When did your baby first start to suck his/her thumb or fingers?

Question

My daughter refuses to take a pacifier and has recently discovered that sucking her thumb or her fingers is fun. However, she hasn't quite made the transition to do it to self-soothe in order to fall asleep, so her naptimes always start with a good 15-minute crying session. I know some parents worry about their kid and thumb-sucking, but I'm excited for her to find this handy "pacifier" as it might help her fall asleep better on her own. She's four months old now - when did your baby first start sucking his/her thumb or fingers to get himself/herself to fall asleep?

Answer 1

kids start the it at their own when they start teething, its a natural process, as soon as they are about to have teeth they start doing it, that's the way they learn to eat, it could start between 8to 12 months. but we don't allow our kid to suck his thumb and just retard this process as and when he try to do so. it can deshape his tooth and make him feel ashamed in public when he grow up. Yeah it could be used as a medicine to let him calm down when he is weeping or so.. but too much of it could be harmful.

Answer 2

At three months my daugters started to spit out the paci and put their thumbs in instead. They quickly got good at it. I am a big fan of thumb suckers. So far there have been no teeth issues (one is 7, one is 3) and since a child can't play and have their thumb in their mouth at the same time (most kids suck the thumb of their dominant hand), they don't have it in their mouth nearly as often as a kid who wants a pacifier.

Answer 3

with my son he started sucking his fingers as a newborn(we tried the pacifier but he would spit it across the room), with my oldest daughter she only used a pacifer for about 5-6 months but she never sucked her fingers(and cost us tons of money for orthodonist) with my youngest i actually have pictures of her on ultrasound sucking her thumb, and she actually would suck either one as she grew(and finally gave it up all together when she was 13 or 14, but had only sucked it in the evening or in bed from the time she was about 4)

a funny story to go along with this topic---my husband says he knows when ive had a bad day---i suck my thumb when i sleep

Answer 4

My daughter was less than 2 months old, so we stuck her on the pacifier. My three year old still sucks his thumb, but we can't take that away. :-) We're hoping "out of sight, out of mind" when the pacifier goes away. Trial and error, I guess.

Answer 5

your baby is just looking for some comfort that would make her sleep and for now it might not be sucking her fingers or sucking the pacifier. have you try hanging the music thing over the crib that spins and sings all nursery songs ,that might feel comfortable to sleep , you should try it .

Answer 6

Just don't let them do it. It'll cause them a lot of problems later. I used to suck my thumbs, and later on in life, it cost my parents over $10,000 or orthodontist work!