Is it normal for my 9 week old to suck his thumb so early? Is it going to be difficult to get him to stop later as he gets older? It helps him calm down when he wakes himself up while sleeping.
Thanks everybody for your great advice!! I pretty much laugh it off now and it's true, if it helps put himself back to sleep without me needing to get up in the middle of the night, then so be it!
My first one never sucked his thumb, my second did early on. I was prepared for a battle to end the thumb sucking, but he stopped on his own without me doing anything by the time he was 1. You may get lucky, and he'll do it on his own.
It's a pain later - but totally worth the 3 years of self calming.
My kids found their thumbs very early on, like in the womb! They both sucked them until about age 7 or 8 (bed time only by later ages). The dentist recommends stopping thumb sucking when permanent teeth come in. The nice thing about thumb sucking is, they always have it with them. The bad thing is that it cannot be taken away IF you want to break the habit earlier than permanent teeth, say at age 4 or 5. You could try to see if he will take a binky, I heard of friends tying all the binkies in the house to a helium balloon at age 4 to send them up to heaven. Then came about 5 nights of difficult sleep but the child got used to it. My kids both had about a week or 2 of difficulty falling asleep without thumb sucking, but got used to it pretty quickly. We used the "no nail biting" bitter tasting nail polish to keep the thumbs from sneaking into their mouths when asleep. I would let him suck. Most kids stop on their own by school age since they do not want to seem like babies. Good luck.
They do it in the womb, and yes, it will probably be difficult to get him to stop later, but you can deal with it than. We got my son to stop sucking it during the day at around 2 1/2 by putting socks on his hands when he did it. Later, and about 3 1/2 we used socks again to break his night time habit. It was not so bad. But if you are concerned about it you could try to get him to take a paci, but that will be just as hard to break him of in the end, and they get lost/dropped ect..
I had two thumb suckers, one was doing it on an ultrasound. They were the best babies. Slept all night early on (8or 10weeks). Both stopped at a reasonable age and only one needed braces later on. My third did not suck her thumb, she was a fussy thing and didn't sleep through the night for 9 months. I used to try to stick it in her mouth! Thumbsucking turned out to be a blessing for us, they were always able to soothe themselves. Enjoy, time flies!
We have an ultrasound picture of my daughter sucking her thumb, so no, 9 weeks isn't too early! ;) I have heard of a few people forcing the binky on their child instead of having them suck their thumb, but that's really a tough call. Like Catharina said, there's pros and cons, and the best and worst thing about it is that they always have it. I will tell you though that my cousin sort of made it work for her, both her kids were thumb suckers and I should have done this with my oldest, but didn't. When then started getting a little bit older, like 9-12 months, she would give them a blanket or stuffed animal and then we she took the blanket or animal away she took their thumb out of their mouth. It took some repetition but it worked. They both sucked their thumb pretty long (like until 8-10??) but they only did it when they held their bunny. Eventually she got them to stop b/c she took their bunny away. It really was a good plan, I wish I had done it b/c my 3 year old is still an avid thumb sucker and who knows when she'll stop!
I have a u/s of my daughter sucking her thumb in utero. Love thumbs.
They do not get lost. They comfort themselves!
Perfectly normal. I was sucking my thumb in the first hours of life in fact. And yes, it will probably be very hard to get him to quit later. But it is going to be equally hard getting him to quit now. You might be able to get him to switch to a pacifier.
They even do it before they're born, so yes it's normal. In fact, I have ultrasound pictures of each of my kids sucking their thumbs. I'd say hurray for you b/c if he is learning to self soothe so early then you are on a great track. When he's older he probably will just give it up on his own. If he doesn't you can set rules about where/when he can (my boys can only do it in their room), and then it will disappear slowly on it's own. Don't stress -- there isn't much you can do at this point to stop him anyway. And think of all the crying you're missing when he pops that sucker in to go back to sleep!
mine did at 6 weeks and slept through the night ever since. it's a godsend, don't question it. as far as later, they will give it up when they are ready. keep in mind this is a SELF soothing method - so if they're doing it, it's because they need soothed. don't try to take that away just because they reach a certain age.
You can't take their thumbs away! I have three great kiddos (from age 4 to 8). My 8 year old son and 5 year old daughter were both binkie suckers as babies so it was easy to take it away when they were older. My 4 year old daughter has been a thumb-sucker since she was about 6 weeks old. She still sucks her thumb today. I have been told by her pedi that she will stop when she's ready and to not really make it an issue. She said the more of an issue I make out of it, the more she may get anxious about having to stop and therefore over compensate by sucker more (A vicious cycle, ugh!) She also told me that it was a self soothing technique and important for her emotional development. So I just let her do it. She will probably have to have braces (but that runs in the family unfortunately!) and my sister (who is a speech pathologist) says her speech is right on target. I hope this helps!
