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Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Thumb or pacifier?
What’s your suckee of choice?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
My 4-month-old daughter found her thumb about two months ago, and she is loving it. She is an amazing self-soother and easily puts herself to sleep rolling around in her crib sucking her thumb. She looks precious with that little thumb in her mouth, but I’m not sure if it will mean trouble later on.
Neither of my first two children really took pacifiers or became thumb suckers. The lactation consultant at Piedmont had warned us against pacifiers in her classes. She prefers thumb sucking because then children can be self-soothers. Also research six years ago suggested that pacifier use led to ear infections. (Not sure if that finding has been reversed — as they often are.)
I’m realizing now that my first two babies took their sucking needs out on me. But with a third you can’t hardly sit there and just let them suck until their heart’s content.
The new baby will take a pacifier also - that green one the hospital gives out (the first years Soothie), but she prefers her thumb. (A side note: One other benefit to the baby taking that Soothie pacifier is she will also take the Soothie bottle. They have made a bottle using the exact same nipple as the pacifier so she likes it. Neither of my other two would ever take bottles at all.)
Did your babies take pacifiers or suck their thumbs? Do you think one is better than the other? How did you wean them off their thumbs or binkies?
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