Thumb sucking and Teddies!

8 replies

Deaby · 18/06/2009 10:49

Hi All, my DD is 11 and a half months old. She sucks her thumb when she sleeps and I was wondering if anyone elses child does this and when/how you stopped them from doing it? I have considered giving her a teddy to comfort her while she is sleeping, but I am a bit wary of this as I keep thinking that she will keep playing with it and not sleep! Please reply soon!

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gingertoo · 18/06/2009 12:05

Not sure about the thumb sucking - none of mine did it - but they do all have a 'cuddly' which they take to bed with them. I always found for them that it was a case of playing with it while they go to sleep instead of playing with it instead of going to sleep. My youngest (now 23 months) has had his rabbit since he was about 6 months old and he plays with it's ears while he nods off......

gingerninja · 18/06/2009 12:10

why do you want her to stop sucking her thumb? I wish mine had rather than m e spending hours chasing lost dummies and teddies. there is plenty of time to tackle it in future imo. If it's a teeth thing then fwiw, my dh sucked his thumb until he was 11 and has perfect teeth

EldonAve · 18/06/2009 12:14

We will be discouraging thumb sucking in Sept when DC1 starts school

madnortherner · 18/06/2009 17:22

I'm interested in this thread. I've tried (to no avail):

A long sock pulled over his hand/arm (learnt to pull off)
Encouraging him to use blankie-type comforter instead (not interested)
Singing a silly made up song "we don't suck our thumb anymore" whilst easing thumb out of mouth (fun for a while, could get him to pull thumb out on own and smile instead just by singing the song, but ultimately no effect as the novelty of the song wore off)

One of these might work for you though.

Anyone else got any ideas?

hairtwiddler · 18/06/2009 18:18

DD sucked her thumb from a very young age and always used it to get herself to sleep at night. I never really stressed about it until the dentist told me to discourage it a few months ago (she's 3.5 now). I gently mentioned it to her and she got quite upset, so I laid off reasoning it wasn't worth the upset.
Lo and behold she stopped all on her own about a month ago. No mention of it on either side.
She's a right pain to get to sleep now!
At 11 months, I wouldn't fret about it much. Don't think teddy would be any substitute tbh.

Expectant · 23/06/2009 05:00

My DS (10.5months) also a dedicated thumbsucker. I was a bit concerned about this with teeth etc but from what little research I've done it seems to suggest that most children will give up of their own accord by 4-5 years of age as hairtwiddler's experience seems to suggest. Obviously not entirely borne out by gingerninja but as she says it didn't cause a problem for her dh.

nooka · 23/06/2009 06:18

I don't think there is very much you can do, unless you want to go down the line of painting nasty stuff on his thumbnail (the kind for stopping nail biting). I really wouldn't worry with a tiny baby in any case. I slightly worry about ds who still sucks his thumb at 10, but then I thumbsucked too, and it didn't cause me any great issues. I think it is something that can cause problems, but mostly doesn't.

JackBauer · 23/06/2009 06:40

Both DD@s are thumbsuckers when tired/not well or upset. Both also have a cuddly toy that they need to sleep and will hold in their thumbsucking hand.
So a cuddly may not solve anything.

I thumbsucked too but (like DD1 now) I didn't do it at school so it was never a problem.
I wouldn't want to stop DD's doing something hamrless like that that is comforting them TBH.

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