Thumb sucking

Kynan's always sucked his thumb to settle/resettle himself to sleep (wouldn't take a dummy) but lately I've noticed he's been doing it occasionally during the day. I think it's just a comfort thing as he'll do it when he snuggles into me or like the other day I had a GP appt and when the doc came over to do a BT Kynan put his head in my lap and stuck his thumb in his mouth. It doesn't worry me at all (and TBH personally I'd rather he sucked his thumb than had a dummy!) but I was just curious as to whether anyone else has a child who's thumb sucking has increased and how long it lasted?

Liselotte who is now three never took a dummy. She sucks her fingers on and off but seems to be doing it less and less these days. It is definitely a natural comfort instinct and not abnormal like some people choose to think of it.

I would not worry too much. This is early days for you but I asked an Orthodontist about this (when I had my teeth checked out) and he was quite adamant that while no finger sucking is the ideal it really is not that much of a concern if it is stopped by about the age of 7. Any damage can be reversed naturally apparently. This was true of my younger sister who had quite prominent upper front teeth at age five. She constantly thumbsucked but mum nipped it in the butt fairly quickly about this time. Her teeth went back to a very normal position. It was quite incredible.

Sorry for the longwinded post!

Hi Angel,

Just wanted to add here that Al has only just started to suck his thumb in the past couple of days.

Sometimes he is so busy sucking that its nearly impossible to get his shirt off when changing him, or if he loses balance, rather than taking his thumb out of his mouth he'll just fall down and use his elbow to support himself instead!

Not sure if its a teething related thing or it's comfort for Al though.

Thanks Pippalotta & Deb!

Yeah, our CHN said that most kids stop thumb-sucking by themselves before school age so I'm not concerned about it at this stage.

My mum used to suck her thumb until she was 12, but didn't have teeth problems. My God son still sucks his thumb @ 12 when he's tired. Most of the time he doesn't even realise he's doing it.