14 Month Old Thumb Sucking and Teeth Alignment

I sucked my thumb through the second grade. I did need braces -- but for an underbite! I remember my mom telling me that the orthodontist said if thumb sucking had had the power to move my teeth, I wouldn't have needed braces!

My daughter is almost four and still sucks her thumb, but now she only does it when she is tired. Her teeth are beautiful and perfectly straight. I was never a thumb sucker and ended up needing braces! None of our friends that have thumb suckers have ever had problems with their kids teeth. I think thumb sucking becomes a concern when they are school age and doing it constantly and it is noticeably affecting their teeth. I wouldn't worry.

We went through the same worry when our son started thumb sucking. I told him 50 times per day not to, and pulled his thumb out. Then got on the internets and lo and behold - it's a phase.

It's just part of teething. It's constant thumb at first - and then slowly becomes just a few minutes and then just a quick jab in and out. I would guess it lasted about 6 months (definitely no longer).

Doc said fuggetaboutit. It's attached and you ain't stopping it. So we relaxed.

PS - the whole "ohmygoshmykidsuckstheirthumbandneedsbraces" thing is waaaay later. Healthy, well adjusted kids just go through this phase to help soothe themselves during teething.

pss - Hyland teething tablets are what you want to get. homeopathic. Also get some chew toys and store them in the freezer. Also teething cookies - Earth something. Organic and all that - but they work perfect as a hard cookie that's easy to hold in little hands. Your daughter, and everyone living with her will thank you.

PPSS - the first teething where she will cry, cling, not nap, not sleep lasts 7-12 days. Good luck. :)

My dentist tried to scare me with my 3 year old and I remember being scared about it myself as a kid (I sucked my thumb until 1st grade!). But I never wore braces and my teeth are great. My sons teeth straightened out within 6 months of him stopping his pacifier. So one less thing to worry about!

My son sucked his thumb through first grade.
His baby teeth were perfectly straight.
It was his adult teeth that were crooked but it had nothing to do with his thumb.
His teeth were too big for his jaws so they were crowding each other out.
I remember viewing the panoramic xray of his teeth and it looked like a traffic jam in there - he had so many teeth developing beneath the gums and no place for them to come up/down.
We saw and orthodontist and an expander and 2 yrs of braces has his adult teeth looking beautiful.
At 14 months - it would almost be cruel to try keeping her thumb out of her mouth.
I remember playing a game with my son when he was that age.
We sat on the floor playing, and I held his favored thumb from him - so his other thumb went in his mouth.
So, I held his other thumb, and the favorite thumb went in his mouth.
Then - I held both of his thumbs - and he started to look like he was going to get upset, so I offered him my thumb - and he was perfectly happy with that.
And then he offered me HIS thumb.
Alright, so I was a little bit of a crazy lady - him sucking my thumb with his thumb in my mouth (wish I had a picture of that).
The point is there was no keeping his thumb from him and especially at nap and bed time - it was his thing to unwind at the end of a long day.
Relax!
She'll out grow it when she's ready.
She won't be sucking her thumb when she goes off to college!

nope just when the permanate teeth are the ones you have to worry about but it is time for her first dentist check up so you can talk to him more about it :)

I wouldn't worry about it yet. My daughter started sucking her thumb at 3 mos and it was rarely out of her mouth after that. Our pediatric dentist was not concerned until it got close to her baby teeth coming out. She did eventually start to push her top teeth out and her bottom teeth in. I could stick my pinkie finger in the gap! Thumb sucking actually changes the shape of the roof of the mouth if it is prolonged. We finally, around age 6 had to get a dental crib put in her mouth. Yes, we tried many other things first - distraction, reward charts, the nasty nail polish. It was our last resort before her grown up teeth came in. She hasn't sucked her thumb in almost a year and the changes in her mouth have reversed. So, my suggestion to you would be to not worry too much about it until she is a little older, but definitely be aware of the issues that may arise if she continues sucking her thumb past the age of 4 or 5.

Yes, most thumb suckers do have bone growth issues later. It can be a serious issue or a minimal one that simple braces can fix.

I took my daughters bottle away cold turkey and the binky too. She fell off the couch and knocked out a front tooth. I know now that since I took away the things she sucked and she still needed to suck that I should have worked around the injury and let her have at the very least a binky so she would have something healthier to suck on, that was shaped to support her growth and bone structure.

I would see what the pediatric dentist has to say about the X-rays and how the jaw bones are doing.