Thumb Sucking in an Infant.

I understand what you are saying. My mother doesn't like pacifiers, but wishes she had used them on us. You can take them away, but you can't a thumb. My youngest (now 18mo) was given a pacifier since birth. He would find his thumb and seem to prefer it. Knowing how hard it was for me to stop sucking my thumb, I didn't really want him to start. I didn't worry about it when he was sleeping, but when he was awake, I would switch his thumb for pacifier. Within a month he didn't put his thumb in his mouth. He was fine with the pacifier.
I wouldn't worry too much about the 3 year old. My oldest was three when the youngest was born. He had been broken from the pacifier for over a year/year and a half. He never picked up the habit. Anytime he would try and put it in his mouth, we just reminded him that it was his brother's and he is such a big boy he doesn't need them any more. They we would have him give it to his brother to be a big helper.

I'm a mother of a now 3 year old and daycare provider for 12+ years. I strongly encourage you to just keep working with putting in the pacifier. You have to be on top of it a lot. If is remember, it took me a couple of days working religiously with my daughter for her to accept the paci vs. her thumb. Eventually you baby girl should take to it. My daughter did not thumb suck or anything until about 3 months. Then she started trying to suck her thumb. I was very strong in my belief just as you that you can't take a thumb away later on like you can a pacifier, if a child’s needs something then I'd much rather it be the pacifier.

As she grows up as you know from having a soon to be 3 year old that they are hand on to everything. At least you can control somewhat better the germs if the pacifier gets dirty vs. all the things that can get on the hands then into the mouth.

This will hopefully also help her teeth alignment as she gets older so not to need braces from her teeth protruding as they do in many children who thumb suck. I've seen this countless times with daycare children who parents prefer the thumb vs. the pacifier. Just about every one of the children who sucked their thumb pushed their front teeth forward and the flared out somewhat. I wish you much luck. K.

Hi C.! I have to agree with another womans response on this one. With there being so many issues that come up when raising children this one seems to be very minor and quite honestly out of your control. I would just let it be and enjoy your little baby. When I start to sweat the small stuff like thumb sucking (2 out of my 3 do) I just try to remember it's not one of those things that is going to last forever. I bet you your child will not graduate high school sucking their thumb. Also, I have never heard of trying to train an infant to stop sucking their thumb by pushing the pacifier on them. I guess my advice would be to enjoy that little baby and let him/her suck their little thumb. Pacifiers fall out all the time anyway.:)

C.-
I don't want to sound mean, but why are you worried about it? With all the problems with kids out there, this seems like a very minor issue. If she was doing it in the womb, she obviously likes it and there's no harm. It seems to be your issue and not hers. Try to put it in perspective.

Thumb sucking isn't so bad....maybe your child will do better when it comes to illnesses...
Just because they use a pacifier, doesn't mean they won't suck their thumb later. I had my daughter on a pacifier and when we took it away, she started to suck her thumb.
She is 5 now...still sucking her thumb.. when she is tired, watching tv...not usually in front of her friends and not at school. We menion that big girls don't suck heir thumbs. She'll grow out of it...don't worry. There are more important things to worry about. Enjoy the holidays

The thumb is a wonderful thing as it never falls out or gets lost. Our daughter has been sucking her thumb since she was 3 months old (she's 14 mths now) and it was a great relief for us. It's a great way to self soothe and 90% of kids give it up before age 5 on their own, so don't stress about it.

H.

When my twins were young, my daughter wanted the pacifier and my son wanted his thumb. My daughter stopped using the pacifier around 6 months and my son stopped sucking his thumb around 24 months. I don't know if you could really change a baby's preference. I just would not draw any attention to the thumb sucking when your 3 yr. old is around. Your 3 yr. old may try it out but I don't think it would stick. You could say babies suck their thumbs... big kids don't. Tell your 3 yr. old that she can suck on a popsicle (sp?) or a lollipop for a special treat but not her thumb. Just my 2 cents.

J.

My daughter (14 months) is a thumb sucker, and like some of the other mothers said, it's the preference of the baby. My daughter only used the pacifier sparingly as an infant, and then once she found her thumb that was it. I don't think there is any harm in it. My dad is a dentist, and he said that children naturally stop sucking their thumb between 3 and 5. And it does not do any damage to the structure of the baby teeth. I sucked my thumb until I was 4 and I didn't need braces. I've read articles that pacifiers get in the way of speech development because it is always in the child's mouth.
She is your child and you need to do what you think is best for her. If you would rather a pacifier, give it a shot. But most likely she will spit it out and use her thumb instead. Good luck!

My almost 1 year old sucks his fingers, and has since he was able to find his mouth with his hand. He took a pacifier for about a minute, and then once he found those fingers, that was it. I am not sure how you would get her to use a paci instead, as it seems though she would just learn how to take the paci out, and put her thumb in instead. I will say that my two older kids(4 and just turned 3) never took to finger sucking they tested it and when I said that it ws for babies, they stopped.

Good luck!

Hello! I have a different view on this. I sucked my thumb till I was 11 and I hate to admit that. It was only when i was tired or slept though. I quit myself. I just decided that was it, sucked on a nipple from a bottle that night and I stopped right then and there. I know it sounds strange, but I am so serious. Anyhow, none of my kids sucked their thumb. My first one she would take a pacifier but hardly and then stopped alltogether at 4 mths. My middle daughter took the paci and we took it from her at about a year and it was good. My youngest during his ultrasound the tech told me it looked like he was sucking his thumb. He would try and try to get it and sometimes succeed when he was a newborn, and at about a couple months he did and has been doing it ever since and he is 4 now. He does not do it as much as he use to, but I dont feel the need to get him to stop it. Plus he is special needs nad this helps him to sooth himself now and always did. I did not worry about it much beofre and I still really dont. Know, if he was going to 1st grade and still sucking his thumb in school, then it would be a different story. I dont know, I just dont view a paci being better. That is just me though.

S. Bailey CLD
Aurora
www.tendermomentsdoula.com