Thumb Sucking - Bit of a Problem - Advice?

Kintarō Hattori

Hi Folks,

So our 6 month old lady has been into Temple Street a few times as it seems her core/middle strength is a little under developed. She was also born with a strong preference to look to the left, use her left hand etc. We've been working on that and encouraging her to look right, use her right hand etc and it's gotten a lot better. However lately she's taken to sucking her left thumb a huge amount and my partner is finding it hard to get her to keep her head up as she just wants to suck her thumb. She had been great and you could hold her attention and she'd keep her head up for minutes at a time.

Any suggestions on how we can get her tummy time back on track and help her loose interest in her thumb?

Speedwell

Are they still into forcing left-handed kids to be right-handed? Jesus, that's messed up.

Kintarō Hattori

Speedwell wrote: »

Are they still into forcing left-handed kids to be right-handed? Jesus, that's messed up.

Eh no that's not the case at all. Whatever way she must have been in the womb she came out preferring to lie/look left and use her left hand for things. As a result the muscles on her other side of the body weren't as well developed and she couldn't look as far right as she could left- we've worked hard to correct this.
As she's not as strong centrally she she could be she needs lots of work, including tummy time to help strengthen her muscles. She's lacking this exercise at the moment as she won't lift her head recently and instead prefers to suck her thumb.

It has nothing to do with forcing her to be right handed instead.

PhoenixParker

Have you tried a few varieties of soother? Often babies will reject some but happily take others.

Given your already getting medical attention this has probably been ruled out, but the last time I heard of a baby with similar problems it turned out that the baby's collarbone had been broken during a difficult birth. Once that was treated (and it took a few months to discover) everything almost sorted itself.

Kintarō Hattori

PhoenixParker wrote: »

Have you tried a few varieties of soother? Often babies will reject some but happily take others.

Given your already getting medical attention this has probably been ruled out, but the last time I heard of a baby with similar problems it turned out that the baby's collarbone had been broken during a difficult birth. Once that was treated (and it took a few months to discover) everything almost sorted itself.

Hmnn that's interesting alright. I might try a different soother and see if it makes any difference.

In regards to the collarbone, while she hasn't had any scans as such I imagine it would have been picked up by the GP or pediatrician at some point during the physical exam?

fits

Have you seen a physiotherapist?

ncmc

I know not everyone believe in oesteopaths, but a friends child had an almost identical problem and she had great success with an oesteopath realigning the child’s core.

jlm29

This sounds awful, but could you put something on her hand to stop her sucking her thumb? Not all the time, just for short periods so you can work on fbd exercisesv? It possibly wouldn’t work anyhow, she might just suck whatever that is, but you could try putting socks on her hands or something?

catrionanic

I wonder whether they’ve checked her eyes to make sure there’s no problem there?

I’ve heard of parents using that nail polish that people use when they’re trying to stop biting their nails - as it tastes nasty - to stop thumb sucking. That’s generally with toddlers so might want to check it’s okay for a baby?

Kintarō Hattori

We've tried a few varieties of soother and she just rejects them all. I was in Mothercare recently and bought the below, though I haven't yet tried it:

http://www.mothercare.ie/gummee-glove.html

With a recent visit to the GP this week he suggested putting a sock over her left hand and this on her right. I get the logic of it and I'll give it a go over the Christmas holidays. My partner however is less keen as she sees it as 'cruel' with our little one needing her hands to do things.
I get if we use this she can't easily play with items so how am I supposed to balance her not sucking her thumb and her need to use her hands to interact. Should I try this for an hour a day or what?