Thumb Sucking... - Cottage Grove,MN

If I had to do it over again....I would have tried to break the thumb sucking habit. My son who will be 4 in a week still sucks his thumb. He always has a yucky sore on his thumb and his baby teeth are becoming more and more pulled forward all the time. The dentist has talked about putting a device in his mouth to prevent him from sucking. Also, my son has always sucked him left thumb, but tends to do everything with his right hand. Don't know if this helps at all. :)

Hi N.
If you really don't want him sucking his thumb pull it out and put his nuk in. he will soon forget he can suck his thumb.

First things first. Babies NEED to suck. It will make him a happy baby. Why don't you want him to suck his thumb? I'm confused. Don't think about what you want, think about what he needs. It will make him a fabulous sleeper. You will not have to run into his room each and everytime his nuk falls out. He will be able to self-soothe so easily. My 1st sucked her thumb since 5 weeks. My second never did, but took a nuk. The thumb is so much easier!!! Also, I am a speech and language pathologist (speech therapist). My husband is a dentist.

We got the stuff you paint on their finger nails that tastes awful from the infant section at Walmart, and after a couple of times of using that our son stopped sucking his thumb.

My daughter began sucking her thumb at 10 weeks. We had "decided" before she was born that we would do a nuk instead of a thumb. Little did we know, we wouldn't get a vote in the matter! It has turned out to be wonderful! It is great for your child to be able to autonomously decide when they need to self-soothe. As others mentioned, it cuts down on the middle-of-the-night wakings for a frantic nuk search. I talked to our pediatrician and dentist about the medical/dental consequences of thumb sucking. It isn't until a child reaches 4 or 5 when it can become problematic. I would encourage you to discuss your concerns with your dentist and/or doctor.

Also, I read somewhere that kids often suck the NON dominant thumb - leaving the dominant hand available for other activities. My daughter has sucked her left thumb since the very beginning. When she is coloring and eating with utensils, she primarily uses her right hand...but sometimes switches!

Good luck!

I would replace the thumb with the pacifier every time you see him sucking on it.

My pediatrician actually said there are some distinct benefits to thumb-sucking over pacifier: it's always there (you'll never have to stumble in at 3 am to help find the lost nuk); there are actually some immunological benefits (constant low level exposure to bacteria and viruses); kids very very rarely suck beyond 5 or 6, and it's not a problem for teeth until the permanents are coming in. He's also only 3 mos old, my second (now almost 8 mos) was *really* into his thumb for a few months, until he figured out how to put other objects (including his own pacifier) into his mouth. He still sucks on a finger occasionally, but a few months of tiny baby thumb-sucking does not a thumb-sucker make. ;-)

Good luck!

For help please see my website for left-handed children: www.lefthandedinfo.com. A.

Hi N.,

I can still remember my little sister waking up with her thumb in her mouth when she was in her teens...she hated it. I, also, remember the awful things my mom use to put on her thumb to break her from sucking it when she was going to start school. It is not a great habit, and when your child is older and you want to break the habit..sometimes it seems almost impossible. I just asked my sister the other day if she's woke-up with her thumb in her mouth lately (she's 47), and she said it had been quite awhile since that had happened. I'm not a big pacifier person either, but at least you can throw that away.

C.

N.,
Don't worry too much. It doesn't affect their teeth until much later (more like school age, when it's a little easier to reason with them about it, or use a contraption that cures it in no time). My 2 year old's a thumb sucker, and it's been a godsend for us. He would never keep the nuk in his mouth, but the thumb's been there all along! He is such a good self-soother, and wouldn't be so without that thumb. I was also a thumb sucker, and did so for WAY too long. They know more now about how and when it affects teeth, and the contraptions they can use (like thumb guards) aren't as torturous as they were when I was a kid! Just be glad he can self soothe!
Amy K

Hi N.. He might be left handed, but you probably won't know for sure until he starts using utensils for eating and crayons for writing. My 3 year old son is a lefty and he always did seem to prefer using his left hand. He even kicks with his left leg. I do know of kids though whose parents were sure they'd be left handed and once they started writing switched to the right hand.

As far as detering the thumb sucking I don't think I'd worry about it yet. It's actually a nice way for him to soothe himself. My son was very nuk obsessed and sometimes if he lost track of it at night he'd be awake until we helped him find it. You can never lose your thumb, so I'd say at this point it's a plus!

N.,

The left thumb thing doesn't mean he'll be left handed. My son is 3, and although he used to use the left hand more, since he sucks the left thumb, he actually is more right handed. Also, since he does take a nuk, you many have an advantage. I'm trying to figure out when to push mine to stop sucking his.

Lisa, mom of 4 boys

None of my children tried sucking their thumbs and they didn't like nuks either but my little granddaughter wanted to suck her thumb. She would put her thumb in her mouth and her mom would pull it out and say "we aren't going to do this" and was consistant with it. I had to laugh when she was around 4 months or so, she was sitting on her moms lap and she stuck her thumb in her mouth, her mother pulled it out and said "we aren't going to start sucking our thumb" My granddaughter then lifted one bare foot and started sucking on her big toe. I was laughing so hard and said "yucky Emma, yucky" She smiled at me and said "mmmm". I always had a camera close by and got plenty of pictures. Now she is 2 and thinks that is the funniest pictures.

I wouldn't worry. My son is 'full time' thumb sucker, although the only time he does suck on his thumb is when he is tired. When my son discovered his thumb at just under three months of age, that's when he started sleeping 11-13 hours each night!

I have 2 thumb suckers and I think it's fabulous! They are self-soothers with the thumb and sleep well with no interaction from me (they don't ever lose it during the night and cry until you go in and find it from them). They rarely cry and people comment on what nice, calm children I have. Both seem to be right-handed and suck the right one exclusively.

it should be more widely known that babies NEED to suck. and the kind of sucking does matter... and different kinds of sucking helps strengthen the muscles in the face and actually contribute to how the child smiles!

if you are nursing, try to nurse at these times. he might actually be hungry. it may seem that its often, but what you want to do, nursing or bottle feeding, is to nurture the need, so that it doesnt show up as an undesireable habit later. i know a child who wasnt allowed a nuk didnt start sucking his thumb, but grinds his teeth! drives me nuts LOL.

its good that he takes a nuk. the problem at this age is that if he loses it he cant really get it back yet, just keep offering the nuk, and give it back when you can.
with a sucker i wouldnt think the thumb is going to be a permenant thing.

as far as left hand right hand, its WAY too early to start thinking about that. and it doesnt matter one way or the other. your child will write with whichever hand works best for him, and it doesnt matter which one that is. dont encourage him to use one or the other, but dont stop him from using the one he chooses either.

good luck, and keep up the good mothering!

Speaking as a former full-time thumb sucker myself, I don't believe it means he's left handed. I'm right handed, and I sucked on both thumbs into grade school.
My parents tried desperately to get me to quit, but I think they started a little too late. Threats, scoldings, dire stories of how it would fall off, etc. They also made me wear gloves and nail polish to try to deter me from putting that glorious thumb in my mouth. It was definitely a comfort thing for me, and a bit of high too! Nothing they did stopped me entirely. I was able to control myself most of the time, but would still occasionally suck, until the first grade. One day, a boy caught me sucking my thumb and teased me about it. I never put it in my mouth again!!
I think at 3 months, your son is still pretty flexible, so I would try to encourage him to take the nuk when he puts his thumb in his mouth. Once he starts having a mind of his own it will be much harder to make him stop.
I would definitely try something because if it becomes a habit he may have a lot of dental problems...I know I did!
Good luck!

Hey - I have 2 daughters - both thumb suckers. My first only sucked her thumb a few months - when I quit nursing her, she quit sucking her thumb. She never took a nuk either, so she was difficult in that she couldnt console herself. My second sucked her thumb only at bedtime until she was 3 - we took her to a dentist and he told her to stop and she did within 2 days. She took a nuk until she was a few months old and she found her thumb - it was nice because she'd put herself to sleep with her thumb.

There's no reason to be upset about thumb-sucking, especially when your son is so little! Self-soothing is a wonderful quality for a baby to have- not to mention you won't have to be on 'nuk duty' all hours. :)
I don't think thumb sucking on a particular hand indicates anything- especially at such a young age.
I wouldn't worry about thumb sucking now, again since he's so young. I'd only worry about it when he's much older and how it could interfere with tooth development, etc.