Thumbsucking over pacifier

Elizabeth - posted on 03/11/2009

I know that my baby loves to suck on everything. She likes to suck on her thumbs/fingers most of the time. Sometimes I will try to give her the pacifier and she may take it for a little while, but usually spits it out. I guess we should be happy that our babies aren't dependent on the pacifier!

Candis - posted on 03/10/2009

it's normal for her to suck her thumb.Just give her a little time and after a while she will start to suck it less and less.my 3 month old started out sucking his pacifier,then he went from the paciier to his fingers and back to the pacifier again.when they just larning to suck their fingers they do just that but after a while it stop.Most of the time sucking a pacifier help them to suck on th breast a little better

Kayla - posted on 03/10/2009

hello my son is also 3 months old and in the past month he has been sucking on his thumb ALOT!! I did some research and i found that most things say its a "self-soothing" method and it is also helping them become independent and not depend on you so much! hope it helps...

Christina - posted on 03/10/2009

My daughter prefers her thumb, my son preferred a pacifier... Every baby is different. Be thankful your baby is capable of self-soothing, it's a blessing. You can always help her break a thumb-sucking/pacifier habit later in life, if she doesn't drop it on her own.

Tomeka - posted on 03/09/2009

Thank you all for your comments. I have been pushing the pacifier towards her and she takes it. however, she will also take the pacifier out and suck her thumbs. I will try to see what happens in the next month. I do see her doing more as she has discovered her 'hands'. Life is so funny. Thanks again!!

Crystal - posted on 03/06/2009

Toby uses the dummy to go to sleep but will often suck on his thumb and fingers during the day. I think the thumb sucking during the day is just baby finding their hands/fingers but personally i would discourage it at night as it would be a hard habbit to break once they are older, like Jaime said you can take a dummy away but the thumb is always there so will be a constant temptation to suck it which in the long run is really bad for their teeth as it pushes them outwards. HTH

User - posted on 03/06/2009

We've never been able to get our little girl to take a dummy but she has recently discovered her thumbs, especially at night when she sucks it so loudly she wakes us up! I don't think it'll do her any harm and she looks so cute with her thumb in and her fingers curled round her little nose! She's also breastfed.

Jaime - posted on 03/06/2009

I think it is pretty normal.  A lot of my friends who have had children say they sucked their thumbs or pacifier for a few months and then stopped on their own.  My baby switches off from thumbs/fingers to pacifier throughout the day.  I discourage the thumb sucking a little becuase I figure you can always take a pacifier away, but you can't take their thumbs away.  But I am going to let him do what he wants until around 8 months then I am going to try to really discourage the thumb and only allow pacifier at sleep time.  We'll see how it goes.