[madcanner]

My 4 yo has always had a strong sucking reflex. She was born with blisters, in fact, from sucking in utero. Since it was a high-risk pregnancy I had several ultrasounds and more than once we saw her in there sucking away.

I suppose I should have expected it would be hard to get her to quit!

Now it's becoming a serious problem, though. Her teeth are showing noticeable signs of malformation. I'm really worried about her long-term health if we don't get this stopped now, but nothing we've tried has helped at all.

One of the reasons, and I think the biggest reason, is that this is comforting to her. She does it when she's upset and when she's falling asleep. I think if we're going to stop this she's going to have to learn another way to self-soothe, but I don't know what to try to switch her over to.

What do your children do to calm down when they're upset or tired? Does anyone have any suggestions on what I could teach my daughter to do instead of sucking her thumb? (She also plays with her hair at the same time.)