stopping a 10m old from sucking her fingers

[Carat98]

Don't laugh! My mom used it on me, but I grew to love it. Actually, I believe I was much older than just 10 mo. I don't think it hurts for her to suck her fingers unless it becomes a real health issue and/or teeth issue. Best to you.

[RedWingsFan]

Originally Posted by cool-breeze

Our 10month old has been sucking her index and third finger almost all day since about 4-5 months of age. We have tried using socks/gloves to stop this. Once we tried a herbal bitter tasting ointment on her fingers. We want to avoid a pacifier. Any creative ideas.

Give her a pacifer. That's what she wants and needs. At her age it's crazy to try to stop her from sucking on her fingers. She doesn't understand what your intentions and wishes are by sticking a sock or something on her hand. Babies like that need oral gratification and she's teething. Her gums hurt, the pacifer would make her feel better, trust me on that.

I have two kids. The pacifer does not harm kids. It calms them, stops them from biting everything else in site while teething and you take it away before it gets in the way of learning to talk or other things.

My daughter used one until she was 18 months, then I went cold turkey and pulled the plug. Today she's going on three and is a motor mouth with a set of great teeth. She looked around for it for about three days and each time I distracted her. Then she moved on and forgot about it.

My son is 10 months old and would chew his fingers off if it weren't for the pacifier! He starts biting and sucking the hands and in goes the pacifer.

Why? Do the research... you can pull the plug on a pacifer later on when he's ready. They can go to the trash. The hand/fingers will never be away from him, it will MUCH harder to break and may become a habit for life.

If you refuse to give her a pacifer then let her suck on her fingers. She's too young to break such a habit and her gums crave the stimulation.

[cool-breeze]

Hi All,
appreciate all of your thoughtful replies. We have never asked her doctor whether there is any potential consequences. I guess we will let her continue sucking for now and perhaps ask the doctor at her 12 month visit. We only used the herbal ointment once and it just did not feel like the right thing to do. Once again, thanks much.

[foma]

My mom said she used hot sauce on me although nowadays that may be an abuse issue.

You're kid is pretty young though ... I would say wait a little longer!

[MaimounaKande]

I sucked those fingers too as a child. Makes you get more drool on you than sucking a thumb, but I grew out of it

It's kind of risky to try to end it. Unfortunately, I know taht by experience now w/my 6 year old. She sucked on her shirts all the time, and they got all wet and icky (this is at about age 3,4,5). Finally at about age 5, we started telling her she couldn't do it, and really making a bigger deal of it than we should have.

So she stopped. And instead, she started picking at little bites and things she'd get on her skin. Make them into these great big owies. Really horrible. I talked to the pediatrician about it and she basically told me it was b/c we didn't allow her stress-relief of sucking on her clothes, she moved onto something else (which was much worse and might leave scars!!). S

So then we had to go back and try to ENCOURAGE her to suck her shirt or something else so she wouldn't end up scarring!! Eventually taht worked.

Bottom line: let her suck her fingers!!

[Brooklyn_QueenBee]

This is too funny, but I still suck my thumb only when sleeping and I'm 40 years old. My teeth are straight, however I do have a dark mark on my thumb from sucking. My parents tried everything to get me to stop and it did not work. Sigmeund Freud will say that I'm an anal person who did not get the correct love when younger. I don't know the answer, but I do know that my thumb is in my mouth every night and I find nothing wrong with it.