Hellobee

This is exactly why I am pro pacifier. I sucked my thumb way too long, too.

LO sucks her thumb and I’m okay with it for now. I had no choice, though, she absolutely refused the pacifier.

DD would use a pacifier until she fell asleep when it would fall out of her mouth; I was a happy mama but then she found her thumb and hasn’t looked back. Now at 30m we are trying to break her of sucking her thumb, currently limiting it to bedtime only. I’m hoping DS will accept and keep to the pacifier but it is still a little early for him (only 5w).

My LO is a thumb sucker. She refused the paci, so it wasn’t an option for me. I don’t really care either way though, she can do what she wants.

I do worry though…. my BIL sucked his thumb well into middle school.

LO refused the paci, and I fear is now becoming a thumb sucker. It’s really not a big deal, but out of the two I would choose the paci.

LO uses a paci to calm down to sleep at nights and for her naps. Not for going back to sleep from her 3 am feed, though, which strikes me as odd. She will be 3 months soon, so I’m curious to see how her paci use changes as she can begin to self-soothe.

she loved her pacified for the first 6 months, then one day she found her thumb and it was paci no more….. she would spit it out in bed and go for her thumb. I was stressed at first, but nothing to do of it now, so we’re going with it.

My LO had a need to suck from day one and refused the paci until he was 8 weeks old! He actually doesn’t need it to sleep but sometimes during the day he will fuss and fuss and the paci is the only thing that will calm him down. Another plus is that now that we are working on crawling it is the one thing that he wil always reach/lunge for!

I don’t foresee weaning in the toddler years to be a huge issue. I admit that I do cringe a little when I see children speak in full sentences with a paci in their mouths.

Huh– I had no idea. I figured I would be anti-pacifier, because I’ve seen how hard it can be to break that habit. I guess in a lot of ways it’s the lesser of two evils.
Strangely, neither of my nephews were big suckers– pacifiers or thumbs, and I can’t recall my little sisters using them.

DS is a thumbsucker. He was in the womb – we saw in ultrasounds – and freaked out in any swaddle he was in from day one because he couldn’t access his thumbs.
DH says he was a thumbsucker, too.

I sucked my thumb (well, finger actually) until I was in college! It still looks deformed.

I too, did not want a thumb sucker, nor do I want a 3yo with a pacifier*. We always offered the pacifier and around 5 weeks it became a life saver. At 12.5 months we got rid of the pacifier and he’s fine without it. I never once thought he would replace that with his thumb (until I read this post) and thankfully he hasn’t and hasn’t missed his pacifier (except for the first few days).

I think a lot depends on the child – some have stronger needs/attachments to sucking or are more oral at a young age.

*No judgement for parents who do – you have to figure out what works best for your child/family.

I have a thumbsucker and I’m starting to get worried!

So…..I hated the idea of both as a new mom. Then, the baby would not stop crying and fussing and the paci was the only thing that would help her soothe herself. I gave in. She loved it. Then one day she found her thumb and she fell.in.love. I was devastated because I know it’s so much harder to get rid of the thumb than the paci. My husband sucked his thumb through first grade. I’m dreading the day we have to help her wean from it.

LO sucks her middle and ring fingers and her nails are looking quite gnarly! She refused multiple pacifiers.

I am pro self-soothing, no matter what it takes I was thrilled that Wagon Jr. took a paci, and equally thrilled when he found his fingers (didn’t suck the thumb, sucked the first two fingers instead). I was also thrilled when he took to a lovey. Then at around 2 years old, we noticed he wasn’t sucking his fingers anymore. He totally dropped it on his own.

I agree with you about paci vs. thumb though– a paci is MUCH less detrimental to the teeth than a thumb!!! Nothing really matters too much until their baby teeth fall out and their permanent teeth come in, anyway. And I know plenty of people who didn’t suck their thumb and ended up with braces anyway.

Do what works best for your family, that’s all I’ll say

DS is 18 months, but is huge for his age, so I get lots of looks when we are out and about and he has a pacifier in his mouth. My in laws also make comments about the pacifier, thinking that he shouldn’t be using it anymore. But I was a thumbsucker and it is SO HARD to break that habit. When I’m having a particularly emotional time, I will wake up during the night to find that I’ve been sucking my thumb in my sleep.

I don’t really care how long DS uses the pacifier. Right now he gets it at nap time, bed time, and a few times during the day if he is cranky, usually if he’s in the car or stroller. When he’s happy or trying to talk with it in his mouth, I’ll take it away and most of the time he doesn’t care. He doesn’t look for it or ask for it, so I don’t think he has a super strong attachment to it. He doesn’t usually wake up and need for us to find it for him either. I was thinking about tossing them after the holidays when he’ll be close to 2, but we’ll just see how it goes. Anything to keep him from sucking his thumb though.

we had to take pacis away when our babies were 5 months old because they kept waking up multiple times throughout the night crying for it (and we couldn’t keep re-inserting them all night). i would’ve been fine with them having the paci for a year, but they found their fingers (or lovey) for self-soothing and are fine without them now. they now sleep 11 hours at night without waking or crying and the whole family is happier.

Neither of my kids would take a pacifier after the first couple weeks. Sigh. They don’t suck their thumbs either, but sometimes I wish they would have taken a pacifier just because it would be so much easier!

My mom told me I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED my paci. However, I don’t recall when it was taken away…

I was a thumb sucker until, I believe, kindergarten. I decided myself that I wanted to quit and luckily got a lot of non-judgemental, non-pushy support from everyone involved. (We went with the bandaid-on-the-thumb trick.) I also was profoundly attached to a particular baby blanket that I would rub between my fingers to produce a very soothing effect. I believe I just outgrew that one naturally around the same time as I quit thumb-sucking. It’s kinda strange to remember both things so vividly, but I have no negative memories associated with either. I remember being pretty proud of myself for taking charge and breaking a “bad” habit. For my baby-on-the-way…. I have no idea what I’ll do. I guess it’ll be one of those “personal intuition” things when the time comes.

We use a paci too because I jacked up my teeth so badly with my thumb. Nooooo thumbs, baby Stroller!

We tried giving DD a paci to help her self soothe but it would make her infuriated! She would scream harder, louder, and squeeze her eyes shut more. Haha what a drama queen. Unfortunately she had her fingers in her mouth a lot now but we are starting to try to discourage it when we are out. She sucks on her fist to sleep though.

I used a pacifier when I was little–I was very attached to it (called it my mimi for some reason!), so much so that my mom kept it along with other mementos from my babyhood. I used it up through preschool or maybe kindergarten, but only at home. I don’t remember it being traumatizing to stop. I will probably encourage the pacifier when I have kids.

Sigh… I can’t believe I’m admitting this, albeit anonymously.

I’m 30 years old and sometimes I STILL suck my thumb!

Not sure I want my kids to have a paci (I just don’t like how they look personally) but also do not want my kids to follow in those particular footsteps of mine!

Another pro-paci advocate here!

We’re stuck in a weird in-between: LO likes to suck on our pinky! He kept refusing the pacifier, then when we found one he liked my husband got tired of it falling out and would just let him suck on his pinky until he fell asleep. Oddly enough he doesn’t necessarily wake up to have the pinky, and there was a short time where he seemed like he’d be a thumb sucker but that passed too. Not sure what I’d prefer when we decide to have baby #2.

i’m not really fond of either the thumb or paci. i sucked my thumb for a really long time too. my brother had to trick me to get me to stop sucking my thumb. we found the paci to be a lifesaver for us though. leah uses it mostly for naps and bedtime, but when she’s really fussy, she instantly calms down with a paci. i dread the day i will have to take it away.

Can we choose neither? Both me and my brother didn’t have pacifiers or suck our thumbs… I adamantly refused to give my baby a paci… until she started screaming bloody murder in her car seat and I decided it may help her not be so upset… well, it doesn’t work! She acts like you’re choking her and gets mad! Oh Lord, my little diva! She’s EBF and I don’t know if she just prefers the boob or what… I’m fine with comfort nursing.