sucking fingers for comfort?

[sassymuse]

My little boy (2.5) sucks two fingers (the index finger and the middle one) for comfort. Mostly if tired or a bit upset, or before he goes to sleep.

Trouble is - he's developed these sort of soft callouses on his knuckles, which look awful, but don't seem to be painful, at least not enough to stop him continue to suck them.

I don't know if I should make a concerted effort to stop him sucking his fingers, or just leave him be. (I used to suck my fingers, until I was a scary age and it didn't affect my teeth, so I'm not too worried about that, even though I was probably just lucky).

Don't know what I'm really asking - probably if I should let it alone or not?

Thx.

My 2.5 dd3 does this, has done since newborn, she sucks the ring and little fingers of her left hand. Sometimes they are red and sore but I'm leaving it as i figure it'll stop at some point!

BTW dd has her fingers in her mouth almost constantly!!

My dd is nearly 10 and still sucks index and middle fingers of left hand -- spat out a dummy at 3 weeks and that was it. But I would advise to wean off them if you can, her nails are flattened and shes starting to become self conscious about then , and there is some flattening of the finger tips, not to mention slight teeth problems.

when you see the behaviour, distract or redirect and give immediate praise for performing the alternative behaviour. ideally the other behaviour has to be something involving the hands so that it replaces the other behaviour, if it is a repetative behaviour then its a long haul to replace/change the behaviour, maybe though that it can be minimised dignificantly, can it be replaced with a soother, blanket?

It's a good idea to wean children off finger sucking because it can cause problems in the way teeth grow in. Agree with Glen, distract and praise is the way to go.

ha ha dd3 has fingers in mouth and the other hand is used to haul round an enormous blanket.

Perhaps I should try to wean her off.

nasty tasting stuff on her fingers?