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Hi
Eva is 4 months and has decided to be a finger sucker...big time. She won't take the dummy and she uses either my boob or her fingers to settle. I really don't want this to turn into a bad habit and an ABA concellor told me that this could damage her pallette.
Any suggestions? She will not take a dummy
hi bek! I have no advice for you sorry, dd1 is a thumb sucker. It has pushed her front teeth out big time, i am not sure if the fingers would have the same effect? Hope you can work something out?? I have started using the dummy for dd2 who is 5 weeks old. I only use it for settling to sleep and most times she wont take it. Good luck! I'll watch this thread.
sucking is such a comfort for her, id leave her at the moment :dunno: dont know how you'd stop it anyway at this age.
shell DD1 was a thumb sucker and i could see the damage it was doing. we went cold turkey with her at 2yrs 2 months by taping her thumb with sports tape, it worked!
I wouldn't worry either. As Olive said, how do you stop a baby from doing that? If it settles her then why try to fix something that isn't broken, IYKWIM. She may just outgrow it eventually, a lot of kids do. I sucked my thumb until I was 10 (:o yes, I know) and my palate is just fine. I did need quite a bit of orthodontic work in my teens but it is unusual for a child to suck their thumb for that long. I was a complete addict!
They say dummies can be bad for their teeth/palate (hence the orthodontic dummies) so I don't think you can win really! I say let her comfort suck her fingers, I personally think it's adorable :)
I sucked my fingers as a child and it totally reshaped my palette. Pre-orthodontic work, I remember being able to put those fingers in my mouth and my teeth and palette fitted perfectly around them. I stopped when I was about 5 or 6 but it was too late for my poor old teeth.
Mum couldn't get me to have a dummy either but also figured I would grow out of it, not realising how bucky my teeth would become (it does seem to be luck of the draw, some kids get away with it, others don't).
But at this age I'm not sure how you can stop it, when babies need to suck for comfort. Maybe try a couple of different types of dummy - silicone, latex, orthodontic, cherry? Otherwise I'd just let it go for now and see if it's just a passing habit. I think it's when they constantly suck past the age of about 18 months or so that it starts causing the teeth to re-align, so maybe be vigilant about stopping the habit when bub is a bit older.