Emergency Rroom Series : Thumb Sucking And The Dangers Of Using Force To Stop A Child...

Oh Dear Lord!!!

Ignorance is never an excuse to be stupid

A woman brought in her very young child to the ER. On assessing the child we found out that the thumbs were dangling and very black and almost falling off while the fore fingers were very swollen. The child was also running temperature. 

When asked what she did to the little child she said she didn't like the fact that the child was sucking the thumbs a lot so she put plaster on them so the child would be discouraged by the taste of the plaster and stop sucking. Apparently she fixed the plaster too tight and the thumbs got swollen and blood stopped flowing to the thumb and the thumbs got gangrenous (died) and became black and started dangling and about to fall off. 

I had never seen such an erroneous and wicked act. When asked if she didn't notice the swelling in time before the fingers grew black, she said no and that she left the child with her sister who was just a teenager and she(mother) travelled for two days. It was when she got back that she saw the error. Which means the plaster was there for two whole days, gradually killing the poor child's fingers and the teenager couldn't do anything. 

Now, instead of the mother to have brought the child immediately to the hospital, she took the child to a chemist who told her to be putting some kind of 'injection powder' on the the thumbs

The thumbs became necrosed and infected and pus was coming out because the child was still putting the hand in dirty things and playing. Since the thumbs were dead, the child couldn't feel anything including pain
An X-ray was done and The doctor informed the orthopedic team who said that the thumbs would be amputated. I already knew that was the solution because the thumbs were already dead. The mother started crying and begging us to find another way. She claimed that it was her Neighbor that asked her to try it because it worked for the neighbor's child. 

She said she was fed up of the child sucking the thumb always, even when it's dirty. She said sometimes the child wouldn't eat but suck the thumbs and that was why she tied it.
I can't imagine the physiological and psychological trauma that child would face after the thumbs are removed. I began to wonder how the child would find it extremely difficult to adjust to having 8 fingers. How would the child eat, drink, write and interact with other children of the same age? The child would need child-psychiatry help and physiotherapy.


We were almost calling the police on her and a child's right group because she violated the child's right in every way.
It is disturbing when we hear of people making such mistakes that are costly. Its makes one wonder if some people are just gullible or downright stupid. The mother of the child was an illiterate as she couldn't speak English nor pidgin but her native dialect . She was also not financially buoyant but that still isn't an excuse to put your child's life in danger.


I hope the child grows up to be positive about life and have good body confidence. If you have a child that sucks, there are other methods to stop the act without putting the child in danger. They include applying lime juice or something bitter to the thumb, using a reward system by giving the child something nice to discourage the child or making the child realize that He’s grown up now or try a substitute which includes lollipop or something sweet.
Thank you.