Operation Quit Thumb Sucking: Attempt 2

So it's been a while since "Attempt 1", which has failed miserably.

We finally came the realization our children will not stop sucking their thumbs by us simply screaming reminding them to stop sucking them.  And before we went to publicly humiliating them with the "thumb guard", we tried the bitter nail stuff.

Off I go to the pharmacy and pick up a $5 bottle of "Thum".  Tried that for a few days to find them still sucking their thumbs.  Clearly the bitterness is not enough of a deterrent in this one.

After a few more months of laziness and me getting absolutely sick of Jason correcting the kids for the 10,000th time, I spent the big bucks, $14, on a small bottle of "Mavala Stop" off Amazon.  This is do or die at this point.

Well, Friends.  The $9 was worth it.

Before:

Car rides = lots of thumb sucking, especially to sleep

Just waking up and needing some snuggles.. and thumb

Bored
(Please ignore the fact that Braylen's car seat
is not buckled in correctly.  No one was
injured as a result)

There has been ZERO thumb sucking when this stuff is painted on nails.  We only take it off, with nail polish remover, at bedtime.  Braylen learned quickly how to nap without his thumb, which quickly translated to not needing it for bed either.  Evie, on the other hand, has that thumb in the second we take it off at night.

Two weeks in, I think we have broken Braylen's habit.  We are so proud of him for kicking the habit; he was an almost constant thumb sucker when his hands weren't being used for play.  And since "winning trophies" and being better than his/her sibling is the game our kids like to play, we praise Braylen constantly for winning the thumb trophy.  We'll get there with Evie... once we go for broke and keep it on all night too.  We will fight one battle at the time... the extra crying and tantrums are enough stress on all parties for right now.

Trophy winner

Now who can create a thumb trophy for this guy?  :)