Thumbguard for the Thumb-sucker

Kingfisher was a thumb-sucker from the beginning. Give him his blanket and lay him down and he'd magically put himself to sleep until he was about 4 1/2 years. I LOVED his sleeping habits, but started to stress about the thumb-sucking dental damage.

I tried distraction, stealing the blanket, socks on the hand, etc. and it was getting me nowhere.

This is what worked for him to stop sucking his thumb:

We got a thumbguard

He only sucked his thumb when he had his blanket, which we allowed only at sleeping time. So we got a thumbguard about the time his naps started tapering off. It's not cheap, but less than a dental plate that insurance won't cover or extra orthodontics later. The company has excellent customer service and if you buy from them you can exchange thumbguards for different sizes--which we had to do. It didn't initially work  because he could still get suction. When we got the bigger size he said, "Hey this doesn't fit right-I can't suck my thumb!" (perfect-o). Sorry little guy, "Doctor's orders."
FYI, I've heard you can buy replacement bands at party stores.

We made a rewards chart for 30 nights of wearing it.

The grand reward; a Star Wars jet plane. But after less than a week with the proper fit Kingfisher decided he didn't need his blanket anymore (and it's been hidden ever since...). It just didn't hold the appeal without being able to suck his thumb.

It was a relatively smooth, non-invasive, no-fight transition and he soon stopped needing the thumbguard all together.

Now we do these speech exercises from Mommy Speech Therapy

As a result, Kingfisher has an interdental lisp. Using the downloads from this website we are practicing saying our "s" not "th". This is a great site for speech questions, I found it so helpful.

and hopefully that will be the end of our thumb-sucking story.