[bittersweet]

Jenna has been sucking on her hands a lot the past couple weeks. I figured it was either early teething or just a new interest in her hands. But the other night I noticed she fell asleep with her thumb in her mouth. I'm happy she is able to soothe herself to sleep and provide comfort to herself, but at the same time it worries me.

Now I'm paranoid she is going to sucking her thumb and it will be become a habit that carries on and it hard to break. I've seen grade school kids sucking their thumbs so I know it can stick for a long time. My husband and family thinks we should try to stop her from doing it now. But I tend to think she is too little to be taking away something that comforts her since she doesn't have any other means (she wont take a paci). I'd like to just ignore it and hope it doesn't become a serious habit. Then she will just stops on her own once she is a toddler. But it seems like I only hear stories of kids who are 10 and still thumb sucking!

Did your child suck their thumb at all? At what age did they stop? Did you have to intervene or did they just stop on their own?

[~*sierra*~]

my nephew started sucking his thumb recently and i think it is the CUTEST thing ever!! nobody in my family ever did it, so maybe thats why i think its so adorable. my SIL wants to stop him from doing it but i totally let him lol
if my kids do it, i will just let them, they do grow out of it eventually!

[**Jenn**]

My kids were never thumb (or paci) suckers. Lila will take a paci briefly and loves to suck/chew on her hands but doesn't suck her thumb. I would just let her for now. If it was me though, its something I'd want to have stopped by 3 years old. My younger brother sucked his thumb and my parents promised him a new toy if he stopped and he did within a week (he was bout 3).

[greeneyes]

Both Lily and Violet are thumbsuckers and never cared for pacis. Lily has weaned herself and now it's not an issue, and she only just turned three in Jan. Her pedi dentist told me thumb sucking is far better than the best ortho paci out there and poses no ortho issues if stopped sometime before age five.

[Mod-LadyCoconut]

I was that kid. I sucked my thumb until I was 9 and my mom and grandma did everything to try to stop me... I remember being 3 and being yelled at by a dentist as he showed me what could happen to my teeth... they put the bitter tasting nail biter stuff all over my thumb, etc.... nothing could stop me! haha. I 'knew better' than to do it in public or at school or something and I only did it while I was falling asleep. I would only suck my left thumb (the right just wasn't the same) and when I broke my wrist the cast got in the way and that's what wound up stopping me. I would alwayss suck my thumb and rub my ear and I still rub my ear.

Lily doesn't really have an interest in a paci, aside from chewing on it sometimes. We have been able to get her to 'take one' but its always short lived and with us kind of holding it in her mouth for her. She does suck on her thumb when she finds it, and I assumed once the corrdination allowed she'd be a thumb sucker, but now that we're at that stage and she doesn't do it all the time I'm thinking maybe not.

My step-dad would always tell me if she was sucking on her hands to give her a paci... but my thing was that the hand is always there, so while its hard to break... tis a lot easier than trying to keep up with a paci. I hear horror stories of parents who have to get up a billion times a night to stick the thing back in their kids mouths when it falls out and they wake up screaming and that just seems awful to me.

I suppose b/c I was a thumb sucker I just haven't been concerned with this.

If you really want to prevent it, the best you can do is keep pulling her thumb out of her mouth... and you can try replacing it with a pacifier if you want.

[bittersweet]

Originally Posted by greeneyes

Both Lily and Violet are thumbsuckers and never cared for pacis. Lily has weaned herself and now it's not an issue, and she only just turned three in Jan. Her pedi dentist told me thumb sucking is far better than the best ortho paci out there and poses no ortho issues if stopped sometime before age five.

This is good to know. I had no idea. How old was Violet when she weaned? Did you ever get negative comments from people?


Shannon, I was hoping you'd reply b/c I remember you saying you were a thumb sucker! I've also heard those aweful paci stories, so I'm a bit glad she's found her thumb instead. Just hope it doesn't take her breaking an arm to stop her

[Mod-LadyCoconut]

Originally Posted by bittersweet

Shannon, I was hoping you'd reply b/c I remember you saying you were a thumb sucker! I've also heard those aweful paci stories, so I'm a bit glad she's found her thumb instead. Just hope it doesn't take her breaking an arm to stop her

Well maybe its like you said and she just is newly interested in her hands and this won't be an all-the-time type thing. Like I said, Lily loves sucking on her hands and occasionally gets her thumb into her mouth and will suck on it... so maybe she could turn into a thumb sucker but at this point its not an all-the-time thing. Personally, I'd rather have my kid self soothe by sucking their thumb than being difficult to console and not wanting a paci. If I felt the need to get 'defensive' with family or outsiders about it I'd probably just respond with "well would you rather listen to her cry?" haha.

[greeneyes]

Originally Posted by bittersweet

This is good to know. I had no idea. How old was Violet when she weaned? Did you ever get negative comments from people?


Shannon, I was hoping you'd reply b/c I remember you saying you were a thumb sucker! I've also heard those aweful paci stories, so I'm a bit glad she's found her thumb instead. Just hope it doesn't take her breaking an arm to stop her

Violet hasn't weaned yet but she just turned one so I'm not worried about it. Lily weaned herself not long after she turned three, she just told me one morning that Violet is a baby and babies suck their thumbs but Lily is a big girl and big girls don't suck their thumbs. It was cute. A friend of mine put gloves on her daughter's hands to keep her from sucking her thumbs when she was older. I seem to remember it working well and rather quickly.

[Mars]

Amara started sucking her finger and then her thumb when she was around 3-4 months. I never bother her while she did it but it did concern me too at first. However, she stopped sucking it when she started getting teeth.