[archergoddess]

Ok my 18 mos dd is a BIG thumb sucker. She never wanted a pacifier (nor did we want her to have one) but she almost always has one of her thumbs in her mouth and the other one playing with her belly button. I am thinking b/c she is BF that she always has to be playing with something. When I nurse her she is always playing with and pinching the other nipple. I didn't think much of the thumb sucking but lately (prob b/c she has been going to work with me the past few weeks) co-workers have been making comments about her thumb sucking...what are you going to do to stop her sucking her thumb...don't you know that thumb sucking will cause her permanant teeth to come in crooked....have you looked into one of those thumb guards to get her to stop sucking? So now I am starting to think about it more. I thought it was fine until it became an issue. Maybe she will stop on her own. It makes her content. Any ideas from you moms that have had a thumb sucker? Should I worry about her picking a her belly button all the time? She gets mad when I put a onsie on her and she can't get to the belly button. Please help me with the effect of the negative comments!

 

[kbchavez]

well, I don't have much advice about the thumb sucking, except that a chiropractor told me the kids who do it do it for a good reason (something about the pressure on the palate) and not to discourage them. I think your daughter is young enough I wouldn't worry about it. About the belly button fixation... my son has this too! Except he's fixated on MY belly button. He love to pick at it when he nurses, and I joke that it's his transitional object from the breast... only he didn't get very far! He'll run up to me at the park and stick his hand up my shirt, plug in to the belly button for a few seconds, and then run off

. I wouldn't mind, except belly buttons are darn sensitive! I'm currently only allowing him to touch it "with the soft parts of his fingers" to discourage the painful picking. I'm guessing your daughter's bellybutton picking is just a form of self comforting, and she'll naturally grow out of it.

 

[Smalls181]

My younger sister was a big time thumb sucker, and her adult teeth are perfectly fine and has never had braces.

My dad (her step dad) always made such a big deal about it, and none of us ever understood why. Its just a thumb, whats the big deal? If she is okay with it and not embarassed by it, then let it go, because who is it hurting? I think that because my dad made such a big deal about it, she wanted to and did do it more. And to do this day, she will sometimes wake up in the morning with her thumb in her mouth. (And she is 21, married, having a baby...) She wont go to sleep with her thumb in her mouth, but she will wake up with it there.

So really, I dont see the big deal with it. People just like to have their nose in everyone elses business.