Joseph loves sucking his thumb. He only sucks it occasionally but would suck it all the time if he could work out how to get it in his mouth without all his other fingers. This photo is one of the few times he has got it in his mouth without all the other fingers. Every time he has got it in his mouth, he has sucked it and gone to sleep.
All our other children have had dummies. They all loved them and I haven't really had any trouble getting them to give them up. I have tried to encourage Joseph to take a dummy but he really doesn't like it much. He certainly prefers his thumb. I am thinking that I should just resign myself to the fact that he is going to be better off sucking his thumb to sleep. I worry though that he may suck it until he is much older. I cannot take his thumb away from him like I can a dummy but I also won't have to search the house for his thumb when it is time for bed.
What are your thoughts on dummy vs. thumb?
18 comments:
Resign yourself! He likes his thumb and it will all work out in the end.
I'm assuming Dummy is Australian for pacifier - which we always called the "paci." :)
You know how it is, they do what they will. My first two were ardent thumbsuckers (Lauren, who is 22 and a mom herself, might still be caught with her thumb in her mouth!) It was so bad I swore I would give my other children pacifiers. Some used them, some didn't. And they all grew up fine! I don't think it has much to do with teeth formation, either. The orthodontist says they would have needed braces either way.
I'd be encouraging the thumb as you write they are much easier to find. James was my thumb sucker and he stopped by himself before he was 2. Only Michael and Heather have taken dummies. Michael refused it around 4 months.
Oh and the research is now saying that dummies reduce the sids risk. My MIL was all for James not sucking his thumb but from what I've read it's not a problem for teeth unless they continue to suck passed babyhood.
I don't know if you rememberm but I posted about this very thing with Alex! Guess what? After literally 3 months of sucking her thumb, she opted for the nukie (as we call it)...Never thought that would happen!
BTW-he is so beautiful Therese!
Three of my kids took pacifiers and one took his thumb. I actually preferred the thumb because at night it could never get lost! But he did get colds more often from the germs perhaps. I never pushed him to stop sucking, he just gradually did it less and less the older he got. We took him to the dentist around age 4 who said he needed to stop sucking his thumb so his teeth could grow in straight, and he did it cold turkey! We put mittens on his hands for a couple of nights to help remind him not to suck, and it was no big deal. This kid just preferred flesh to silicone - he never took a bottle and he never took a pacifier :)
Thumbs up haha!
I say go for the thumb. We are in the same boat.
Had five...Laura had a pacifier, the three boys did not suck on anything but the nipple of a bottle or breast, and Marianne sucked her 3rd and 4th fingers...No thumbs! I guess I was pretty lucky because there were none hard to break of the habit. He's a darling little boy!!! Cathy
since i have never heard the term dummy before, i say try a pacifire?
would that work?
My last 2 have refused a dummy, my 9 month old sucks on her muslin sheet to sleep, and her nearly 3 year old sister still sucks her fingers to sleep!
Hi Therese,
Our children never had dummies, but I wished that I had given our son a dummy, for he was still sucking it when he went to school, and nothing that we could do made any difference.
Then when he became a teenager, he had to wear retaining plates so that his bottom jaw would grow in line with his top one - an expensive experience - nearly $1,000 plus specialist dentist visits!!!
If you ask me, dummies are great - at least you can throw it away when the time comes.
HTH,
Have a wonderful week,
Love and blessings, Jillian ♥
Hi. I've just come across your blog and enjoying "catching up". I'm a Speech Pathologist, and as a profession, we generally prefer dummies to thumbs. 1) Dummies put less pressure on the teeth than the thumb can and 2) As you said, dummies can be thrown away.
Having said that, if your son has decided on the thumb, I don't think there is a lot you can do about it until he gets older.
that is the most adorable photo.
I've often thought a thumbsucker would have been too wonderful. Not one of our 10 would suck a thumb and only about half were much into the dummy/paci.
Nice thing about a thumb is you can't lose it! But, then, bad thing about a thumb is that you can't get rid of it when you're ready to break them of the habit.
I say push for the dummy.
You can chuck the dummy, but you can't chuck the thumb when they are older.
2 of my children refused the dummy but I kept shoving it in until they liked it.
I've heard a few stories of parents having difficulty getting thumbs out of the child's mouth when they are older.
But its up to you, thats just my opinion and I'm sure it will all work out:)
whatever works go with it...only one of my 5 took a pacifier and only for a short time. the rest did neither paci or thumb.
I was thinking about this as well. I think I prefer a dummy because they are easier to give up, and easier to keep clean. My son had a dummy, but my daughter sucks her fingers. I am constantly trying to clean them(fingers) off when we go out because she touches everything and then puts her fingers in her mouth(viruses!). My daughter who is four now, still sucks her two fingers when she gets sleepy or bored. She even did this in the womb...got some cute sonograms of her doing this.
My roommate in college majored in Speech Pathology. She is pro dummy. And on her advice, both boys have used dummies. Alex kicked the habit right after he turned two. Adam... I guess we'll see. He's more of a fist sucker. But still uses the dummy to fall asleep.
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