my 20 weeks old has turned into a thumb sucker and wont take his dummy

[biglips]

As he did have a dummy in the first 3 wks and then he was ok without one. How do I get him to take his dummy as he keeps on pushing it out of his mouth or is it too late.

Both of my girls was never a thumb sucker or had dummies so this is new to me

Thanks

At 20 weeks, I would let him have whatever he needs for comfort.

DS sucked his thumb until he was about 4, I think.

Then we bribed him with a toy to stop, and he stopped overnight.

I'm not really sure there is anything we could've done to stop him before that.

It's ok.

DD sucked her thumb until she was 3 or 4 I think. She just grew out of it.

Both my DDs suck their thumbs and have done since they were around 11 weeks old. My advice:

You are never going to be able to force him to take a dummy

A thumb is always there and never gets lost

A baby never wakes up and cries because they can't find their thumb

Why on earth would you stop a baby comforting themselves? What kind of message do you send to a baby if each time they try to comfort themselves you stop them?

I don't know anyone who has persuaded a baby to take a dummy, or stopped a baby sucking its thumb.

Also, they suck their thumbs in the night, in their sleep, and you are never going to be able to stop that (unless you keep an all-night vigil by their cot!).

DD was a thumb sucker, stopped by herself when she was 5

YY, Wigeon. I tried to give DD a dummy but she refused in favour of her thumbs. She's only 18 weeks (and my PFB) so I'm inclined to go with the flow because I can see how sucking her thumb instantly comforts and settles her when she needs it. Can't think how I would stop her anyway, short of taping mittens to her hands.

Wigeon.....i dont want to take his comfort away from him but I heard its harder to wean them off their thumb than dummy. Like I said im new to this.

Don't stress about it. As others have said, they grow out of it in time. My DS sucked his thumb until he was 7/8 and my dentist told him he needed to stop. He's almost 16 now and is 2 years into extensive orthodontic treatment. The first 9 months were spent correcting the damage his thumb sucking had done.

In hindsight would I have tried harder to stop him? No. He needed the comfort at the time and a brace is not the end of the world.

You can't stop them at that age, thumbs are far easier than dummies.

DS is almost 6 and still sucks his thumb. I've been trying to lay down the law about not doing it as he's messing his teeth up, I think he's doing it a bit less these days but it'll be a long time before he finally cracks it.

DD1 is still a thumb sucker at 14. We have tried allsorts to make her stop without success. Luckily she isn't a strong sucker iyswim and she has lovely teeth.

Really not sure what you can do

We went down the dummy route with dd2 and managed to wean her off it on her 3rd birthday.

DS1 (13) sucked his thumb from 4 weeks old until about 8.5 yrs.
He has beautiful teeth and a fabulous square jaw.
He has also had over £4k worth of ongoing private orthodontic treatment to correct the damage.

DD has sucked her thumb since she was 2.5 (FFS! She didn't bloody well need it for 2.5 yrs, why start?!)
She has ugly teeth and a receding lower jaw.
Once her top front milk teeth fall out she will start over £5k worth or private orthodontic treatment to correct the damage. In a few years she will also have beautiful teeth and a lovely jawline.

If you want to stop them, my orthodontist recommends putting long socks on both arms under their PJs at night. I wonder if a large pair of tights worn like a shrug would work better.

Anyway, is the extortionate amount of money I am spending and the pain/discomfort my children have gone through to correct the damage done to my their faces and teeth through thumbsucking worth the peaceful years of self-comforting....? I don't know.

DS2 never sucked his thumb and did still have the private orthodontic treatment to correct damage done by always having his mouth open so its not clearcut. His problems were far less severe than either of his siblings though.

My Mum didn't believe in giving dummies with the result that I sucked my thumb until I was 20 - only stopped because I got my tongue pierced and couldn't physically do it anymore. My brother sucked his thumb until he was about 11 or 12.

Our teeth are fine and neither of us required any orthodontic treatment. Who knows why some childrens' teeth are affected and some aren't? Maybe those that are would have needed orthodontic work anyway and thumbsucking just exacerbated an underlying problem?

A baby never wakes up and cries because they can't find their thumb

Yours might not, Wigeon, but my DD does, almost every night! I imagine it will get better as she gets more practice though.