Thumb sucking

[carrieboo]

I have 6 six month old son who started sucking his thumb at about 4months and is now is sucking his thumb pretty much constantly. I want him to stop as both my dh and sil sucked their thumbs (and still do sometimes!) and so had to have braces, I had a brace myself at 23years old for other reasons and I know how much it hurt so I don't want him to have to go through that.

I've been so good at looking after his teeth so far - I had him taking all his non-breastfeeds from the avent magic cup by 4 1/2 months despite him screaming blue murder at first. I feel that if I can't get him to stop sucking his thumb then all that will of been a waste of time, I keep taking it out of his mouth and telling him no but it's not working.

Any ideas as to how I can get him to stop or at least reduce this habit?

Don't worry about it. Thumb sucking isnt a problem as long as it stops before the permanent teeth are coming in (about age 6, I think, when he will be able to be reasoned with).
I had a brace as a teenager because I sucked my thumb until I was 11! But that was the reason, Babies need to find a source od comfort and thumb sucking is pretty harmless at this age. Telling him no and getting stressed about it will probably only make him do it more.
I was worried about this with my dd who is now 2 1/2 and my mum said the beast way to solve it and reduce sucking during the day is to keep hands busy with things that need 2 hands to play with.
He also could be teething - is he dribbling a lot? Maybe a small dose of calpol could help if he is sucking because of teething pain.
My ds is 5 months and has just started sucking his thumb too - I reckon if they're going to do it then they're going to do it and so stressing is a waste of time. Also at 6 months he is just too small to understand 'no', so it could well become a gsme for him, so he'll suck more to get your attention
Sorry - not very coherent I'm tired. Hope this helps.

I've tried the two hard toys thing but he just drops it to suck his thumb instead! It's not teething, as he chews his first three fingers when his teeth are playing up.

I like the idea about waiting untill later and trying reasoning, as it does feel like I'm fighting a loosing battle at the moment! Thanks.

I'm not really stressing about it as I know that it obvioulsy makes him happy. I'm just worried that he will get so used to it that the habbit will be v. hard to break later(I bit my nails all my life and only stopped when the brace made it physically impossible).

LOL I bit my nails till I got my brace, stopped while I had it and started again! At least I don't still suck my thumb (like my 25 yr old brother!!!!!)

Forget it. You'll never get him to stop at this age and trying will only stress you and him out. DD is 2.5 and does it when she's tired, I never give it a second thought, I'm hoping she won't still be doing it when she's 14 but there's always orthodontics.

I dont think you can stop a 6 mo old from sucking his thumb. Its nothing but a soother to them just like a special toy, blanket or pacifier. Hopefully it wont be a long term thing. When all three of my children were born I planned to give them the pacifier because I really wanted to avoid the thumbsucking. Usually its a natural automatic thing for an infant to suck the thumb. I thought when it was time to take the pacifier away they wouldnt even bother with their thumb since they were a little older and didnt need the soother as much. Am working on my third with stopping the pacifier. My brother is now 28 and up until 25 I knew he still had a problem with sucking his thumb. More people then we realize still can break this type of habit later in life. They just do it in private.

Threeangels

Did the pacifier thing work? I thought about trying to get him to take a dummy for the same reasons as you.

I guess the main reason I'm so hung up about it is that it is practically constant i.e. he pushes his milk/food out of the way to put his thumb in instead, he smiles/talks with thumb still in mouth, he drops toys to suck thumb etc. So it's starting to interfere eith him doing normal things, if it was just be time.nap time I would not care really.

I remember vividly taking my dd's thumb out to breastfeed her!
My first 2 boys sucked their thumbs regularly up until about nursery age when they themselves moved to bedtime only. I can't remember when they actually stopped but they were probably about 5 or 6. One particularly had a shrivelled thumb but it returned to normality when he stopped. DS no.3 had a dummy at night till 8 months and he was the only one with teeth problems - his bottom teeth wore down his top teeth practically to nothing. Perhars if he had sucked his thumb that wouldn't have happened.
Dd who is 8yrs still sucks her thumb ( just looked at her and she is doing it just now watching TV - school holidays here in Scotland) and she rubs the tip of her nose at the same time. She is sensible enough not to do it in public because she knows it is 'babyish'. You can see that she loves to do it, her teeth are OK so what is the harm? I am not going to stress over it because she will stop when she is ready.