i third the convienece of a thumb!!! DD1 was the best self settler with the thumb, but as a dental nurse i hated it!! i can see the damage that was done from the thumb, yes some people suck thumbs with not dental damage, but not all!!
we stopped DD sucking it at the start of the year, we used sports tape around her thumb so she couldnt remove it and it was uncomfortable to suck, it took a few weeks, the first few days were hard but she stopped, in reality it was pretty easy to stop her!
Well we have a thumb sucker here! We tried a dummy but t didn;t work and TBH I'm so glad she didn't lke them cause we don't get up to replace them. She has used her thumb since about 5 monthsd to self-settle and just in the last month has used it during day to calm down or to show she is tired. I do hope she grows out of it but I've heard it isn't an issue until they're about 4. Not much I can do anyway - she loves it!
My son has a dummy. Initially I was against them but when the middy in the SCN suggested one to calm him we gave it a go & he's been the happiest, calmest baby ever.
I was a finger sucker as a child.... yes child.... not just as a bub.... I had two fingers on my left hand that I sucked (and I'm left handed) and it was sooooooooooooooo hard to break the habit. I'm hoping the dummy addiction will be easier to deal with.
DD has a dummy, yes they're more work ie: always have to have on with you and u get woken up in the middle of the night because they're dummy has gone missing and they cant find it BUT, like you said a dummy is much easier to get rid of than a thumb!!!
And we also chose the dummy because we know a girl who's now 18 and still sucks her thumb when she's tired or a little emotional!!!!!! she's good at disguising it now though, but we all know she does it.
My dentist has suggested the dummy is better than the thumb because you can get rid of the dummy. I am paranoid about finger sucking because I did it for years and I believe I actually changed the shape of my palate as well as having the most dreadful buck teeth - when I put the fingers in my mouth the teeth (pre-braces) fitted around them.
I still can't look at childhood pictures of myself with those teeth without inwardly cringing. Mum thought I would grow out of it and I did but I remember willing myself to stop doing it because I thought it was so babyish. I wish she had done the "mean" thing and painted my fingers with foul tasting stuff or whatever. I got teased so much because of my teeth and if I can prevent my kids going through the same thing by giving them a dummy then I will. It did a lot of damage to my self esteem. I thought I was so ugly.
My brother and sister both had dummies and their teeth were nowhere near as bad as mine...I would never have a dummy. My DD has a dummy and I am perfectly comfortable with that.
I would go with dummy also - just cause it's easier to stop the habit plus I had a friend in primary school who was a thumb sucker and she was one that did have really buck teeth and the thumb she sucked was actually noticeably smaller then the other. Also my cousin's son is a thumb sucker, he is just over 3years old, and he tends to get little calices on his knuckles from thumb sucking. But maybe I'm a little biased cause I was allowed my night time dummy til I was 4 (then the dummy fairy took it away one night...but left a nice little present in its place ).
i should add that i too sucked my fingers for 12 yrs i have NO allignment issues never had to have braces or teeth removed to help other teeth.. so i think it depends on the child and how they suck their digits...
I also think that with kids there is lots of variables and they are all different. We partly chose not to have a dummy, mainly cause of night waking, learning to speak and I don't like the look of toddlers having them stuck in their mouths all the time (no offence to those who chose to use them but it isn't my choice) and he never really took to it when we tried to give it to him.
He doesn't really suck his thumb or fingers now unless he is teething which is understandable. I don't know what I am going to do if he is still sucking fingers at 5/10/15 etc... but will cross that bridge when I get to it. Oh and we are wrapping one hand/arm and he sucks it through the material too
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(then the dummy fairy took it away one night...but left a nice little present in its place
).
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