'Chook' her tongue

Pacifiers were banned in my house; my mother said they caused cock-teeth. Sucking finger was also a no-no which meant that my daughter had to be a little bit craftier when it came to self-soothing, she sucked on her tongue.

And while you and I would probably chalk it up as a harmless little habit, my mother said it would cause 'O-mouth'. This basically meant that her mouth would not close properly and leave her with (how do I phrase this delicately?)  that 'elevator-not-quite-reaching-the-top-floor', 'lights-on-nobody-home, short-yellow-bus type of finish.

But fear not, because, according to my mother, there is a simple way to dissuade a baby from sucking her tongue, you simply take a pin or a needle and 'chook' her tongue.
Now before you fly into a justifiable rage and call in child services and the big guns, please note that I put my foot firmly down where that was concerned. There was no way in hell that I was sticking a needle into my child - immunizations and ear piercings were bad enough. 

But apparently, in the olden days, it was all the rage to slightly abuse your baby under the guise of training...

Apart from this needle play, if your toddler showed too much interest in the stove or any open flame, you were to burn her finger and in this counterintuitive manner, you teach your offspring about the dangers of fire.
And if your baby sucked finger, smearing aloes or chicken droppings on the digit was supposed to break them of that habit.

Now, it' s in writing, that I don't have the cojones to stand up to my mother (mainly because she hits) but I stood my ground and won my case this time.

"Why?" You may ask ... and that's a very good question.
Well, my mother may be the expert on all things baby, but...my little sister sucked her thumb all thorough secondary school.
Yep, that's right.
My mother had tried that aloe trick, my sister simply lathered, rinsed and repeated a few times before sticking her thumb right back into her mouth.

Yeah, Mama...'chook' that!