13 Month Old Using Fingers as a Teething Ring and Leaving Marks!

Try pacifiers filled with frozen water :)

Or, oh - maybe her usual teething toys are too soft? Maybe try something a little harder. I really like the Haba fish: perfect fit for a little hand, and the fin is just great. Also, it's perfectly safe and non-toxic. Also, Sofie the Giraffe is a great teething toy, and similarly soft yet firm, like a finger. It gets top ratings from parents everywhere.

Other than that, hmm, there are great wooden toys out there. From Haba, too, actually, and cottonbabies.com in general. Or just google: non-toxic wood toys.

Of course if it IS a comfort thing, it might be that there is a nuew stress in your baby's life. Try to think of what might have changed.

So, basically, instead of punishing/thwarting the behavior - since it is in some sense a comfort thing, be it physical or emotional - find a good substitute - and extra comfort. Use your mama genius! You'll find just the thing!

Does she put her thumb in her mouth all the time or is it just for her to sleep? I didn't have this problem with my child but my neice did. She would do it mostly while she was sleeping so they put socks on her hands while she napped and in the evenings. At the beginning she would fight to take them off but after a while she realized she wasn't getting any satisfaction with the thumb anymore and it eventually stopped. They also tried to put some kind of solution on her thumb that discourages thumb sucking but I can't remember what the name is. Maybe ask your peditrican.

Good luck!

I have never seen a child get an infection from sucking their thumb/biting it until it got a wound, but if you want to keep her from playing with it you may try a flavor she doesn't like. For example, if she doesn't like lemon Juice put a little just around the thumb pad and nail and let it dry, but not into the wound, and then if she starts sucking it she'll taste lemon and her wound will burn a little...and eventually she will leave her thumb alone. Other's I know have used hot sauce. The dentist also has a stinky/yucky tasting nail polish that you paint on designed to help get rid of thumbsucking behaviors.

Since she is so resistant to taking her thumb away I would not forcefully take the thumb away; that may only lead to more stress. I would focus more on relieving the teething pain. Hyland's teething tablets are great and very gentle, as they are homeopathic. If that's not enough you could try the Orajel, or Infant's Motrin if she's in a lot of pain. In addition, like another person responded, I would keep looking for safe substitutes. The cold teething ring works for some, and I have read good things about that Sophie the Giraffe--looks pricey but maybe not when compared to self-injury! Good luck!