Thumb: to suck or not to suck (As told in Three Acts)

Article first published as Thumb Sucking: Good or Bad (as Told in 3 Acts) on Technorati.

 

Thumbs up for thumb sucking! 

Is thumb sucking good or bad? The answer is not "bad". Recent research has shown no residual negative effects (dental or emotional) in those children who stop by age five. According to Heidi Murkoff author of What to Expect the First Year, 95% of children abandon the habit on their own before entering school. Any parent who finds that thumb sucking allows for a few moments of peace and quiet or the ability for a baby to fall back to sleep on her own would say it was more than good. Others might consider it neutral.

In my family, thumb sucking has come to represent a three generation Greek tragedy with irony and plot twists, like Oedipus and Antigone.

My mom was the second of eight children and the oldest girl. She and her older brother sucked their thumbs, not just as babies but into their school years. For my mom, at least, it led to teasing and pushed out her front teeth. As a young adult, she went to an oral surgeon to have her teeth fixed. Unfortunately, the inexperienced surgeon did a poor job and dental problems have plagued her for over forty years. Subsequent problems have required more surgery, braces and additional periodontal work. After four decades of problems, the shoddy work eventually led to some tooth loss and replacement.

After her experience with thumb sucking, my mother was committed to the idea that her son would never suck his thumb. She vowed to do everything in her power to prevent that. I believe she used the baby socks on thumb method. This would not work on my son, who continually takes his socks of and puts them in his own mouth.  It must have worked on me, because I have no memories or pictures of me sucking my thumb. I was led to believe that anyone who sucked their thumb would mess up their teeth and need braces. Whew, dodged that bullet. However, around the age of 15, it was decided (not by me) that I needed braces for of all things an under-bite (the irony). So after several years and thousands of dollars, eh.

Based on my mom's stories, the idea that thumb sucking was like crack ("Just say no!") was embedded in mind. So when my son Clark was born, I was strongly against thumb or any other finger sucking. Whenever Clark would put one of his itty-bitty fingers in his mouth, I would quickly remove them. So after a short while, he stopped doing it. Then lo and behold, Grandma comes for a visit. I leave the room and return to find Junior is on the bed with Grandma and sucking his thumb. Grandma finds this cute and laugh worthy at the time. What just happened?

In the course of sleep training, Clark began sucking his thumb as a way to soothe himself to get back to sleep. Not sucking his thumb or sleeping through the night, easy choice. I read up on the subject and most experts agreed the behavior was completely normal and without any lasting ill effects. Ta Da! Win Win Win. Well, no, because Grandma came to visit again (warning: plot twist). This time Clark sucking his thumb is no longer cute or funny, and is now completely unacceptable. Grandma's tragic thumb sucking stories are back in vogue. I'm receiving grand-maternal pressured to wean him from the thumb. Clark's thumb sucking is just fine with me. Thumbs up for thumb sucking!

My son had real difficulty sleeping through the night. His mom and I were wondering if he'd ever sleep through the night. Sucking his thumb, which he did all on his own, seemed to help with that. We are left to wonder if he would have slept through the night a lot sooner had we not discouraged his early finger sucking behavior and let nature run its course. In the end, you'll need to make own decision.

- Clark's Dad