The other way Ryan likes to soothe himself is to suck his thumb.
Yes. The dreaded thumb sucking.
I've always hoped my children would NOT be thumb suckers.
The reason is simple: Thumb sucking has adverse effects. It can cause cross-bites, tongue thrust, a narrow palate, open bite or mix of these. Changes in the occlusion of the teeth as a result of thumb sucking can impede speech development (speech sounds t, d, sh, dz, are a few and it can cause a lisp).
Although pacifiers can also have negative effects, at least they aren't attached to the child's BODY. There are so many many clever ways to take away pacifiers.....the pacifier fairy can come collect all the pacifiers and give them to the babies who need them.....they can only be used at nap or bedtime and then weaned away....I could go on. In short, I would rather tackle breaking a child of a pacifier than thumb sucking.
So, I was brushing up on techniques to break thumb sucking. I was getting some new ideas of things to try and feeling pretty positive about things when I looked down and saw my sweet sweet little Dylan....
GAHHHHHHH!
BAHAHAHA, I really shouldn't laugh, but it's kinda funny. I was a thumb sucker. I sucked my thumb at night until I was like 6. My parents tried everything. I remember when they'd put tabasco on my thumb, and I'd wait until they were asleep and wash it off! I don't remember what ever made me stop. My baby teeth were a little jacked up (not too bad), but now that all my adult teeth have come in they are straight and fine. And I never had a problem with speaking. But I know that's not always the case. My girls loved pacis, and we took them away somewhere around 15 months. Now the boy....he sucks his two middle fingers. Is that better or worse than the thumb? My only argument about the whole thing is that kids can suck a paci while playing with toys and being active, but they can't be active and suck their fingers, so if they only do it at night, maybe it's not SO bad? Keep updating on what you do to help Ryan stop, I'll need all the help I can get when it comes to my boy.
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