Need opinion about baby's sucking

lounakin

My two month old daughter is constantly sucking on things. Her fist at night when she falls asleep or a muslin square when she's in the buggy, if she's not holding on to it and sucking on it she screams. My issue is when I put her in the sling, she sucks on the side and soaks the damn thing thru and thru! I'm afraid she's ingesting dust and die and dirt so I put a muslin square on top so she works that instead. I can stop her doing this by giving her the soother.
My question is, should I let her suck on material or is the soother better?

dublinlady

H

lounakin wrote: »

My two month old daughter is constantly sucking on things. Her fist at night when she falls asleep or a muslin square when she's in the buggy, if she's not holding on to it and sucking on it she screams. My issue is when I put her in the sling, she sucks on the side and soaks the damn thing thru and thru! I'm afraid she's ingesting dust and die and dirt so I put a muslin square on top so she works that instead. I can stop her doing this by giving her the soother.
My question is, should I let her suck on material or is the soother better?

You can sterilise a soother.... And soothers do no harm if discontinued by 4 yrs when they can then have an affect on dental development.
My daughter is exactly the same - everything goes straight in there! They use their mouth to learn and understand textures and shapes . They also do it to relieve discomfort from teething.

When shes older she may enjoy a 'Sophie the giraffe' they are easy to clean and lovely to chew on! My daughter is 5 months and adores it.

lounakin

I don't think she's teething yet but she drools bucket loads in a very short time! Impressive. She soaks her clothes in it!

annamcmahon

Louakin my 13week old is the same. She's been sucking the strap of my stretchy wrap for a few weeks. I'm trying to encourage her to use a mini sophie the giraffe instead as she won't use a soother if I'm around, only takes one when her dad offers it.

If the muslin is working and you don't want to give her the soother all the time I'd stick with that. At least it can be washed much more easily than the sling.

pwurple

Yup, babies like to suck things, they find it very comforting. Give her the soother before she finds her thumb. As an ex-thumb-sucker... you'll never get her thumb off her.

caprilicious

pwurple wrote: »

Yup, babies like to suck things, they find it very comforting. Give her the soother before she finds her thumb. As an ex-thumb-sucker... you'll never get her thumb off her.

that was the argument I had with my husband who was very anti-soother with our first child.
My sister sucked her thumb as a child & has very crooked teeth which her dentist attributed to thumb sucking.

Hannibal Smith

Thumb sucking can not only damage teeth, but it can mess up your jaw. When I was in my 20s I had to have 2 wisdom teeth out. The dentist looked at my x ray and could tell I sucked my thumb when I was younger because my jaw is out of place! He had to dislocate it and asked if I wanted it put back where it was or where it should be! Lol

lazygal

My mum said you can take away a soother but not a thumb! Our baby is having none of the soother yet, but I will try to introduce one as I have read they can help reduce the risk of SIDS. Also, I feel some of her sucking with me (I'm breastfeeding) is comfort rather than hunger. While that's fine for now, its not going to be something we do long term.

lounakin

annamcmahon wrote: »

Louakin my 13week old is the same. She's been sucking the strap of my stretchy wrap for a few weeks. I'm trying to encourage her to use a mini sophie the giraffe instead as she won't use a soother if I'm around, only takes one when her dad offers it.

If the muslin is working and you don't want to give her the soother all the time I'd stick with that. At least it can be washed much more easily than the sling.

I'm worried she might be ingesting particles of fabric when she sucks on the muslin... i'm still debating in my head whether to let her use the soother or her fist/thumb because it's not really clear as to which is worse! There was a conversation like that on this board before. I'm also an ex thumb-sucker (ex? hmmm let's say ex!) and I can testify as to how hard it is to give up but it did not do anything to my teeth or thumbs.

Anna, I find that hilarious that your baby only takes the soother when daddy's around! My daughter's kind of the same in the way that if I try to put her to sleep she wants to comfort nurse but not when daddy puts her down.

annamcmahon

She actual spits it out if I come into the room. Even if she's been happily sucking it and asleep for the previous half an hour. I suppose I should be flattered. LOL