Do/did you let your DC suck their thumb?

DS#1 never did but was addicted to the pacifier. 9 week old DS#2 just started sucking his hand to soothe himself.

I heard it is really difficult to stop a child from thumb sucking if s/he develops that habit.

Re: Do/did you let your DC suck their thumb?

DS#1 was never a thumb sucker & gave up his paci at 1 yr cold turkey.

DS#2 is addicted to his paci.

I will not let either child suck their thumb bc it is a much harder habit to break.

Re: Do/did you let your DC suck their thumb?

DD is 6 months and has been sucking her thumb since about 3 months. I am not trying to stop her. She self soothes and is a very happy, easy going baby. If it wasn't the thumb it would be the binky. Babies like to suck. I am ok with it

Re: Do/did you let your DC suck their thumb?

DS was sucking his thumb in utero.

But once he came out, I didn't let him, I gave him paci when he would suck his thumb.

If he just chewed on fingers, I was okay with that.

I started only giving a paci for naps around 8m, and around 11m I took it away cold turkey. It was a lot easier than I thought to take it away, it was harder to get him to choose a paci over his thumb.

He now only chews on fingers if he's teething, he wont suck his thumb, and he could care less about paci a week after I took it away.

Re: Do/did you let your DC suck their thumb?

Message edited 6/11/2011 11:48:17 PM.

Re: Do/did you let your DC suck their thumb?

DD was addicted to the paci & it was hard giving it up at 18 months.

DS never took a paci but had his 2 fingers in his mouth from day 1. Then around 15 months he stopped cold turkey & never put his hand in his mouth again.

Re: Do/did you let your DC suck their thumb?

DS has sucked his thumb since he was a young baby....every dr and dentist I have spoken to say not to make a big deal about it, so I don't. I sucked my thumb until I was 11 years old.....no majorvdamage done here

Re: Do/did you let your DC suck their thumb?

Re: Do/did you let your DC suck their thumb?

Neither of them ever did. DD loves her paci though. DS took a bottle forever, DD probably will too. So yes, I would let them suck their thumbs if that's what they were into.

Re: Do/did you let your DC suck their thumb?

My DD has been a thumb sucker since she was in the womb..........I have sono pics. At almost 3 years old she is still a thumb sucker but luckily it's really only when she's relaxing and trying to fall asleep. If she's busy and playing and going about her day she doesn't suck her thumb. And honestly, there was NO stopping her...........there still isn't. It's SO automatic with her and what are you going to do when in the middle of the night or as she's falling asleep she pops her thumb in her mouth? I think her thumb sucking just has to run it's course, it is what it is. I honestly don't really sweat it too much.

Re: Do/did you let your DC suck their thumb?

Posted by itsbabytime

Posted by Kissy331

DS#1 was never a thumb sucker & gave up his paci at 1 yr cold turkey.

DS#2 is addicted to his paci.

I will not let either child suck their thumb bc it is a much harder habit to break.

I don't want to be mean but, "you will not let them" - how are you going to stop them? My DD sucked her thumb from my 12 wk sono on. She was still sucking it at the 20 wk sono. The day she was born when they weighed her in the nursery my mom told me she had her thumb in her mouth. I tried to give her a pacifier - she spit it out - she wanted nothing to do with it. I tried repeatedly even holding in in with my finger. As soon as I let go she would spit it out. I waited and tried weeks later - she would literally rip it out. I tried to pull her hand out of her mouth but, it would go right back in. At some point, someone in my family saw me doing that and told me how they remember thumb sucking as a child and how soothing it was for them. At that point I felt terrible for trying to stop her and left it alone after that b/c I honestly felt pulling her thumb out was cruel. That said- please tell me how you stop a newborn from sucking their thumb And, even a 16 mo old! Which is what I have now.

I'll be honest - it bothers me b/c it is annoying when we are out and about (she rarely does it then but, does if she starts to get tired) b/c I hate the germ factor but, other than that I'm not too concerned. I come from a family of dentists and my brother sucked his thumb until he was 6. His teeth are fine and he is a happy, healthy, well-adjusted adult now

Re: Do/did you let your DC suck their thumb?

Re: Do/did you let your DC suck their thumb?

No I will not let my kids suck thumbs. I did until I was 9. Hardest habit I have ever had to break. Then I needed braces for over 3 years... not fun.

Re: Do/did you let your DC suck their thumb?

Re: Do/did you let your DC suck their thumb?

Re: Do/did you let your DC suck their thumb?

personally i would rather have my DD's addicted to the pacifier than their thumb. IMO it's easier to take the paci away, you can't take the thumb away.

DD#1 was never really a paci or thumb sucker.

DD#2 totally addicted to her paci. from about 14 months on she only gets it for naps/bedtime. She's 2 now and still gets it at night. When her 2 year molars were coming in she tried sucking her thumb and we kept on telling her no.

DD#3 would be happy with her paci or thumb. so were always giving her the paci.

Re: Do/did you let your DC suck their thumb?

I took the paci away from both kids when they turned 6 months. they LOVED the paci and never sucked thumbs (which I think is adorable by the way) .

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DS never took to the paci. But i want to say when he started teething bad, around 6mo or so, he started the hand sucking. would have 4 fingers in his mouth ALL.THE.TIME.

by his 1st bday he just stopped, and hasnt done it since.

it could be teething related.

If it were the older one sucking his thumb, i would try to nip it in the bud. I was a thumbsucker for years, and it gave me a bad overbite that i had to fix later on as an adult.

Re: Do/did you let your DC suck their thumb?

DD is 23 months and a thumb sucker. She doesnt take a paci, she is completely off bottles, this is the only thing left. What am I going to do? Dr said let it run its course (as a PP mentioned as well). I try casually to get her to stop soley based on the germ factor but I will not force the issue.

Re: Do/did you let your DC suck their thumb?

Yes! both sucked their thumbs once they found them at 3 months old. And coincidentally or not, that was about the same time they started sleeping 12-14 hours a night, and have continued to be good sleepers.

My DS stopped sucking his thumb at about 15 months old. He had a cold and he just quit cold turkey. My DD was a little harder to get to stop. She sucked her thumb until she was 4. One pedi gave us a ton of suggestions on how to get her to stop and none really worked. Our new pedi said not to do anything, they stop when they are ready to. And she did. And she stopped all on her own, I hadn't even realized when she stopped, I just noticed one day she was cranky and not sucking her thumb, and then I checked on her each night when I put her to bed and she was not sucking her thumb! She had turned 4 the week before. No lingering issues at all in terms of teeth spacing, etc. but she did have 4 cavities already

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Abby was a pacifier kid. One day I just took it away and we were done. Never sucked her thumb.

Jeremy doesn't suck his thumb or use a pacifier.

Im thinking that any self-soothing behavior is a good thing. If they can make themselves happy, who cares?

Re: Do/did you let your DC suck their thumb?

DD never sucked her thumb or took the binky--easy peasy.

DS has been a thumb sucker since day 1. Refuses the binky. He will usually only suck if he's upset or when he's going down for nap/bed. I don't have a problem with it. I'm hoping he'll drop the habit on his own, but if not, we'll cross that bridge when we get there.

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I was a LTTS (Long term thumb sucker) and did so until the age of 12. I REFUSED to let DS suck his thumb and everytime he did, I'd pop a pacifier in his mouth. It's much easier to control. DS uses his paci only for sleeping and it's not allowed outside of his crib unless we're in public and he's beyond cranky....
You can always throw out a paci, but you can't throw away a thumb!