Thumb Suckers

My little guy found his thumb around 4 months. He wasn't very consistent with it at first, but has gradually gotten better. Now if he's getting fussy, I'll see him start sucking his thumb, but usually only if he's laying down. When he lays down for naps/bedtime, a lot of times it's his thumb that gets him to sleep.

However, there are times where he's SOOOO worked up that he just won't take his thumb! We try to put it up to his mouth & he just gets madder. Once he realizes it's there & takes it, he settles quickly, but then he'll sometimes rip it out & start screaming again.

Lately he's been waking in the night, not to eat, but having a hard time settling back down (last night it was at 4am). We've resorted to letting him cry & he'll go & go & go. Once I pick him up, he snuggles in & takes his thumb & quiets down quickly. Then I lay him back down & he'll pull his thumb out & it starts all over again. Usually after an hour or so he's so tired that he'll keep his thumb & go to sleep. Even going down for naps, if he doesn't get his thumb & gets too worked up, usually the only way to calm him is to pick him up & then he always seems to 'remember' to grab his thumb.

So my question is, do they get more consistent with it? Or will it always be like this? If he were a paci baby, I could just put it in his mouth, but I can't force him to keep his thumb in his mouth! It gets really frustrating sometimes b/c we KNOW if he'd just suck his thumb, he'd settle & fall asleep.

Any suggestions? His Ped (and speech therapist) recommend to just keep putting his thumb up by his mouth when he's fussing, but a lot of times it makes it worse. Sometimes he will take it & settle, just to take it out & freak out again (like a baby who dropped their Nuk). I was happy when he found his thumb, but sometimes I wonder if it's not worse!

Hopefully some experienced thumb sucker mommies can give me some hope that he'll learn to take his thumb ALL the time!

 

Around 5 months he took it regularly. However it is when he is tired or bored. He does suck his thumb all the time though. I think it is darling as all get out. Remind me of that when i am trying to get him to quit later in life. LOL... Oh and he rarely cries he has been a self soother since birth...

 

You're lucky! This is our 'high maintenance' baby I'm talking about & we were overjoyed when he took to his thumb! Now if only he'd do it ALL the time! Well, not ALL the time, but when he NEEDS it. And yes, people keep telling us to not put it in his mouth, but I'd rather deal with breaking him of it later than the wrath in the meanwhile! My other baby doesn't take a paci OR a thumb! He rubs his face to soothe . It's cute, too, but not as cute as a thumb sucker!

Anyone else?

 

Well, my baby is only 11 weeks, so I don't have any advice for you (sorry!). But I can totally relate! She has only been able to actually get her thumb in her mouth a few times, and then she immediately takes it out. She spends a lot of time (day and night) working at it! She gets mad if I try to help her, just like you son. WHY? I wish I knew! But, the one thing that I wanted to mention is that if I put her in the sling, she immediately tries to suck her thumb and often gets it in quickly. So, I think her arms being squished closer and unable to move around help with the coordination. But, as soon as I take her out, it's like her thumb falls out of her mouth. I don't think they realize that if they move their harms/hand the thumb is going to come with it! So, maybe that's why he pulls his thumb out of his mouth as soon as you put him down? I hope he gets it soon! Let us know WHEN it happens... I'll be looking foward to it!

 

My older DS who is 5 still sucks his thumb every night to go to sleep. He loves it. He started sucking his when he was about a month old and has not stopped since. I do like thumbs much better than passies. Those darned things fall on the floor all the time, have to be washed a lot, and seem to sorta disappear. Mine are 5 months old and my DD has started to suck hers but she is not consistent with it.

 

So it sounds like the time frame of when babies get consistent with their thumbs varies. I'm just hoping it's SOON because he really needs to learn to suck his thumb when he gets worked up....it's one of the few things to calm him down. STINKER! Nights like last night I WISHED he was a paci baby b/c I would've gladly re-plugged him vs fighting him for an hour to get back to sleep (after he decided to continually suck his thumb)....

 

I never tried to give my ds his thumb... he just started sucking it at 5 months out of the blue. I totally thought we had missed out on that b/c he never even tried to do it prior to that. Then for a very long time he only sucked it for sleep... somewhere around 13 months or so he started sucking it during the day. And now he still sucks it when he's tired or hungry. I wouldn't try giving it to him, that would be just as frustrating as dealing with a paci.

 

Mine became thumb sucking pros between 4 and 5 months. Up until then, if they were too worked up, they just couldn't get it in correctly. I know there is controversy over the thumb and its effect later in life, but I have to say that with two, it's a lifesaver. I started them on the pacifier and could not take the reinsertions. So I really tried to work with them to keep that little tiny thumb in their mouth and now they've got it and we're all happy! My advice is the same as the pedi's-keep reminding them how to do it and they'll get the hang of it. Good luck!

 

Mine are 'almost' there. They are 3 months on Saturday and about a week to a week and 1/2 ago figured out they can suck on their hands. Jonah has the right position but locks his thumb in this hand and just sucks on his 'thumb area' and get upset because he can get his whole fist in his mouth. My other baby, Noah, can get it right to save his life . He sucks length wise and sucks on his knuckles, we try to move his hand to the right position but it upsets him even more... so we just let him go and drool away. They both will take their paci's but will spit them out and try for their hand but still dont have it correct. So it sounds like from the PP's I still have a couple of weeks to go before tehy get the hang of it.