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jams92
Member since 1/12 6105 total posts
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thumb sucking - will i regret this...
DS is almost 4 months old and he needs to suck on something in order to get to sleep. no problem, i get it, hes a baby, its totally fine. At first he used me as a human pacifier, but as i stopped breastfeeding he took a pacifier, and eventually found his thumb. he seems to have forgotten about his thumb and now cries and screams for a pacifier. yesterday after giving him the pacifier 5+ times and him spitting it out or having it fall out, i went over and placed his thumb in his mouth and boom out like a light. i was in heaven.
but now i wonder, should i just stick to the pacifier. wont it be easier in the long run to get rid of? does it really make a difference?
dd sucks her thumb (shes 18months old), i used to suck my thumb and needed braces bc of it. is thumb sucking a harder habit to break? i know there is no right or wrong, just looking for opinions from other moms who have been through breaking the thumb sucking habit and/or the pacifier habit. is it possible a child just outgrows thumb sucking? since DS isnt specific about the pacifier of the thumb i just wonder which i should lean towards (if he continues to give me an option).
eta - i guess more of my question is how do you break the thumb sucking habit? i have heard lots of options to get rid of the pacifier, but no clue how to go about breaking the thumb sucking habit (this is of course in a few years when they get older)
Message edited 9/19/2014 1:35:15 PM.
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Posted 9/19/14 1:34 PM  |
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MarisaK
HELLO Manolo !!
Member since 5/06 14562 total posts
Name:
Marisa
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Re: thumb sucking - will i regret this...
I always felt that I would prefer they take the pacifier than suck their thumb - Youi can take a pacifier away at some point .......you can't cut off a finger.
I think, in the long run, it's an easier habit to break (pacifier)
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| Posted 9/19/14 1:35 PM |
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NYCGirl80
I love my kiddies!
Member since 5/11 10413 total posts
Name:
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Re: thumb sucking - will i regret this...
Posted by jams92
i went over and placed his thumb in his mouth and boom out like a light.
That sounds so cute! 
Anyway, I sucked my thumb and never needed braces, so I'm not convinced that just b/c you suck your thumb you will need braces. But that's neither here nor there.
In the longrun, it's probably easier to break the pacifier habit since you can just take it away. You can't take the child's thumb away!
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| Posted 9/19/14 2:17 PM |
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summerBaby10
let's be nice
Member since 9/07 10208 total posts
Name:
Wifey
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Re: thumb sucking - will i regret this...
t was so much easier to break my paci baby from the paci than to break my thumb sucker's habit. BUT my thumb sucker was a much better baby because of it so if I could choose one over the other for a future child it would be for them to thumb suck. My dentist told us to break the habit before the palate changes shape. We stopped him at 3ish & he has beautifully straight teeth.
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| Posted 9/19/14 2:55 PM |
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jams92
Member since 1/12 6105 total posts
Name:
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Re: thumb sucking - will i regret this...
Posted by summerBaby10
t was so much easier to break my paci baby from the paci than to break my thumb sucker's habit. BUT my thumb sucker was a much better baby because of it so if I could choose one over the other for a future child it would be for them to thumb suck. My dentist told us to break the habit before the palate changes shape. We stopped him at 3ish & he has beautifully straight teeth.
how did you stop him??
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| Posted 9/19/14 3:05 PM |
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evnme
My little lamb
Member since 8/05 12633 total posts
Name:
aka momma2b
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Re: thumb sucking - will i regret this...
My dd is a thumb sucker and sleeps beautifully through the night. She is 3.5.
Her dentist said to let her self wean from sucking
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| Posted 9/19/14 3:16 PM |
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summerBaby10
let's be nice
Member since 9/07 10208 total posts
Name:
Wifey
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Re: thumb sucking - will i regret this...
Posted by jams92
Posted by summerBaby10
t was so much easier to break my paci baby from the paci than to break my thumb sucker's habit. BUT my thumb sucker was a much better baby because of it so if I could choose one over the other for a future child it would be for them to thumb suck. My dentist told us to break the habit before the palate changes shape. We stopped him at 3ish & he has beautifully straight teeth.
how did you stop him??
We used this thumb guard It has mixed reviews & it's pricey but worked perfectly for us. They recommend using it for 2 weeks, which we did, & he was "cured" lol We tried many different things & this was the only thing that worked.
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| Posted 9/19/14 3:44 PM |
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WannaBeAMom11
LIF Adult
Member since 1/11 7391 total posts
Name:
Name
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thumb sucking - will i regret this...
I hate thumb sucking but she has been doing since before she was born. I've heard nightmare stories about them waking up in the middle of the night because the paci fell out. This has never been an issue for us she is a great self soother. If needed ill just deal with braces there are bigger battles to be fought IMO.
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| Posted 9/19/14 3:45 PM |
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jams92
Member since 1/12 6105 total posts
Name:
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Re: thumb sucking - will i regret this...
Posted by WannaBeAMom11
I hate thumb sucking but she has been doing since before she was born. I've heard nightmare stories about them waking up in the middle of the night because the paci fell out. This has never been an issue for us she is a great self soother. If needed ill just deal with braces there are bigger battles to be fought IMO.
i agree about bigger battles to deal with. DD sucks her thumb, she found it on her own and at 18months she still does it to help her go to sleep. i have never tried to stop her nor will I (at least not for a while longer). but since DS doesnt seem to have a preference for thumb or pacifier i was curious if i should help make that decision for him and which decision that should be 
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| Posted 9/19/14 4:00 PM |
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summerBaby10
let's be nice
Member since 9/07 10208 total posts
Name:
Wifey
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Re: thumb sucking - will i regret this...
Posted by jams92
Posted by WannaBeAMom11
I hate thumb sucking but she has been doing since before she was born. I've heard nightmare stories about them waking up in the middle of the night because the paci fell out. This has never been an issue for us she is a great self soother. If needed ill just deal with braces there are bigger battles to be fought IMO.
i agree about bigger battles to deal with. DD sucks her thumb, she found it on her own and at 18months she still does it to help her go to sleep. i have never tried to stop her nor will I (at least not for a while longer). but since DS doesnt seem to have a preference for thumb or pacifier i was curious if i should help make that decision for him and which decision that should be
ha! that's so funny. Once we realized that ds#2 preferred a paci, we would try to trick him by sticking his thumb in his mouth.. didn't work. He didn't sttn until 10 months old. DS#1, the thumb sucker, sttn at 3 months.
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| Posted 9/19/14 4:07 PM |
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dlj97
LIF Adult
Member since 7/10 4399 total posts
Name:
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Re: thumb sucking - will i regret this...
Posted by jams92
Posted by WannaBeAMom11
I hate thumb sucking but she has been doing since before she was born. I've heard nightmare stories about them waking up in the middle of the night because the paci fell out. This has never been an issue for us she is a great self soother. If needed ill just deal with braces there are bigger battles to be fought IMO.
i agree about bigger battles to deal with. DD sucks her thumb, she found it on her own and at 18months she still does it to help her go to sleep. i have never tried to stop her nor will I (at least not for a while longer). but since DS doesnt seem to have a preference for thumb or pacifier i was curious if i should help make that decision for him and which decision that should be
I just ordered the thumb guard for my DD, so I will let you know how it works out. The youngest they suggest using the product is 3yo.
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| Posted 9/19/14 4:20 PM |
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summerBaby10
let's be nice
Member since 9/07 10208 total posts
Name:
Wifey
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Re: thumb sucking - will i regret this...
Posted by dlj97
I just ordered the thumb guard for my DD, so I will let you know how it works out. The youngest they suggest using the product is 3yo.
good luck!
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| Posted 9/19/14 4:27 PM |
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CL2012
LIF Toddler
Member since 1/13 374 total posts
Name:
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Re: thumb sucking - will i regret this...
in the sense that you can take a paci away but not cut off a finger, it's probably easier the break the paci habit. but you never know if your paci kid or thumb sucking kid would self wean early on anyway and not need habit breaking at all. not all thumb suckers do this until elementary school, right? and not all thumb suckers need braces.
my LO is a thumb sucker for bed time, and sometimes when he's just sleepy. i love that he has been amazing at self soothing since he was 3 months old. he sleeps great and he NEVER wakes up because his thumb fell out of his mouth ;)
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| Posted 9/19/14 5:01 PM |
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blu6385
Member since 5/08 8351 total posts
Name:
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Re: thumb sucking - will i regret this...
Posted by MarisaK
I always felt that I would prefer they take the pacifier than suck their thumb - Youi can take a pacifier away at some point .......you can't cut off a finger.
I think, in the long run, it's an easier habit to break (pacifier)
this is exactly how I feel. someone in my 3rd grade class sucked her thumb. it scared me enough to never allow my kids to suck their thumb
its def. harder to get them to stop sucking their thumb basically for the reason above you cant cut a finger off. I assume you would just have to keep taking their thumb out of their mouth to reinforce the no thumb sucking
ETA: try the wubanub pacifier I used it with both kids and it worked great. the pacifier either stood in or they found it with no issue
Message edited 9/19/2014 6:17:34 PM.
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| Posted 9/19/14 6:16 PM |
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imyself
Member since 10/06 2938 total posts
Name:
me
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Re: thumb sucking - will i regret this...
My dd was a thumb sucker. She stopped cold turkey on her own around her 4th bday. Her teeth are fine and she is still a good sleeper.
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| Posted 9/19/14 6:38 PM |
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Ballet46
LIF Infant
Member since 6/14 180 total posts
Name:
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Re: thumb sucking - will i regret this...
I never saw a problem with thumb sucking. It is so natural. They do it in the womb. I think self-weaning when ready is the way to go. I sucked my thumb and just stopped eventually.
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| Posted 9/19/14 10:53 PM |
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IVFmiracle
Complete
Member since 12/12 4088 total posts
Name:
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Re: thumb sucking - will i regret this...
When my parents broke the thumb sucking habit with my brothers they used a pretty good plan.
My younger brother was 4. They told him now that he is a big boy it was time to stop sucking his thumb, and that once he kicked the habit he could have any 1 toy he wanted. They took him to TRU and he picked out a trike. They brought it home and told him it was his after 30 days of no thumb sucking. He used those little burp blankets when he sucked too, so they transcribed a note for him to new babies telling them he was now a big boy and no longer needed the blankets.
Then, each day when he would watch TV or go to sleep, my mom would peek in and if he wasn't thumb sucking he would get a sticker for his sticker book. In under 6 weeks he had his trike.
My older brother was 10. He picked a game boy and had a much harder time. He would sneak off to a quiet room to suck his thumb. He did eventually kick the habit but not until my parents got so frustrated that they video taped him sucking his thumb and threatened to show it at his next birthday party if he didn't stop before hand. (I wouldn't go that route...  ).
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| Posted 9/20/14 7:02 AM |
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