trained my 6 year old to brush my hair because it’s two minutes of pampering. Fresh air is an instant booster in our house. Even if the kids says they don’t want to go out, they perk up in about two minutes if they do. I’ve been taking them for daily walks through all this. The couple of days that we haven’t (weather or whatever) have been disastrous.

I don’t want to sound like I’ve got it all together. Last week I was a mess, today was a good day — which probably means I’m due for a bad one. But I’ve tried to control the things I can that will help me stay positive. Wanting to cry over this seems like such an overreaction that it might be good to just do a quick self-gauge of where you are.

On the actual teeth/thumb sucking front, I can tell you that I sucked my thumb until 4th grade, so whatever age that is. 10? Nothing worked to get me to stop until they put an ortho device in. We called it a cage, I have no idea if that was that real term. It worked like a charm. So when she gets it, I’m sure it will work. And in th scheme of things, whether that is April. May, June or next year won’t really matter. In the mean time, take care of her mother.

[megster20185]

Mar 30, 2020 18:43:43 GMT -5 cricketwife said:

This is not a big deal at all. However, I’m sensing from your posts that you are struggling to cope with the offshoots of quarantine/social distancing. Not seeing your parents, no Easter, it’s a lot for everyone. Can you identify a way to boost your mood and/or release some stress because it seems like you are living right at the tipping point? Something easy like going for a walk or scheduling some FaceTime or a zoom with a good friend or several. Heck, I’ve trained my 6 year old to brush my hair because it’s two minutes of pampering. Fresh air is an instant booster in our house. Even if the kids says they don’t want to go out, they perk up in about two minutes if they do. I’ve been taking them for daily walks through all this. The couple of days that we haven’t (weather or whatever) have been disastrous.

I don’t want to sound like I’ve got it all together. Last week I was a mess, today was a good day — which probably means I’m due for a bad one. But I’ve tried to control the things I can that will help me stay positive. Wanting to cry over this seems like such an overreaction that it might be good to just do a quick self-gauge of where you are.

On the actual teeth/thumb sucking front, I can tell you that I sucked my thumb until 4th grade, so whatever age that is. 10? Nothing worked to get me to stop until they put an ortho device in. We called it a cage, I have no idea if that was that real term. It worked like a charm. So when she gets it, I’m sure it will work. And in th scheme of things, whether that is April. May, June or next year won’t really matter. In the mean time, take care of her mother.

Thanks for being so concerned. I’m alright. Just frustrated as I’m sure we all are. I live in a development with a 1 mile circle that we have walked a few times. I’m familiar with the device my daughter is getting. I had it and so did my son. I just got frustrated because we’ve been waiting for so long for the teeth she needs to grow in and now they finally have and our appointment gets pushed back. I know it’s for the best though. I’d rather stay home and stay safe. I have run 4 half marathons and I’m training for a full marathon next year and I’ve worked too hard for too long to have my lungs destroyed. Anyways vent over. Thanks for listening.

[blondemoment123]

I’m sorry. I know it’s rough looking forward to something that means a lot to you then having it cancelled.

I can commiserate. DS has an appointment in June with a specialist that we’ve been waiting months for. I just know it’s going to get postponed, which really really sucks.

Sending virtual hugs.

[minniemouse]

I’m sorry, but it will be ok. Teeth can be fixed later. My dentist called today to reschedule my crown appointment. They moved it to 4/20, but sure that will be canceled too.
If it makes you feel better we are all in this together- literally everything is cancelled. Weddings, proms, graduations, vacations, needed elective surgeries, funerals.

[lilac05]

I’m sorry. It’s OK to cry. Even if it’s not a HUGE deal, and even if it’s for the best. It’s still sad. Allow yourself to be sad. This sucks. A lot. For almost everyone. Little things feel like big things. And when this all started, I think many of us hoped that somehow, miraculously, this would all be over by then. So we held on hope...and when those things past that imagined date are cancelled, it feels like another blow.

[Patsy Baloney]

I’m sorry. My son’s surgery to close his cleft soft palate was postponed to hopefully May. I’m so frustrated. We were so ready for the next step and now it’s a huge question mark with his speech hanging in the balance. I’m sorry that you’re going through something similar. I cried. I cried hard and screamed. I recommend it!

My DD was a finger sucker. She did it all the time for every emotion she was feeling. She is neurotypical, so I can only give you what worked in our experience without really knowing if it’s appropriate for your daughter. During the day, we punished for finger sucking. We started with timeout. We had to escalate to losing TV/video games. Her dentist talked to her and told her how it was hurting her bite, we did, too. She *knew* she shouldn’t be doing it, because she would hide to do it. So we knew it was appropriate to start punishing.

Day time finger sucking fell off pretty quick at age 6 after we started punishing.

Night time finger sucking was a lot harder, because that’s how she soothes herself to sleep and then got back to sleep if she woke up. I started by waiting until she was asleep and removing her finger from her mouth with a whisper of, “Fingers out of the mouth.” That wasn’t aggressive enough - she was REALLY pushing her front teeth out and messing up her bite. So we started using bandaids on the fingers she liked to suck. So she moved to other fingers. So she started wearing mittens to bed. The mittens finally broke her. We also added a prize - 1 week without sucking, a big bowl of ice cream for dessert. 1 month without sucking, movie night with mom and dad. Stuff like that. Her dentist also laid it on soooooo thick when he noticed her bite wasn’t suffering as much and her teeth were shifting back to where they should be. I think that praise really helped.

She’ll still occasionally wrap her favorite finger in a bandaid or wear a mitten if she’s had a bad day. I think breaking her of the habit was really just her getting in touch with why she felt like she needed to suck her finger, and helping her find a solution to stopping when she felt that way.

[megster20185]

Mar 30, 2020 20:26:19 GMT -5 minniemouse said:

I’m sorry, but it will be ok. Teeth can be fixed later. My dentist called today to reschedule my crown appointment. They moved it to 4/20, but sure that will be canceled too.
If it makes you feel better we are all in this together- literally everything is cancelled. Weddings, proms, graduations, vacations, needed elective surgeries, funerals.

I know we are all in this together. I just needed to complain. And needed elective surgeries oh I could vent about that too. My aunt is in desperate need of a hip replacement and technically it is considered an elective surgery. However she has got to the point that she can no longer walk without the use of a walker and she often wakes up in the middle of the night unable to get back to sleep because of being in so much pain. And I just keep thinking “what level of pain does she have to be in for this to no longer be considered elective?”

[huskymom]

I’m so sorry, as a child finger sucker my parents struggled with me with this so much. I’m not sure if these are still recommended or considered barbaric, but they did a combo of that nail polish that tastes terrible, duct taping a mitten/glove on my hand, and ace bandaging my elbow so I couldn’t bend it, LOL.

[megster20185]

Apr 1, 2020 9:16:03 GMT -5 huskymom said:

I’m so sorry, as a child finger sucker my parents struggled with me with this so much. I’m not sure if these are still recommended or considered barbaric, but they did a combo of that nail polish that tastes terrible, duct taping a mitten/glove on my hand, and ace bandaging my elbow so I couldn’t bend it, LOL.

Done all 3. She liked the taste of the nail polish and she would ask me to put it on so she could lick it off. The other 2 she figured out how to take off.

[sdlaura]

I sucked my fingers as a kid and my DD (age 7/2nd grade) does, too. Eventually I just stopped. DD generally doesn't do it in public. I'm not all that worried about it - I figure she'll just stop at some point, too.