thumbthucker


At the big family event this weekend, an orthodontist friend took an impromptu and unsolicited look at each kid’s mouth and said, “They’re going to have to stop sucking those thumbs soon.” If you know my kids at all, you’ll know that’s unlikely to happen without serious motivation. Dang, the big one just started training herself to sleep dry at night – and with SERIOUS success, I might add! I’m so not taking this comfort away from her.

I'm not particularly hung up on thumbsucking in 2- and 4-year olds. Maybe if they were 12 and 14? But the kids had dentist appointments this week, so I asked Dr. Dumas about it. He laughed, gave me his medical judgment that there’s no proven causation between thumbsucking and poor orthodontics, and rendered this opinion: “You can take away the thumbs, but orthodontia is way cheaper than therapy.” Smart man. That’s why we pay him the big bucks.

Comments

Anonymous said…
I SAW a 15 year old sucking his thumb! That is just...wrong.

The Baby is a thumbsucker too. It wasn't a problem til his thumb looked all wonky and the dr. worried about staph infection. ew. I am trying to get him to stop, but it makes him happy. sigh.
Nanette said…
I think this post needs one of your "thumbs up" icons! :)
Sandra Dee said…
Iron Man has that callous on his thumb, too. He calls it his "lucky thumb." He's lucky I haven't whacked it off yet, if you ask me.

My mom is freaking out about Iron Man's thumb sucking. He is almost 7, but I want to remind her that HER son sucked his thumb longer than that.

Instead, I'll keep my trap shut. I need somewhere to live more than I need to be right.