Thumb Sucking

Posted By: Adam 4 Comments

When Dylan was born I decided that if possible, we would discourage thumb sucking. Not for any other reason than it can be a tough vice for kids to get past, and if we can avoid it, why not?

In the last week, Dylan has started locating and sucking his thumb. Sometimes he just sucks his entire fist, and the best we can guess is that he gave up on trying to find just the thumb and took what he could get. When we watch him find and start sucking on his thumb, my heart melts; and we both immediately agreed it is adorable (for now!), but we couldn't figure out why.

I think I've finally figured it out. With the exception of lifting his head during Tummy Time or standing — which he has been doing for several weeks now, with some assistance getting started and with balancing; but are both sort of reflexive, which is why I'm excepting them — this is the first thing we can tell he's doing intentionally, by choice. He's still not really fully aware of his hands: He's not reaching or grabbing… but it's obvious when you watch him that he wants to put his thumb/hand in his mouth and he's happy when he accomplishes that goal.

So I think we'll continue to allow it, for as long as it continues to be adorable, anyway.

4 responses to “Thumb Sucking”

  1. How can he be anything *but* adorable!

    MomT

    MomT ~ Feb 23, 2009 at 8:50 AM

  2. Apparently, I didn't suck my thumb when I was little. And of course, I chew on everything these days. Pens, gum, too much food. My jaw is routinely sore. Stupid oral fixation.

    Zach

    Zach ~ Feb 23, 2009 at 12:08 PM

  3. Yeah, thumb sucking can be a hard habit to kick (Cora and I were just having a conversation about it last night actually, "Mommy, WHY do you not want me to suck my thumb?") BUT, thumb suckers tend to be happy kids, b/c they can self soothe - any time, any where, AND, my own personal theory w/ no scientific back up whatsoever - I think my thumb sucking kids are healthier b/c they are constantly putting germs of small amounts into their mouths and have therefore built up resistance to almost everything under the sun. Suck away Dylan!! :-)

    Susan

    Susan ~ Feb 24, 2009 at 6:33 AM

  4. @Susan - I agree with what you said and especially have to agree with your unscientific theory about the germs. . . these days everything is made with "anti-bacterial. . . whatever" and have you noticed that people - including children- are sicker? This is because we're not allowed to build up resistance to any germs any more, and the anti-bacterials we use in the soaps, cloths, (tissues!) are killing off our good bacteria as well as the *bad* bacteria our bodies have.

    My parents always told me "you have to eat a peck of dirt" to grow up healthy. . . LOL. I'm not sure about the *dirt* part exactly, but I think I get their meaning, and I couldn't agree more!

    A few decent germs can go a long way!

    momT

    momT ~ Feb 24, 2009 at 8:25 AM

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