When my daughter gets sleepy, she sucks her thumb. She's 2 1/2 years old. And I'm okay with it. In fact, when I see her thumbsucking I know she's completely ready for bed. Yay! Sleep! No one wants to mess with that.
My little sucker was never into pacifiers, but did nurse for comfort sometimes. Her love affair with her thumb started around 6 months. And even though many people want to find ways to discourage thumbsucking, I'm not going to do that just yet. The way I see it is it's just like she loves to sleep with her Dolly. Except of course with that pesky possible orthodontic issue looming over our heads. Which I don't see being an actual issue until she's 4.
I'm not going to take her Dolly away; so I'm sure not going to separate her from her thumb.
I just feel there are habits a toddler can pick up that are far worse. You know, like smoking. Or nose picking and eating. Which ... well, she has done and knows it's not filed under the mommy-approved things to do. So instead of eating the boogers she picks, she tries to feed them to me. I haven't eaten them -- we get tissues and have a lesson in nose blowing of course.
I already feel like my daughter is destined for braces anyway -- I have (still have) an overbite and my husband had braces when he was a kid as well. Are we making her possible "problem" worse by "allowing" her to suck her thumb? Many are going to say yes. How could we let her continue with this disgusting behavior? Gasp! That's gross! But not all dentists are concerned -- ours isn't. So I'm not going to add this to the 12,376 things I already worry about daily when it comes to my kids.
I'll admit, that thumb stinks something awful after a good thumbsucking session (parents of thumbsuckers know what I'm talking about here!), but it's the way she likes to soothe herself right now so I'm going to let her be soothed and deal with the stench. Plus, have you seen some of those thumb torture devices sold to help kids stop sucking their thumb? No thanks! When it is time -- IF it even comes to that -- I'll go the talking it out route. There isn't going to be a power struggle. I don't want tears. And I don't want negative thumb associations.
There have been a few times when I tried to discourage thumbsucking, just to see what would happen. We co-sleep, so I snuggle with her and have tried holding her hands so little thumb wouldn't find its way into her mouth. But she has said, "Mama, I want thummy" so I let her have the little stink bomb. For now.
Do you have a little thumbsucker on your hands? Are you concerned?
Image via noquarter/Flickr
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Comments 59
I sucked until I was 6. There was nothing wrong with my teeth. When I finally stopped it was because I wanted to because it embarrassed me. I think that's how it should be. Good luck mom!
I sucked my thumb until I was 9 years old and it caused my lower jaw growth to be stunted. My lower jaw is 7 millimeters shorter than my upper jaw and my lower teeth were crowded back while my top teeth stuck out. It was terrible and I had to have my four adult premolars removed to make room for my teeth to straighten out with braces, and wore headgear. My only other option was surgery to saw my jaw and pin it out so new bone would grow in the gap. No thank you! My kid will NOT be sucking her thumb!
I was born in the late 60's and sucked my thumb until I was twelve. I was too embarrassed to do it at school but did it at other times. Eventually, I just did it at bedtime and then stopped completely. I have had no teeth/orthodontic problems and neither did my brother who had this habit longer than I did. I was a tomboy who played outside for hours every day and remember seeing my completely dirty hands except for that sqeaky clean little pink thumb. Gross, I know, but I was never sick as a kid. My parents just figured we would stop on our own which we did. My kids didn't suck their thumbs but I would have let them if they did.
My son sucks his thumb, he's 2 1/2. We discourage it during the day but let it be at bedtime. We had to take him to the dermatologist for an infection from sucking, but both the ped and the derm said that he'll just have to outgrow the habit.
my four month old sucks his thumb. he only does it when he is sleeping. I have a theory that it is genetic, because i sucked my thumb till i was 16. i got braces and then stopped cold turkey. i figure it wont be a problem until he starts to do it during the day as well, but for now, like the author said, its a really good way to know when your child needs sleep.
My husband absolutely refused to have thumb-suckers...the older two never used anything and the younger two had pacifiers until they were about 2 to 2 1/2....his sister was a thumb sucker until well into her teenage years and it caused problems with her teeth as well as development of speech (plus kids naturally grow out of things and she didn't) and while a pacifier can be given to the pacifier fairy when the time comes...a thumb cannot. Of course it is your choice, but we didn't allow it in our family...
If you don't make a big deal about it, she will stop when she is ready. If you make a big deal about breaking the habit, she will probably suck her thumb until she is 80. For now, it's her thumb, let her suck it if she wants to.