Thumb Sucking

[khatty]

My almost 4 month likes to suck his thumb.  I breastfeed on demand, co-sleep, and wear him a lot.  I comfort him within a minute of him fussing.  However, he still sucks his thumb.  I have been gently removing his thumb and asking him not to suck it, but of course, he is 4 months old and just goes back to sucking it.

I'm not exactly sure why I don't want him to suck his thumb, I just feel he shouldn't suck his thumb.  Should I even be trying to discourage it?  And if so, how what can I do that respects him, and yet is effective?

[Skylark]

My personal opinion -- there is nothing wrong with him sucking his thumb. It is nice way to self-sooth and babies have need for extra sucking, and thumb is far better then plastic pacifier    My little boy sucks his thumb when he is sleepy and wants to go to sleep, I let him. Sometimes I can not offer my breast all the time ( he does breastfeed on demand, but when I know that he just finished and is full and just needs a little sucking comfort to put himself to sleep, thumb is GREAT ALTERNATIVE)

[khatty]

Skylark, I agree, sometimes breastfeeding for comfort just isn't an option ALL the time, and thumb sucking is much better than a soother.  Do you at all worry about trying to break the thumb sucking habit when he gets older?

[Skylark]

Again, I am speaking from my own experience    I don't feel worried about it. I watched a few babies who were into tub sucking, and all of them had almost unnoticed switch to no thumb sucking, when they got to the age they were more interested in others things. Now I am not saying it is always the case. But I figured out, my baby will be so busy discovering other things that he will not be that interested in his thumb  . My first girl, just stopped, when she started signing    from one day to the next when she was about 8 months old. Just some thoughts...

Also usually the sucking need  diminishes by around 9 months and the great majority of children stop thumb-sucking spontaneously as they get caught up in learning new skills like crawling and walking, and no longer need to be stimulated or comforted by sucking...

[Mela Bala]

My son also breastfeeds on demand, sleeps with his leg on me and I always carry him when we go out.  I feel bad because I had my husband buy every different type of baby carrier and a very nice stroller system that I have only used twice.  From day one my son refused pacifiers and he does suck his thumb every now and then.  He also likes to hold his burp cloths in his mouth and even puts them over his thumb and in his mouth.  I am not sure if this is his way of soothing his gums.  I do have my concerns because someone close to my family is in their thirties and still sucks their thumb.  I have talked to our doctor about this and he told us that if the thumb sucking persists or increases to try to introduce different soft toys to him and he may put his attention towards that.  He also said that most babies do outgrow this habit.  I asked my friend why she was still sucking her thumb and she said it brings her comfort.  Her parents told me that they tried every trick in the book to get her to quit but nothing worked.  If the habit does continue with my son I plan on encouraging him to quit by distracting him and engaging him in an activity that requires both his hands and help him understand he is a big boy now.   I know I will have to make quitting his thumb sucking a positive experience so instead of being too authorative I will have him help me create a code signal I will give to him to remind him his thumb is in his mouth and it shouldn't be.  I would love to hear anyone's success stories and methods they used if their baby did not give the habit up on their own.

[dna]

hi, i'm also facing bb's sucking thumb. you can let your bb to suck his thumb as this is part of their growth for them to learn self-soothing.

what i do is i introduce pacifier coz i feel that it will be easier to wean off pacifier compare to thumb (thumb are permanently attached to the body). i introduced a toy (winkle) which is easy for bb to grasp to distract her attention on her thumb and this is very successful. sometimes i still allow her to such her own thumb but not rigourously.

[Krista G]

I have never allowed my babies to suck their thumbs because it disturbs me to see 4, 5, 6 year olds and older still sucking their thumbs.  It seems so much harder to break.  I have seen teenagers with severely messed up teeth due to sucking their thumbs.  My nephew is 16 and still will suck his thumb sometimes.  It just seems to be too much trouble to break.  When my 3rd tried to suck her thumb I would continually give her the pacifier.  She did not like it, but it was all I would allow her to suck.  My first response to sooth the babies was to offer the breast but it is hard to be a pacifier too.  The breasts need a break sometimes.  The nice thing about pacifiers is you can throw them away.  You can't get rid of the thumb.

A lot of parents think it is cute, but it isn't so cute when they are older. 

My 3rd child was a nail biter from 2 years old to 10 years old.  That is also a horrible habit.  I tried everything to get her to stop.  Finally she just stopped on her own, due to her own will to do so.  It is really a tough call. It is best to find out from a parent who allowed their baby to suck their thumb but their babies are grown now. 

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