Mavala Stop Deterrent Nail Polish Treatment | Nail Care to Help Stop Putting Fingers In Your Mouth | Bitter Taste | Easy Application | For Ages 3+ | 0.3 Fl Oz

We have a 2.5 year old daughter who was one of the most compulsive thumb-suckers that I have seen of her age. We understood that it was a way of quelling her anxiety (in addition to the fact that it was just habit), so we hesitated to take her thumb away from her. It was especially bad at night. Her dentist expressed concern about the effect on her teeth (bucked teeth, high arched palate, lower front teeth curved inwards), which is readily apparent. I was skeptical of this, but wanted to make sure we got her done with sucking her thumb all in one shot (rather than dragging it out over time). So this is what I did:1. We prepared her for weeks in advance that she is a big girl and almost ready to stop sucking her thumb. Never once did we say, "Stop sucking your thumb" or pull her thumb out of her mouth. We knew the motivation had to be internal, not external. We told her "bye-bye thumb week" was coming up. We made it sound exciting and fun :)2. We picked a week where I knew I could afford to lose sleep.3. This may sound counter-intuitive, but we attached a pacifier to her lovey. She carries it everywhere, so we wanted the pacifier to be available at all times. We didn't want to completely take away the "safety blanket" of her thumb, and wanted to give her an alternative. We used the "soothie" brand since it is more like a thumb.4. We made a special afternoon of it, painting her fingernails pretty colors, and putting Mavala on it. We told her it was time to say "bye-bye thumb."5. We put a band-aid on her thumb to help her remember not to suck it.6. We bought a bag of chocolate Easter eggs and told her she could have one every evening if she didn't suck her thumb during the day.She tried sucking her thumb not long after I put this Malava on it. It was bitter, but she was determined, and within seconds threw up all her lunch. This made me sick to my stomach and I almost regretted it putting it on her, but decided to stick with it. She cried, and we offered her the pacifier instead. Never really having used a pacifier, she didn't know what to think of it, but it soothed her a little bit anyways. That night, she could not fall asleep. She was used to using her thumb and didn't have it anymore. I sat by her bed for several hours, and she finally fell asleep. This happened three nights in a row. (After the first day when I put the Malava on her thumb while painting her fingernails, I doubted she would let me do it again because she kept saying that she didn't like the fingernail polish because it tasted bad. So I put it on while she was sleeping. As all the other comments have said regarding this product, a little goes a long way.)Miraculously, she never really put her thumb back in her mouth after throwing up. She would look at her thumb sadly and cried a couple times, but soon became proud of the fact that she was a big girl. She used her pacifier every night, but usually spit it out within minutes after falling asleep. The chocolate Easter eggs were a big motivator for her too.Within 4-5 days, I didn't really feel the need to put Malava on her anymore, because she had almost forgotten what it was like to suck her thumb. I thought she would revert at night, but she didn't. She started falling asleep on her own and staying asleep, sometimes using the pacifier but rarely. The only thing I wish I had done was to keep putting Malava on for about three weeks to a month. The reason is that about a week into it, she couldn't find her pacifier one day and started sucking her thumb, realizing that it didn't taste bad. I put some on that night again, but the "no-thumb spell" had been broken. She tried it a few days later again, so I regretted not just sticking with the program for a bit longer. She almost never sucks her thumb or pacifier anymore.I'm grateful that this product helped me get my daughter past her thumb-sucking habit. I was afraid it would be traumatizing to have this stuff on her fingernails, but I think it helped make the process over quickly rather than dragging it out. This was SO much better than having to put braces or a palatal expander on (yikes!) when she gets older. Overall, it was a relatively gentle and painless process.

Mavala® Stop (0.3 oz)My three year old daughter has been suffering from severe trichotillomania (hair pulling), trichophagia (hair eating) and thumb sucking. The habits seem to go hand-in-hand in her case. Her pediatrician was concerned because she was eating the hair as she sucked her thumb which could cause a blockage in her intestines which could be fatal if not discovered and removed surgically. We've been seeing a psychologist and trying everything to stop these habits (such as using other polish that claims to do the same thing as Mavala, we also tried having her wear gloves, we tried distraction, tried putting bandaids on her thumbs, tried stress relievers like squishy toys for her to squeeze and bracelets for her to fiddle with, we tried a reward program where she would get surprises if she didn't suck her thumb or pull her hair, we tried disciplining her when she would do these things, we had her pediatrician and her dentist talk to her about it, we tried everything). It has been a source of constant worry for me because I didn't know what to do and I was so fearful that she would be teased about this one day and that would make it even worse, not to mention the effect on her self esteem and the potential health hazards.We started using Mavala a few weeks ago (after having tried other similar products with no luck). I must say I was hoping for the best, but not expecting much due to the strong attachment my daughter had with her thumb. But after reading many reviews and seeing other people having positive results, I figured we had nothing to lose. Our next step was going to be medicating our daughter based on advice from a psychiatrist and we really didn't want to go down that road.I was worried that my daughter would not let me apply the Mavala to her nails because we had tried similar products and she would try to prevent us from putting them on her because she said they tasted yucky (but obviously not yucky enough to stop her from sucking her thumb). So I explained to her that now that she was three years old, she was big enough to use a "special polish" on her nails. The special polish was Mavala. I made a big deal about it and she became excited about trying it. I told her it would make her nails shiny. So she sat in my lap and allowed me to put it on her nails without a fuss. That first night was difficult because she kept saying she wanted her "thumbkin", and she wanted the polish off. She went to bed in tears. That is so hard for a mom to see. But I kept reminding myself why I was doing this. We put the Mavala polish on her nails every night before bed for several weeks. She continued to allow me to put it on her because she felt so special being able to use this polish (it's like she would forget every night that she didn't like the taste of it). For a few nights she would cry herself to sleep because she would try to suck her thumb and then when she would get a taste of it she would be so upset. It probably took about a week before she stopped trying to suck her thumb. We continued to use the Mavala every night for about 6-8 weeks just to be sure the habit was broken. Sometimes I would just put it on her thumbs and not her other fingers since that was really my only concern.I'm extremely happy to report that this product was a miracle for us. It worked. It actually worked. It saved my sanity, but more importantly, it saved my daughter's life. I truly believe that. Her trichotillomania (hair pulling) and trichophagia (hair eating) also stopped when she stopped sucking her thumb. That is life saving. This product works!!!!! I can't even begin to say how much this product means to me and my family. It's absolutely what we needed and I'm so thankful for everyone who posted positive reviews. Without those reviews I probably never would have tried this product. So that's why I felt so strongly about posting this review. I've never posted a review about anything I've purchased before. But if I'm able to help one other person out there it is worth me taking the time to write a review to let people know that this product worked for my daughter. Give it a try. It's amazing!

This nail polish was recommended by my daughter's dentist when she was 18 months old to help stop her from sucking her thumb. The doctor explained that while I was free to try it, it usually works better for children over 3 due to their brain maturity. He also emphasized that, in his opinion, this was the only method that truly worked, as he had successfully used it with his own daughters after trying everything else.I first tried it at that time, she felt nauseous, got irritated, but eventually got used to it and continued the habit. Since it wasn’t working at that stage, I stopped using it. However, when she turned 2 years and 3 months, I decided to give it another try before exploring other methods—and it was a success! She immediately stopped sucking her thumb with the help of positive reinforcement and an occasional reward system.Now, four weeks later, there’s no sign that the habit ever existed. In fact, her teeth showed significant improvement within the first week! The doctor recommended applying it every four days for a month, we are just 5 days away from the goal. I’m beyond happy with the outcome and highly recommend this product—100% effective!

This is great for people who hate nasty flavored things. One caveat. This will get on everything you touch so be careful.