Ecological BF, thumb sucking

[Bekka]

DD is 4 months old and sucks her thumb and fingers (whatever she can get in her mouth). There are times that she refuses to nurse in preference to her hand. A lot. She won't take a pacifier--not that I tried very hard.

I read the Sheila Kippley book (BF and natural child spacing) that talks about ecological breastfeeding and those 7 principles--I do all of them except the thumb sucking thing--how do you take a thumb away from the baby? What do you do if the baby _wants_ to suck her thumb? Ms. Kippley implies that the baby "most likely won't want to." But what if the baby does? Can't fight the baby! I'm just frustrated--having trouble finding any information about how thumb sucking might affect the ecological breastfeeding.

I'm interested too for other reasons. This is my 5th baby. The first one who wanted to suck her thumb/fingers.

[CrunchyKatie]

Have you figured this out? My DD is 4.5 months old, and I am ecologically breastfeeding as well. She just recently began trying to suck her thumb, even when offered my breast as an alternative. Every time I catch her trying to get her thumb I pull it out of her mouth and offer myself, but she will refuse. I really feel very strongly about not introducing pacifiers and I also do not want her to develop the habit of thumb sucking either. Logically it seems as though she wouldn't show an interest in sucking anything else if she is offered unrestricted access to the breast... My older DS never tried sucking his thumb. Any one have thoughts or experience on this at all?

[LVale]

So basically this eg breastfeeding, is a birth control method? And your little one prefers to suck on their thumb? What is wrong with that? Is not that what is AP is all about? Your baby is pacifing him or her self. To take their thumb or fingers away from them, well I see that as cruel. It is what they want. It is better then a paci, you don't have to keep putting it in their mouth every time it falls out. My grandson loved to suck on his thumb, it brought him comfort, and he satisfied a need for him, he quit when he was about 3. No one even said a thing about it.

[CrunchyKatie]

Originally Posted by LVale

So basically this eg breastfeeding, is a birth control method? And your little one prefers to suck on their thumb? What is wrong with that? Is not that what is AP is all about? Your baby is pacifing him or her self. To take their thumb or fingers away from them, well I see that as cruel. It is what they want. It is better then a paci, you don't have to keep putting it in their mouth every time it falls out. My grandson loved to suck on his thumb, it brought him comfort, and he satisfied a need for him, he quit when he was about 3. No one even said a thing about it.

Some use ecological breastfeeding as a method of birth control in the first six months, however I am not entirely avoiding conception as of now, I just believe that nature provided me breasts for the purpose of caring for my children, and so I avoid pacifiers and bottles, as I find them unnecesarry and I am fortunate enough to be able to have the time at home with my children as to not need them.

My opposition to thumb sucking is in my child's best interest, and I do not find it cruel in the least. I'm offended you would have tha audacity to call it that, to be honest! I'm not willingly causing pain or distress to my child by trying to nip a bad habit in the bud. She has just now discovered that her thumbs and fingers are suckable and has probably spent an entire 2 minutes of her life sucking on them. I don't want her to make it a habit for her OWN HEALTH. Excessive thumbsucking can cause dental problems (open bite - see this photo) and I, as a caring and loving parent, want to -prevent- any behavior that may cause long term physical or emotional damages to my children. That is precisely why I bumped this thread - to see if there was a gentle loving way to prevent the formation of that habit without it being upsetting to my infant.

That said - Does anyone else have anything useful to say? That's why I come here.

[zech13_9_goforgold]

I sucked my thumb until I was 12, but do not have any dental problems as a result. I never had braces or anything like that.

I think you should be careful with books and advice. Let her be herself. Isn't that one of the mottoes of this forum. Her free spirit says, suck. So, let her.

[rivkah]

I have 3 children, and only one was a thumb-sucker. She was offered uninterrupted access to the breast 24 hours per day, and she still sucked her thumb. Some kids just like to suck their thumbs. I didn't ovulate/get a period for 15 months with her. I didn't use any birth control at all, and conceived my second son when she was 15 months old.

I never pressured her to stop or tried to use a pacifier. When she turned 4, the dentist said we should start thinking about stopping. I told her that she was getting bigger, and her adult teeth could be damaged if she didn't stop sucking, and to let me know when she was ready to stop, because we do something special when she was. A couple of days later, she said she was ready. I told her that if she went a week without thumb-sucking, she could get a Madeline doll with some clothes. She stopped that day and never went back.

I know that some people have more trouble, but I just wouldn't worry about it too much. I know specifically that thumb-sucking before children start losing their baby teeth is not a big deal at all.

[Miasmamma]

My baby sucks her thumb now. She found it about a month ago! She nurses when she's hungry and when it's time for bed. But when we are out or she's just tired, she will suck her thumb. I wish that DD1 had wanted her thumb, she wanted nothing but me and that was fairly tiring. I love that I have a baby who self-soothes. I have no intention on finding ways to make her stop. She's a big cuddler who happens to suck her thumb. I think it looks better than having a pacifer in her mouth.

[RedPony]

We also practice ecological breastfeeding and don't use pacifiers but don't restrict access to thumbs/fingers. I hadn't thought of that and acutally, w/ my first daughter, my husband and I were THRILLED when she found her fingers! I got a bit of a break from all that comfort sucking and I had a much happier baby as a result. My oldest still sucks her fingers once in awhile, no biggie, and I used a pacifier myself until 7 yo. No teeth problems here for sure (other than the family overbite, but I find it cute!).