Baby Discussions

Sometimes yes, sometimes no.   If baby has a pretty good addiction to it then it will take a little work to break the habit.  A lot of times they out grow it and are fine.  If he gets past 18 months or so and you're still worried about it then start working on breaking the behavior.

My first was an avid pacifier user and it actually took his first dental visit for him to give it up. 

I don't think there is much you can do to stop it but I firmly believe in distractions!  When my nephew went through a stage of putting fingers in his mouth (he never sucked thumbs, but his finger instead!), I would distract him with a toy or by playing with his hands.  He doesn't do it so much anymore, unless his teeth hurt, but I find it's easy to distract him by giving him something he has to grab :)

My baby never has sucked his thumb or fingers. I guess I am lucky! Now, I remember when my brother was a baby, he always sucked his fingers on the left hand. Then, he slammed them in the door and that was the end of sucking his fingers. I agree with vivasuzi about distracting them and giving them something to grab. 

My youngest sucked three fingers. I had to stop it because her dentist said that if she continued past 7 it would be hard for them to put braces on them and her jaw line, etc. was really crooked. Anyway I had to reward her. Something like 25 cents for every day she didn't suck her thumb. Of course my older one who stopped sucking her thumb on her own asked why she never got any money!

I have a brother who sucked his thumb until he was 10... really. Then he just stopped and never did it again. It never affected his teeth, jaw or anything else.

--Bob

My son sucked his thumb from day one and hated pacifiers.  By the time he was three and we got him his first big boy bed he stopped.  Never went back to the thumb again. 

Oh, honey.  My son is STILL sucking his thumb.  He's seven.  He has the ability to stop when he's in school or with friends.  But when he's just with us, he still does it.  I don't try to stop him either, I figure he'll grow out of it when he's ready.

My daughter sucked three fingers until she was 7 and I had to reward her to stop per the dentist. Of course my older one wanted to know why she didn't get rewarded because she stopped on her own.

I have a friend who is 24 and she still sucks her thumb when she's asleep. =\

Well this is probably what most ppl have said but, it should stop on it's own. I think that it should be stopped at some point if the child isn't showing signs of quiting, it can progress into a very bad habit, and can be bad for the proper growth of teeth. AND...wow to the woman who still sucks thumb at 27>?>>>????

I have a cousin who sucked her thumb well in to high school. I sucked my thumb until I was 8. I found it comforting and grew out of it a little late, but not as late as my cousin.

I am very fortunate that my kids never sucked their thumbs. It was hard weening my first off the Pacifier and the second was easy and my third would not take a pacifier after the first 2 months so none of them sucked their thumbs either....hmm.. Put something nasty tasting on his/her thumb so they won't suck on it..something that won't hurt him/her of course. My mom told me when I was little if I sucked my thumb so much it would give me buck teeth....Is that true?? hehe

No, of course it's not true.  It's the type of statement that Orthodontists refer to as "practice development".

I have had friends in the past with daughters in their 20s that still suck their thumbs. Thankfully our kids did outgrow it at a pretty young age.  One friend tried EVERYTHING with her daughter.  I often wonder if she still sucks her thumb- she is close to 30 now....:)

RudiXeno said…

No, of course it's not true.  It's the type of statement that Orthodontists refer to as "practice development".

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True not bucked teeth... but there is the possibility of effecting the development of the palate (the back of the upper mouth.) Too much hard sucking for small children can cause this as well as impead some speech development.

While true, most children engage in comfort sucking rather than hard sucking.  The incidence of palate deformation and permanent speech impediment is relatively rare.

My sister seems to have discouraged it from her son and her newborn by giving them a pacifier at the first signs of putting fingers in their mouth.  Then she slowly eased my nephew off the pacifier.  I don't remember when he stopped with that, but he is 2 now and I never see him sucking on a pacifier or his fingers.  SO I think the idea is to squash it before it starts.

One Step Up makes a guard to put on their fingers at night to help them stop sucking their thumb or any other fingers, I haven't used them, but I saw it in their catalog

my son started sucking his thumd at 6months old,and he did it for a long time,i had tryed eveything to break him ,at the age of 5 he started to outgrow it.and he has not done it since.