7.06.2010

Thumb sucker

Yesterday I found Blue sucking his thumb. It wasn't the normal eating his fist like he always does. He blatantly had his thumb in his mouth and was going to town. I pulled it out of his mouth and he smiled a big toothless grin at me. Like he knew I didn't want him doing it.

So my question is... Is it bad that I'm discouraging it? It would help him to soothe himself to sleep better. But, he will also probably mess up his teeth. He is already going to probably need braces... Sadly that's a trait he will get from his mom. I looked like Mr. Ed until 5th grade... Sad story. So I would like for him to not make the buck teeth chances even higher. Is there anything I can do to prevent him from sucking besides just yanking it out?

5 comments:

  1. my daughter is 6 and still sucks her thumb when she goes to sleep. but thats it.. she quit when she went to kindergarten. all the books i have ever read discourage discouraging... if it really bugs you, when he is 3 or 4, you can have a guard put in the roof of his mouth by the dentist that will prevent him from doing it. my daughter is going to need braces as well- i had them for 4 years... and i'm afraid she looks just like me in the teeth department. you could try putting something sour on his thumb, like lemon juice to make it taste bad.

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  2. We figured it would near to impossible to discourage it fully, since he uses it to soothe himself back to sleep in middle of the night (when I'm not awake to pull it out!) We're just hoping he doesn't get to enamored with it.

    I mean, it's not like a pacifier.. it's hard to stop him from sucking on a part of him that's.. a part of him. LOL But I get what you're saying!

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  3. The previous commenter kinda hit on what I wanted to say. I have friends who encourage pacifiers because they can eventually take it away (or ween them off of it slowly). You can't take his thumb away. One of my friends took it down to only at nap time, bedtime, and car rides and then went to only nap time/bedtime and then eventually got rid of them all.

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  4. pull it out and stick in the paci like you are doing! He loves his paci! But he sure is cute sucking on that thumb!

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  5. Not sure if it's bad to discourage it. I think just do what feels right. Your comment about looking like Mr.Ed make me laugh out loud (only because I looked like him too until braces!)

    I'm your newest follower by the way :)

    http://penelopeblue.blogspot.com/

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