Baby's First Year: Week 15 (Thumb-Sucking)

on March 8, 2010 at 11:00 AM

Meet first-time mom starburst1680. She's sharing the roller coaster ride of her first year of motherhood. Check back every week for all the emotion and exhaustion — right up until Kathryn Grace's first birthday.

Week 15:

Kathryn has discovered her thumb and how to isolate it. Now she is sucking on it quite often. This worries me some. I don't want to have to try to get her to stop sucking her thumb when she gets older. I would much rather break her of a pacifier habit than her thumb. However, it is awfully cute and it is nice that she has a method of self-soothing that works quite well.

Yesterday I got a few really good giggles from Kathryn. I finally heard clear, unmistakable giggles. I probably look really silly when I am doing what I have found makes her giggle but I don't care. If it makes her laugh I will do just about anything because that laugh and smile is soooo precious!

Challenges & Concerns:

I am slowly winning the battle of crib sleeping. Last night she finally went to sleep in her crib and slept there for a few hours for the first time in a few weeks. If I didn't have a time I had to get up, I would have worked with her a little more. I have been putting her down when she is sleepy but not asleep. Last night she was actually pretty much asleep but when I put her sleep sack on she woke up a bit so she was able to see that she was in her crib before she went to sleep for the night. I finished The No Cry Sleep Solution and have found some really good tips. I think I have been misreading some of Kathryn's cues. I think I was not recognizing some of the sleepy and gas cues for what they were. Now that I am seeing those more I am using that info to get her to sleep.

Has your baby started sucking his/her thumb? If so, did you go the pacifier route or just let them suck on their thumb?

(We're celebrating starburst168's first year with baby, so thanks for keeping your judgments about parenting choices to yourself!)

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Previous Weeks:

Week 14: Tummy Time and Growth Spurt

Week 13: Transitioning to Crib

Week 12: Date Night

Week 11: First Road Trip & First Giggle

Week 10: Formula Supplement

Week 9: Not Pooping!

Week 8: Rolling Over

Week 7: First Bath

Week 6: Going Back to Work

Week 5: Baby's First Christmas

Week 4: Sleeping Less, Not More

Week 3: First Giggle

Week 2: First Outings

Week 1: Meet Mom and Baby

Filed Under: baby first year, starburst1680

Comments (5)

Cafe Jenn

on Mar 8, 2010 at 3:38 PM

My 6 year old sucked his thumb until he was 3 or so. Thankfully my babysitter's husband broke him of it though I was really sad about it at first. I sucked my thumb up until I was 6 or 7 I think but only at night.

Neither of my boys took a pacifier so it wasn't even an option for us.

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CheyanneW

on Mar 9, 2010 at 9:19 AM

It may look cute now but it won't be so cute when she has to have her soft palate broken and spread and then braces to correct what thumb sucking does. This is what happened to my husband. He was allowed to suck his thumb until he was 5yrs. It caused his soft palate to form to his thumb and caved in his sinus'. When he was young he had to have the soft palate broken and spread and had braces for a few years. He said this was the most painful experience of his life. He then had to have braces again when he was 30yrs old. His teeth are still not completely straight and he still has sinus problems. To this day he gets upset when he sees baby's sucking their thumbs and has a bit of resentment toward his mom for allowing him to do that.

Pollymom

on Mar 9, 2010 at 11:47 AM

My son sucks his fingers and my daughter sucks her thumb. I don't mind because it is a self soothing technique they use...I also was a thumb sucker so I think that's where they get it. I sucked my thumb until I was probably 7 or so - I just grew out of it. But I never had any problems with my teeth. I don't know if that's a genetic thing...I never needed braces either. I guess that's why I'm not worried about it. It's a phase and they'll grow out of it in their own time.

TXMompreneur

on Mar 10, 2010 at 4:04 AM

I've heard all the "horror stories" about what thumb sucking is supposed to cause, and it's not true. SURE! Some people still repeat it as if it were "gospel" (like my 75 year old aunt), but the amount of force needed to disfigure the teeth would be severely painful and virtually impossible for an infant, toddler or young child to exert with one digit. (And I've heard that from several orthodontists.) This is the 21st century, and we need to put all the "old wives tales" in a story book. I have a cousin who NEVER sucked his thumb/finger/anything, nor did he have a pacifier, and he spent YEARS in braces because he was so bucktoothed. My sister sucked her thumb until she was 14 and never had any issues with her teeth because of it. My oldest sucked his thumb, but stopped on his own--and I don't even remember when! LOL On occasion he'll suck his thumb at night, but that's usually only if he's had a very stressful day. (He's autistic, and being around a lot of people stresses him out a great deal.) Babies have been seen sucking their thumbs in the uterus. It helps most of them sooth themselves, which is a good thing. They'll eventually grow out of it, but you can always offer a reward for not sucking their thumbs if it's really bothering you that much. But in my experience, threatening them will only make them want to suck their thumb more.

sodapple

on Mar 10, 2010 at 9:30 AM

i let my now 3 year old suck on a pacifier and i removed it before she was 2, i went the cold turkey method and it worked, she only cried to sleep the first two days and after that she was ok, i'm hoping to do the same this time around =-)