Is this normal in a 12 week old??

[newmum36]

My ds constantly has his hands up at his mouth and in the last week or so this has got worse.
I have taken the dummy away for evening sleeps but he is still swaddled and I intend to do this until he can perhaps find his thumb otherwise the constant sucking of his hands keeps him awake and he gets really really frustrated when he manages to have a suck and then his hands fall out of his mouth again and he can't find them (it's funny but painful to watch this voyage of discovery !!)
In the last day or so, he's also started to do this funny lip sucking thing with his top lip?
Is he just a very sucky baby and should I just leave him to it or should I give him the dummy more (not at night though - I've just cracked that one !!) to satisfy him. The problem with the dummy though is that he just sucks it and then spits it out constantly.
I'm very confused. If this is just a natural phase, how long will it go on for ?! Might he be teething or is he finding his thumb - he also has little bubbles at his lips a lot of the time.
THanks !!

hello newmum36 and congratulations! I have 18mo ds and 11wk dd. I think what you're experiencing is perfectly normal. One of the books I read first time round (think it was The Baby Whisperer) says newborns need to suck for 16 out of 24 hours. My ds was a very sucky baby and I relied on a dummy (I was absolutely against the use of one until I had him) but until they can keep their own thumb in you do need to keep putting the dummy back in which is a real pain - my sister propped a cushion against the dummy to keep it from falling out of my neice's mouth! As soon as my ds could suck his own thumb I took the dummy away and that was that. That was when he was 4 months but it will vary for every baby. The bubbles are normal too.