4mo chewing her thumb - will she ever suck?

[ellesabe]

At 1wo she was trying to get her thumb but her index finger kept getting in the way so she would suck/gag on that instead.
At 1mo I started to let her suck my finger and this is how she would get to sleep.
At 3mo she started sucking her thumb.
At 4mo she has stopped sucking her thumb and instead chews it
She also now refuses to suck my finger and gets very annoyed if I try to put my finger in her mouth. Luckily this isn't a problem as she can now just drop off to sleep on her own, but I do wonder if she will start sucking her own thumb again instead of chewing it.

I'd try swapping her thumb sucking for a dummy. My DSIL did this on the advice of her dentist. In his words, you can take a dummy away, you're going to have more trouble taking her thumb away.

We tried a dummy at about 2mo when she was having a particularly difficult night but she wouldn't take it.

I'd try her again when she's settled after a feed. They often won't take a dummy if they are distressed but will happily suck on one if they are nice and dreamy.

If chewing her thumb helps her then I'd let her get on with it. I also don't have a problem with thumb-sucking on a longterm basis so I've never seen the desirability of dummies.

She won't chew it once she has teeth, and I'd not want her in the habit of needing your finger for a similar reason.

I really wouldn't worry about it since she is fine settling herself and that is the main thing. If I were you I would be hugely relieved that she doesn't want to suck your finger. I had a couple of friends whose babies did that and it was exhausting. They always had to sit there at nap / bed times while their lo sucked their finger until they dropped off and it became v draining and hard to break them of it. As for the dummy idea, I have my doubts simply because a determined thumb sucker (chewer!) is rarely interested in a dummy. All my 3 had dummies when tiny but from early on showed signs of wanting to suck their thumbs and by the time their motor skills were developed enough to keep thumb in (3 months ish) they just spat out the dummy and put their thumbs in instead. Nothing I could do about it. As pp said there will be no more chewing once teeth arrive. My DD2 was a bit of a chewer and when her first teeth came through she got a rather sore looking callous on the knuckle of her thumb which worried me for a bit but she soon adjusted and it went away.