3.5 year old sucking habit

[Vijac]

My child still sucks his own mouth/tongue as a comforter. When tired or sleepy and also during the night when asleep. Is this something we should be worried about? Did anyone else's kids do this going on 4?

my 8 yo sucks her tongue
never thought to stop her TBH. is there a reason why they should stop?

I read something about how it can harm the teeth like thumb sucking and affect speech but I don't really know. Anyone else any wiser?

anecdotally, our dentist has never mentioned any misalignment or any other problems with dd1's teeth. DD2 still sucks her fingers at nearly five, and the dentist knew straight away due to the formation of her bite.

Does she do it in her sleep too? On our son it look like the baby sucking motion.

yup - looks like maggie simpson only without the dummy.
she only does it when nodding off/asleep

Wonder if they ever grow out of it??

could you replace with a dummy then get rid of the dummy?

It is something I thought of but seems crazy at nearly four when he's never had a dummy. I'm worried it's affecting his teeth as I dint think he has the clearest speech of all his friends.

I hate dummies, but i was specifically told to let my 7 year old have one for as long as possible by his doctor as comfort during a period when he was having seizures, he only got rid of it when he was 6.

If he only has it when he is sleepy it's unlikely to affect his speech any more than sucking his tongue does, orthodontic ones are designed to be less harsh to the teeth as well.

Interesting, thanks. I think I may visit the doctor and ask her about it.

You could also ask a dentist.

We taught an older child to us a dummy to stop her sucking her thumb .

I have no problem with dummies and mine have had them beyond toddler years, but I'm not sure an almost 4 year old would take to one or want one after not having one before.

My 30yo dsis still sucks her tongue...

How are you getting on with this OP?