After 2 big time binky babies I am a little shocked and somewhat fearful to have a major thumbsucker on my hands. Right now it's kind of adorable but I'm scared for what it means come "weaning time." I thought it was mortifying that Teya sucked a binky till she was over 3 years old, but thumbsuckers go longer than that! A certain unnamed thumbsucker I know who may or may not be myself, sucked her thumb till she was in 4th grade! Much more mortifying than a 3 year old with a binky. Also expensive when the thumb sucking led to buck teeth that could only be tamed by braces. What are we going to do?!
On the other hand it's so sweet that the little guy can self soothe at night. He's been sleeping through the night (8-9 hours) for the last few weeks and I credit that to the fact that when he wakes up he pops that cute little thumb in his mouth and sucks himself back to sleep. (The binky babies didn't sleep though the night till 6 and 9 months)
Is it worth the convenience of self soothing right now to battle breaking the habit later on? Or should we cover those little hands and force the binky on him?
It's going to be hard to stop him, just look at that face, he's looking at me all guarded like, "Don't even think about it mom, this is what takes me to my happy place!" I guess for now I'll enjoy the blessing of self soothing before we tackle the curse of making him stop.
13 comments:
Thumb suckers are so adorable! I love it, but it sure is hard to break. With a binkie you can just take it away, but fingers are a little harder. We've tried everything with Noa (taping his fingers, painting them with Thumb, dipping them in hot sauce, just nice reminders, rules, threats :) nice threats of course) but ya nothing has worked yet. It is super cute and I'm not too worried though because I've never seen a teenager suck his fingers...they all eventually out grow it...i hope
Those chubby little thumbs...so cute! I love that "Don't mess" look he's giving you in the last picture. Camden totally knows what's up. As for thumbs v. binkies - my kids didn't do either. Good luck with whatever you decide to do!
So much cuteness! I can hardly stand it! I think it is a natural way for Babies to self soothe. We had a few thumb suckers and finger suckers. You guys all outgrew it and you never did it in public after about age two or three. I wouldn't worry about it. He seems pretty content.
Thumbs are so much more convenient than binkies! You don't have to run to walmart in the middle of the night to buy a new one if its missing :) He'll outgrow it when he's ready. Could be by 8 months, could be by 4th grade. But it won't be when he's an adult so don't worry :)
He's SO cute!!! I love all the thumb-sucking pictures you caught of him. Unfortunately, I don't really have any clue what advice to give. Brooklyn wouldn't suck ANYTHING! She hated nursing, the thumb never occurred to her, and the binkie pissed her off!
Lily DID try to suck her thumb but I couldn't stand the smell of her hand, so I put her hands in socks until she stopped.
That being said...it took her a LONG time to learn how to self sooth at night (about a year). She started sleeping through the night at 8 weeks but if anything woke her up on accident (Brooklyn) we had to give her a bottle to calm her back down!
Anyway, good luck on whatever you do dude! and don't forget, your own instincts are probably the best! :)
Oh my gosh! Could he be any cuter?? I love him and I've never even met him. My friends' kids were all thumb suckers, she said it's no big deal and once they hit 3 or 4 or whatever age, she had a mouth guard thingy put in. It goes in the roof of the mouth and their thumb no longer fits in their mouth and all 3 of her kids stopped the second that was put in.
Oh, I love it! He looks so adorable! Here is my advice. Miley is a finger sucker, and it was been GLORIOUS in terms of her being able to self-soothe from a young age. Someone I also know (ahem, not me....hmmm) sucked their thumb till they were 9! So about the same as you. :) I also had braces, but look at it this way...a LOT of people get braces these days, for one reason or another, so it probably won't make a huge difference in that respect. Also, like your mom said, I dont see very many kids after two or three sucking their thumb in public. I think it is mostly reserved for sleeping at that point. So I say just let him be, and enjoy the easiness of a thumb sucker!
He's a CUTE little thumbsucker!!! Enjoy that thumb as much as he is if he's letting you sleep 8-9 hours at night. :)
My brother was a finger sucker and he outgrew it before school-he had older sisters to help him remember to not suck them :)...so does Cam!
Stephan's older brother, would put his thumb in his mouth in college if he was relaxed watching t.v.. I wouldn't have even really noticed it if Stephan didn't point it out-kind of looked like biting nails, I guess.
Kade was a hard core thumb sucker and I used to seriously stress out that he'd never stop, but around the time he turned three he weaned himself. My first two wouldn't take anything and it was a lot more stressful than the thumb worries! With the combination of Chad and my terrible teeth we will almost definitely be paying for braces anyway, and the funny thing about that is that my younger sister sucked her thumb until she was probably 13 and is the only one of us who didn't need braces! Now that Sophie is our resident thumb sucker I am just happy that I never have to worry about trying to find her stupid binky in the bottom of the diaper bag!
That's so great he can comfort himself! I've tried to help all my kids find their thumbs for sucking, but alas no success.
haha Justin and I got a good laugh out of the last photo and your description. He totally looks like that! Well, I also sucked my thumb way longer than I should have. I don't know how old I was, but if I can remember my mom putting jalapeno juice on my thumb (yep!) to make me stop, I was too old.
I don't know, maybe I am weak, but there is NO WAY I would stop him from doing that if it's helping him sleep through the night! It is also super adorable. I wouldn't worry about it!
Thumb suckers r da best...I was one too. It's too cute and if u guys r gettin 8 hrs all the better.
I have zero advice to give here, because my babies won't suck their thumbs OR a pacifier, and I wish they would! All I know is he does look pretty adorable with that thumb in there! I love that last picture - he looks so suspicious of you.
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