# Encouraging finger/thumb sucking



## Hanskiz

My LO really struggles to self-settle (basically can't and I feed her to sleep) but yesterday she found her fingers and managed to get herself to sleep. I got really excited and left her unswaddled last night but she failed to find them and I had a rough night... Does anyone have any ideas/tips on how to encourage/help her find her fingers and keep them in her mouth at night??


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## kosh

don't know i'm afraid, but wanted to say that the very few times my LO managed to self-soothe he was thumb-sucking!


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## Hanskiz

Ha ha!! We're sooo in the same place!!


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## Casey3

Our LO is the same! He will suck his two fingers (index and middle) but he can't always find them lol. When he starts crying he will chew on his hand but he hasn't figured out he could soothe himself with his finger sucking! Everyone says I shouldn't want him to suck, but it would be a lot easier lol.


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## Hanskiz

Yup! That's the one... Ah well, I guess they'll get there in the end!


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## kosh

Casey3 said:


> Our LO is the same! He will suck his two fingers (index and middle) but he can't always find them lol. When he starts crying he will chew on his hand but he hasn't figured out he could soothe himself with his finger sucking! Everyone says I shouldn't want him to suck, but it would be a lot easier lol.

mine find his thumb ok, but it'sme who has mix feelings about letting/encourage him to suck his fingers


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## Florance

My DD loves to suck; she finds sucking very soothing. Since I didn't really want to get her a soother, I offer her my pinky to suck on since she was very little. Now that she is two and some months old, she is starting to figure out she have figures to suck on and would self sooth to sleep by sucking her own figures when she could find it. When I give her my pinky, I make a point of not letting it stay there for longer then it need be, so I would gently pull it out when she is drifting to sleep - even when she was not sleeping solidly yet. Now that she can self sooth with her own fingers, I found that she does the same: she for the most part would spit her finger out once she is drifting into sleep, and if she doesn't I would pull them out of her month and she wouldn't wake up from her sleep because of that. I didn't want her to develop a dependency on finger sucking to fall asleep so sometimes I would hold down her hands and not let her suck when she wants to suck her way to sleep. When she started to cry to really have trouble falling asleep, then I let her suck or offer her my pinky if she couldn't find her own fingers. I am quite happy to find out that she doesn't always need the finger sucking to self settle; she only does it when she has difficulties falling asleep. My goal is to get her not to suck to self sooth eventually, sooner rather then later. Sorry I am slightly off topic, but I have been reading up a lot of sucking and self soothing and I am kind of glad to see this thread and would like to hear about your experience with baby self sooth by finger sucking!


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## Hanskiz

Florance said:


> My DD loves to suck; she finds sucking very soothing. Since I didn't really want to get her a soother, I offer her my pinky to suck on since she was very little. Now that she is two and some months old, she is starting to figure out she have figures to suck on and would self sooth to sleep by sucking her own figures when she could find it. When I give her my pinky, I make a point of not letting it stay there for longer then it need be, so I would gently pull it out when she is drifting to sleep - even when she was not sleeping solidly yet. Now that she can self sooth with her own fingers, I found that she does the same: she for the most part would spit her finger out once she is drifting into sleep, and if she doesn't I would pull them out of her month and she wouldn't wake up from her sleep because of that. I didn't want her to develop a dependency on finger sucking to fall asleep so sometimes I would hold down her hands and not let her suck when she wants to suck her way to sleep. When she started to cry to really have trouble falling asleep, then I let her suck or offer her my pinky if she couldn't find her own fingers. I am quite happy to find out that she doesn't always need the finger sucking to self settle; she only does it when she has difficulties falling asleep. My goal is to get her not to suck to self sooth eventually, sooner rather then later. Sorry I am slightly off topic, but I have been reading up a lot of sucking and self soothing and I am kind of glad to see this thread and would like to hear about your experience with baby self sooth by finger sucking!

How do you get her to find them herself? My DD doesn't like it if I hold her hand to her mouth but she is pants at finding them herself...


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## Snuffy

Amy was (and still is) a thumb sucker. She found it herself but I know occasionally during nap time at nursery when she was being too nosey to settle, her keyworker would pop her thumb into her mouth for her. The trouble is she has always used the same thumb and now has a big area of hard skin on her thumb joint where she caused it to blister so much when she was smaller. She says it sometimes hurts even now. 

Ollie will chomp on his fingers for teething but shows no interest in thumb sucking. He's a soother fan, but luckily only when he's overtired and needs a little something to get him off, mostly he can settle on his own. Long may this continue please!


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## lozzy21

Niamh was a sucky baby so we gave her a dummy, I went to school with a girl who still sucked her thumb at 15, it wasent a good look so I wanted to avoid her using her thumb. You can take a dummy away but they allways have their fingers.


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## Hanskiz

lozzy21 said:


> Niamh was a sucky baby so we gave her a dummy, I went to school with a girl who still sucked her thumb at 15, it wasent a good look so I wanted to avoid her using her thumb. You can take a dummy away but they allways have their fingers.

I don't like dummies much I have to be honest but I have tried LO with a couple and she isn't impressed. Largely just gags and chokes so I'm not sure about trying to force it on her. 
Am at my wits end about how to break the feed-to-sleep habit without doing CC. I honestly don't know what to do apart from encourage her to suck her fingers.


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## lozzy21

Sucking fingers and thumbs can still cause teeth problems, even more than dummy's since you can't limit there use. Your LO is still little, even baby's that don't feed to sleep can't self settle at that age


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## polaris

I don't know if you can do much to encourage them to find their own fingers/thumb but Thomas began to be able to consistently find his thumb at 4 months and it did coincide with him starting to sleep much better and wake less during the night. He actually only sucked his thumb until about six or seven months and then just gave up himself, so it doesn't necessarily mean they will still be thumb sucking as toddlers.


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## Sam Pearson

I wouldn't stop a baby sucking their fingers but I'd not actively try to get them to do that for my own convenience. I"d be concerned about their dental health and also I had a terrible time weaning myself form thumb sucking at age 9 years.

I fed all of my babies to sleep every time from birth until they weaned and cosleeping helped with nighttime parenting immensely.


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## Florance

Hanskiz said:


> How do you get her to find them herself? My DD doesn't like it if I hold her hand to her mouth but she is pants at finding them herself...

Sorry it took me a while to reply; my hubby's friend passed away so we were busy with that. I didn't help my baby find her fingers; she just discovered it on her own! I am not sure if the fact that I didn't get her a soother encouraged her to find someone else to suck on. My baby actually doesn't like it if I hold her hand to her month either; she has to find the fingers on her own.


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