Sucking Hands Problem

Cbowl

My LO is obsessed with sucking her fingers, hands, and arms…basically any part of her body she can get into her mouth she does.  All good because I know eventually it'll be self-soothing.  But the issue I'm running into now is if she is trying to go to sleep with her pacifier and it falls out of her mouth…she desperately starts shoving her hands into her mouth and shakes her head back and forth.  She can't get a good latch on her hands so it basically just stimulates her and she wakes herself up.  Anyone else running into this issue?  I'm not sure how to avoid except for to stand over her and re-insert the paci immediately every time it fall outs!

esf60

I don't know if I'd call this a problem, as most babies are going to do this as they become self-aware. Try putting something in her hand like a hard toy and letting her latch onto that, or of course, the paci as you mentioned.

Ktrue85

Mittens for the hands FTW. I have to do it for all naps and night sleeps or else he does the same thing. He may try to suck on the mittens for a minute but gives up quickly.

thesportsgal

No advice here but we're replacing a paci about 6-8 times a night too.  Finally after her 4 AM feeding I move her into bed with us for 2 more hours of sleep before work.  That way, I can just reach over and pop it in her mouth.  I will be throwing a massive party the day she puts that thing in her mouth on her own. 

BoothBaby

We still swaddle, but he will jailbreak the swaddle to get his hands in his mouth, or he will suck them through the fabric. Same effect, it ends up keeping him awake. So I switched from a muslin wrapped swaddle to a SwaddleMe velcro one. I get it super tight so he can't move his arms. I feel cruel doing it, but he sleeps so much better!

Ktrue85

TShea721 said:

Ktrue85 said:

Mittens for the hands FTW. I have to do it for all naps and night sleeps or else he does the same thing. He may try to suck on the mittens for a minute but gives up quickly.

I tried mittens but he pulled them off and had the mitten in his mouth when I woke up. Sigh!

Oh wow, yeah then that won't work. The mittens we have for J are fairly snug on his hands and he's never pulled them off, but I do check him throughout the night.

Have you tried a different type of pacifier? We used to use those round ones they give at the hospital but he would always spit them out. Once we switched to a Nuk orthodontic nipple, he would keep the pacifier in longer.

Ktrue85

TShea721 said:

Ktrue85 said:

TShea721 said:

Ktrue85 said:

Mittens for the hands FTW. I have to do it for all naps and night sleeps or else he does the same thing. He may try to suck on the mittens for a minute but gives up quickly.

I tried mittens but he pulled them off and had the mitten in his mouth when I woke up. Sigh!

Oh wow, yeah then that won't work. The mittens we have for J are fairly snug on his hands and he's never pulled them off, but I do check him throughout the night.

Have you tried a different type of pacifier? We used to use those round ones they give at the hospital but he would always spit them out. Once we switched to a Nuk orthodontic nipple, he would keep the pacifier in longer.

We've tried every pacifier I think. He won't use it unless I hold it. Lazy boy.

Yeah, I believe they call that S.O.L.

For what it's worth, Jack always spits his out no matter what, just normally with him it's right as he falls asleep so he conks out. I hope your LO chills out!

MissyC979

That's why I don't really like pacifiers for bedtime. We went through this with DS1, where he would wake up just for the pacifier, even though he wasn't necessarily hungry. We don't even give Finn the pacifier to sleep because of this and I think he wakes up less often because he's not getting upset about a pacifier no longer being in his mouth. Maybe work on putting him to bed without the pacifier so he's not expecting it when he wakes up?

aundrea1225

My daughter sucks and chews on her hands all the time now. I tried mittens, pacifiers, etc mentioned above. But a baby can start teething as early as 3 months, so I did check her gums and her bottom front is a bit redder than the rest. She also seems to get more fussy lately. Chewing on her hands helps massage her gums. But I'm really not looking forward to teething so soon. Going to her pedi soon to double check.  

Cbowl

We're still using the soothies bc it's the only one she'll take. Argh! Maybe we'll try mittens. I guess I'm just wondering when the hand sucking stops being stimulating and starts beig soothing?!

lifesaverz

Cbowl said:

We're still using the soothies bc it's the only one she'll take. Argh! Maybe we'll try mittens. I guess I'm just wondering when the hand sucking stops being stimulating and starts beig soothing?!

I wonder this too.

Cbowl

@AlexJohnson840‌ we do use a wubanub with her but she tends to grab different parts of it and try to suck on the stuffed animal if she spits it out and can't get to the paci. I may just try to break her of the paci but it definitely helps her get over the hump to fall asleep. Agh! Thanks!

HerbanMom

This is why we still swaddle at night, LO is super grabby with his hands while he sleeps and will continuously wake himself if we don't.

Cambury108

All of the above is us except mine will use her 2 fingers and gag herself till she pukes.....NOT fun. 

lifesaverz

@Cambury108, dude that sucks  

Ktrue85

Just wait until the toes start making their way in there. Jack does this now.

Ktrue85

Exhibit A:

Ktrue85

Exhibit B:

ugoglencoco

Ktrue85 said:

Just wait until the toes start making their way in there. Jack does this now.

This was Brady when I looked at the monitor at 140 am, and 215, and 4. This not swaddling thing is really tiring! He is awake all night just sucking on his feet and rolling around in his crib! DONT YOU SLEEP KID?! Well, he's asleep now, in his swing. Mom fail.