Should I give thumbsucking 15 wk old a dummy?

[chankins]

My 15 wk old Ds sucks his thumb to fall asleep, and sucks it pretty often when awake, tho I think this is partly because he is teething. My other children never had nor needed dummies, and I've never really liked them personally, but my mum says thumb sucking is harder habit to break and will make his teeth stick out! However mil positively hates dummies and thinks him sucking his thumb is really cute as my Dh did it as a baby. Not sure what to do! He looks so adorable when he does it, but its not so cute when a big kid does it is it?

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thumbsucking GOOOOOOOOD

honestly, I understand the point that you can take away a dummy but can't take away their thumb but WHY would you want to take away something that brings them comfort
You can explain to an older child that it is for bed only and encourage and praise them to keep it that way

dd sucked her thumb in the face of all those comments 'she'll wreck her teeth, you can't take it away..'etc etc. well quite frankly i prefer it to dummies, i like that she can self sooth, she sucked her thumb to sleep, it would have seemed odd to have her using a dummy with breastfeeding, AND... she actually stopped sucking her thumb on her own at 14 months old.

You can always paint your son's thumb with bitters later on (cruel but efficient - I remember from my own childhood), but avoid dummies like the plague.

Thanks, I am actually relieved to hear you say stay away from dummies as that has been my first instinct too. Hopefully he'll grow out of it too, but anyway at the mo it is so cute to see him sucking away asleep in his cot!

I always hated dummies too, & my two both sucked their thumbs - but Dd is still doing it 17 years later.......
Her boyfriend thinks it's cute too!

my best friend's husband does it still and he is 47, only in private though

Let her suck her thumb, its always there, can't be lost and is a lovely comfort to her.

I had one thumb sucker and one dummy sucker. Each to there own!!

They usually grow out of it, and if not there are ways to discourage it when they are 23.

I'd give the dummy

Thumbs are always there and you can't limit them.

It can be a much harder habit to break

It interferes with jaw development

My daughter has had to have 3 years of brace treatment to re align her jaw as her bite is totally out. The work wasn't cosmetic as she has straight teeth (except for the front middle as they have an obvious finger shaped gap) Her orthodontist refused to start the work until she kicked the habit, as 'there is no brace out there that can compete with the force of a thumb/finger" She is still facing jaw surgery, if the bracing isn't enough. We were told the only reason for this problem is finger sucking. And in his opinion, she would have a perfect jaw going on family history. Our dentist is also pro dummy, anti thumb/fingers

With a dummy, you can have rules as to where and when, take it away for times it isn't needed and remove totally before the loss of baby teeth and the eruption of adult ones

I wish I had stopped the thumb sucking from the beginning

I agree with rhino, when I read the title I thought..........NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO............. .DONT GIVE A DUMMY.

ooh bit scared by that information on jaw development! That sounds terrible! Anyone else think dummy is good idea for this reason?

i would jam the thumb i tighter!
looks so cute and they can do it all their life

Please don't take DS' dummy away, I was a thumb sucker and was the most contented child EVER! I would kill for my unborn LO to suck their thumb!

Sorry meant DS' THUMB!

omg, why would you do that?

I would love it if ds2 sucked his thumb.
you can't lose thumbs, and you can always find them at night.

but anyway he probably won't have a dummy now.

i would give DS a dummy as if he carried on using his thumb it is hard to break the habit. Im no expert but its what ive been told. (my dd is not a suckie baby)

And your teeth are ok?! You just hear so many negative comments about thumb sucking it really gets to you! To be honest I don't think I could take the thumb out his mouth if I tried, he loves it, and another plus I realised last night ; he wakes up, cries a little, finds his thumb and then you can hear him sucking away again and straight back to sleep. I'd have to get up and keep finding the dummy wouldn't I? Not good.

I sucked my thumb for 17 years, hugely. My teeth were slightly crossed but it was more to do with having an overcrowded mouth rather than thumb sucking (orthodontist said so). I believe sucking the fingers is the worst for the mouth alignment.

As I said, IMO it makes for a FAR more contented baby than if you relied on a dummy (plus he will probably revert back to his thumb when you don't see him, in his cot at night etc).

Good luck!

where do you live chankins?

I lived in spain when dd was little and people were forever telling me to give a dummy. they are less inclined to do that in east anglia.

I say stick with the thumb

My bro sucked his for ages and his teeth/jaw were fine

Can someone tell me why, when discussing ealry weaning, someone saying well it never did me any harm is shot down but on this type of thread, it's all ok?

Was just telling you what an orthodontist and a dentist have told me and why my daughter has jaw problems. Everyone chooses to ignore, Fine by me, go ahead and ruin their mouths, cause it just might happen to you too. Then come back in 12 years and cry about the pain your child is going through, due to treatment to rectify it

I don't get this place sometimes

I am an occasional thumb sucker, and my ds is too. My teeth are fine, his are slightly out of line, but not enough to be a problem (and the dentist hasn't ever mentioned it). I am not sure what the incidence of teeth problems is for thumb suckers, as I've never met anyone (in RL that is) with teeth problems caused by thumb sucking. I'm sure it's true that for some children it has bad consequences, but for most it is a great comforter. I don't know if you can convert a thumb sucker into a dummy sucker anyway, unless you are going to be there to pull his thumb out of his mouth every time it goes in and substitute a dummy. It can be hard to get some children to stop sucking their thumb (my ds still sucks his quite a bit and he's 8 1/2) but most seem to stop well before their adult teeth come through.

Ds is now 7 years old. Still sucks his thumb & his jaw line is FINE!!

Ds's teeth do not stick out, niether do mine (I was a thumb sucker).

Did try ds on a dummy early on, complete waste IMO. He was breastfed and wouldnt take a bottle either. Dentist highly praised me for the fact he went straight on to beakers.

Thumb sucking is completely natural.

Babies/children love sucking.

Thumbs are right there !!!

theodoresmummy - you are right.. they even do it in the womb

I used to be a NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO to dummy person. DS didn't suck his thumb so I smugly continued to be anti dummy. My DD sucked her thumb from very early on. I asked the HV if I should give her an ortho-friendly dummy (better for her teeth/easier to throw it away etc etc). HV said absolutely not, which i was relieved to hear cos still very anti-dummy. However, my DD is now 9, still sucks her thumb when tired, and her top teeth have really suffered. You can tell them til the cows come home that the thumb is only for bed time and praise them as much as you like, but they will still stick their thumb in when they need it until they grow out of it, which might be 14 months or 14. I'm afraid if I had my time again, I'd go for an ortho-friendly dummy, used for sleep time only, not as a "gob-stopper". My DD is a really pretty girl. Apart from her teeth.

I've had this discussion quite a few times because dd found her thumb at 6 wks old (is still a thumbsucker at 15 mnths). I think it's like with anything in life, you always hear some terrible stories like divorcee's (I hope the brace does work for your dd and she doesn't have to have jaw surgery). However, my best friend had terrible teeth and was always going to the orthodontist all the way through school and she never sucked her thumb or fingers. By the same token, I was a thumb sucker, and my mum before me and our teeth are perfectly fine, not even wonky. So I guess it's a lottery. Personally I decided to leave dd's thumbsucking as she found (and still does) great comfort in it. And anyway, I did try all sorts of dummies with her and she refused them all. IME trying to get her to do something (or not do something!) against her will makes her all the more stubborn to carry on as before (something I recognise in myself and in dh too ). So I've decided not to make a big deal of it. At the end of the day, there are stories where it turned out fine and stories where it didn't, so I suppose you have to weigh up taking the risk versus trying to stop the thumbsucking (which could also be quite distressing - depending on if you could find a comfort substitute easily, or if your ds has other ways to find comfort).

Good luck whatever you decide!