Welcome to our group web site. | Babies, bumps n kids

Dummy or thumb? You decide.

If your little angel is changed, fed and winded but is still crying for England, do you give them a dummy? Here are the pros and cons of using a dummy versus waiting for them to find their own thumb.

Thumbs up?
Personally, I was very lucky - my little boy settled himself with his thumb and then naturally grew out of the habit by the time he was a year old. Thumb-sucking is often perceived as preferable to the use of a dummy - it's 'natural', always and literally on hand, free, and can't be lost. It's even been shown that some embryos suck their thumbs in the womb. Indeed, thumb-sucking can continue right into the teenage years as an unconscious reaction to stress.

The downsides of thumb-sucking are that grubby hands can be germ hazards, and excessive sucking can cause hardened skin on the thumb. Neither are thumbs designed orthodontically - recent studies have found that sucking a thumb or finger beyond the age of two increases the likelihood that a child will develop protruding front teeth or a crossbite (narrowing of the upper jaw). A child can also place quite a bit of pressure against the palate and front teeth with a thumb or fingers, which can cause the development of a high palate, an open bite (vertical gap between upper and lower front teeth), and/or an overbite (horizontal gap between upper and lower front teeth).

Children generally grow out of thumb-sucking between the ages of three and five, as they acquire a sense of what is socially acceptable
Dummies for dummies?
The use of dummies seems to provoke some extreme reactions. Along with choosing to have a caesarean or feeding your baby formula milk, using a dummy makes some people react as if you've sold their organs on eBay. While I agree that plugging up a crying baby with a dummy should never be substituted for sensitive parenting, unless you have been parent to a baby who just won't settle, you are unqualified to criticise those who have used one.

While the conditions caused by thumb-sucking can also be caused by sucking a dummy, they are usually less serious. Dummies are orthodontically designed. Their use is usually discontinued at an earlier age, and can also be controlled by parents - it is easier to take away a pacifier than a thumb.

On the negative side, a child who uses a dummy to settle to sleep may awake every time the dummy falls out of his mouth, meaning parents have to be on hand, day or night, to find and replace it. Keeping your baby equipped with clean dummies can cause problems, as they often escape to play with the dust fairies under the sofa or fall out of the pram. Dummies are also prone to wear and tear and must be checked daily for breakages (especially when your child is teething and chewing a lot), as a ripped dummy could be a choking hazard.

Excessive use of a dummy can also interfere with speech development: a toddler who frequently uses a dummy has fewer opportunities to practise his speech, and dummies can hamper articulation. Tongue and lower-lip placement can be affected, leading the child to replace his 't' and 'd' sounds with 'k' and 'g' sounds.

Breaking the habit
Neither thumb-sucking or use of a pacifier usually results in long-term orthodontic damage, as long as the habit is broken before the appearance of secondary teeth.

Children generally grow out of thumb-sucking between the ages of three and five, as they acquire a sense of what is socially acceptable. If not, there are various noxious-tasting ointments on the market that you paint on the sucked thumb to make the habit less palatable. Removing a much-loved dummy can be done earlier, but will take a lot of parental resolve and probably a few tears. An effective method is to give the dummies to the 'dummy fairy' who, much like the tooth fairy, swaps the dummy for a distracting treat of some kind, followed by lots of praise of the 'grown-up' child.