Thumb sucking vs Dummy

[Missy86]

How can a thumb mess up teeth but a dummy wont, I would have thought they were both bad

 

[BoLt_InFeRnO]

My mum still sucks her thumb, and she 40!! My brother sucks his 2 middle fingers. I'd hate for layla to be 40, and sucking her thumb.

She tried, so I gave her a dummy. She has an orthodontic one because she struggled to suck when she was born. It helps her remember how to suck.

She only has it when she snuggles with me. When she falls asleep, she spits it out.

She started sucking on her muslin too, but I took it away because I was scared she'd suffocate herself.

 

[lucy_x]

my little one has neither.

I pesonally, and its just my opinion. do not like dummys, i think they are ugly. (just my opinion)

but amari doesnt suck her thumb either, she chews her wrist?
iv known pleantly of thumb suckers who havent got dodgy teeth, but then i know pleanty of dummy suckers with fine teeth too....

i wouldnt say thumb sucking is more widely accepted?... i think its down to personal choice.
Iv heard that the sucking reflex usually fads by about 3 months, and quite frankly if you can make it to then a baby shouldnt "need" to suck anything, having said that, my LO still wont sleep unless she is suckled to sleep. so all information you can hear is just an average. and i think you have to do what is right for your baby.

it actually never occured to me to give amari a dummy.

 

[kerrie24]

my son has a dummy.I gave him it because I wanted to stop him sucking his thumb.I think at least he cant be sucking it when he is 8 in the school yard,a thumb he could.And I think thumbs mess up teeth, whereas an orthadontic dummy does not.

But as my friend (who is mummy to a thumb sucker)said,she has never got to get up in the night to find a thumb in the dark,or pick it up off the dirty bus floor !

 

[Seity]

Pacifier all the way! He needed to suck when he was little and now he barely wants it.

 

[lanaross]

Isabella never took a dummy and I only really insisted when it was in the beginning. When it was time for her to self settle and for me to stop breastfeeding her to sleep, she would just put her head against the crib bumpers and stick a thumb into her mouth, that really reminds her of our co-sleeping arrangements in the beginning. This is better just because she always has her thumb and she can rely on always finding it if she needs it, can't say the same about a dummy since I would need to get up and put it back in her mouth. It also looks a little strange when I see a 2,3,4-year olds sucking on their pacifiers.

 

[merlotgirl]

Abby has a dummy. I'd prefer neither but at least as others have said I can take it away at some point. She only really uses it at afternoon nap time at the moment. She has an orthodontic dummy though.. I had coffee with one of my NCT mum friends this morning and while she went to get a coffee I had a cuddle with her baby. She is permanently attached to her dummy and it's a really big cherry type one. It had to be a 6month+ one (on a 4 month old) and the poor kid had to open her mouth so wide to put it in- she's had it on every photo I've ever seen of her... I dread to think what damage it's doing to her soft palate

 

[wantababybump]

My baby uses a soother but not all the time...I don't think she really likes it all that much. My brother hated soothers when he was little he always sucked his thumb and I was the complete opposite. He sucked his thumb up until he was older (haha he would kill me for telling you that!) He still occasionally sucked his thumb as a teenager lol but wouldn't admit it...until I caught it on camera when he was 17 lol
I prefer the soother if she is going to use anything but I also want to have her weened at least by a year old. That's my goal anyways unless she self weens earlier which could be possible since she doesn't seem to really care either way xx