Self Soothing

desoky01 · February 2017

Just thought I'd make a post about this. What do your LO's do to self soothe? Any opinions/knowledge on good options? Our boy loves to suck on his hands, but we're nervous to let him suck his fingers because we don't want it to be a difficult habit to break (H's brother and my mother sucked their thumbs into mid-elementary and junior high!) We're trying to start a pacifier and while he takes it and it helps, he still much prefers his hands. Just wondering if anyone has thoughts!

SandNStarsNJ · February 2017

DD sucked her hands and took a pacifier and grew out of both by 6 months. DS is refusing the pacifier but loves his hands. I'm just hoping he grows out of it as he gets older. I'm not too concerned.

kristah2 · February 2017

M sucks his right hand or his left thumb. He will take a pacifier but he can't keep it in his mouth so he ends up using his hand since it pops out in like 2 seconds

MrsMaryK2016 · February 2017

I'm also not too concerned about the hands and actually wish he would find his thumb just so we don't have to deal with lost pacifiers in the middle of the night. M will occasionally take a pacifier to bed but inevitably wakes up when it fails out of his mouth. My brother was a thumb sucker and had to be broken of the habit too but I figure we cross that bridge when we get there.

kvruns · February 2017

Mine is all about the pacifier. He sucks his hands but they don't really soothe him. I'd be ok with hand/thumb since it can't fall out the same as pacifier

lajoliedreamer · February 2017

E is all about her hands. We've used the pacifier a handful of times when she gets herself really worked up, but once she calms down a bit she just lets it go and wants nothing to do with it. She's been good at self-soothing with her hands since birth, so we just let her go with it.

Ladybug2821 · February 2017

I prefer S use her hands over the pacifier. She does both but really likes the pacifier for sleeping which causes problems when she loses it at night. Kinda regretting giving her the paci and want to guide her more to using her hands.

SandNStarsNJ · February 2017

Ladybug2821 said:

I prefer S use her hands over the pacifier. She does both but really likes the pacifier for sleeping which causes problems when she loses it at night. Kinda regretting giving her the paci and want to guide her more to using her hands.

It's so interesting how folks differ on this. I don't really have an opinion. My mom taught me to fear the use of a pacifier but then our first used one for six months and we never had a problem. In fact, she took it out of her mouth one day, stuck in mine and never asked for it again. Now this LO refuses a pacifier but has already happily found his thumb and friends freak out and tell me how bad that is and that he needs a pacifier. I say whatever works for each LO is the best solution!

Ladybug2821 · February 2017

@SandNStarsNJ The only reason I'm not liking it so much anymore is because it's interfering with her nighttime sleep. It falls out and when she slightly wakes up (I'm assuming while transitioning through sleep cycles). She realizes it's gone and wakes up crying for it back. She is still swaddled so it may not be as much of an issue when she can actually put it back in her mouth herself. I think this is one of the reasons she has gone from only waking up once to up to 4 times now.

camcbeth · February 2017

Now this LO refuses a pacifier but has already happily found his thumb and friends freak out and tell me how bad that is and that he needs a pacifier. I say whatever works for each LO is the best solution!

Just be careful with the thumb because you can throw away a pacifier, you can't cut off a thumb. And as an adult who has tried to quit and failed so many times sucking my own thumb, it's cost me a lot with braces twice.

kristah2 · February 2017

M uses both. If the pacifier falls out at night he will just go back to his hand which is helpful for middle of the night wake ups.
However he already created a sore in his knuckle from sucking so during the day we try to redirect to pacifier now.

BLyn627 · February 2017

ODD never sucked her fingers. She took a pacifier only at night and was easy to break at a year. This LO wants nothing to do with her pacifier and constantly wants to suck her fingers. She mostly does it when she's awake and just laying there. Not while sleeping at all.

I would rather her take a pacifier because I feel it's an easier habit to break. Also the speech and language pathologist at my school has seen way too many instances of thumb suckers who have messed up their teeth so bad and caused speech problems.

m6agua · February 2017

LO used to take the pacifier but only once in a while to help fall asleep then it would come out right away and she would be fine. Now that she has discovered her hands she wants nothing to do with it. This makes it harder to calm her down sometimes, like when she is in the carseat.

dreamcatch-her · February 2017

Ugh, the dreaded car seat...

m6agua · February 2017

dreamcatch-her said:

Ugh, the dreaded car seat...

I know LO hates it. Our friend was over the other day and suggested this. It lights up and plays soothing music. I just picked it up from Walmart today so haven't tried it yet.

SandNStarsNJ · February 2017

dreamcatch-her said:

Ugh, the dreaded car seat...

We have a good old fashion mirror and he entertains himself for a while. It's a pretty cheap investment.

MrsMaryK2016 · February 2017

@m6agua We have that toy and M likes it. Definitely distracts him for a good 7-8 minutes but it works best at night. This one below is also good and keeps M distracted day or night. I alternate between a mirror, the star and the bug so he doesn't get bored with them. None are miracles for me but they do help some. Good luck!

https://m.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=42500996&gclid=CLaEmuKJqtICFYwkgQod7_AITg&camp=PLAPPCG-_-PID19181989:TRUS&cagpspn=plat_19181989&eESource=CAPLA_DF:42500996:TRUS

SandNStarsNJ · February 2017

MrsMaryK2016 said:

@m6agua We have that toy and M likes it. Definitely distracts him for a good 7-8 minutes but it works best at night. This one below is also good and keeps M distracted day or night. I alternate between a mirror, the star and the bug so he doesn't get bored with them. None are miracles for me but they do help some. Good luck!

https://m.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=42500996&gclid=CLaEmuKJqtICFYwkgQod7_AITg&camp=PLAPPCG-_-PID19181989:TRUS&cagpspn=plat_19181989&eESource=CAPLA_DF:42500996:TRUS

That's on the top of our activity mat and does a pretty solid job of entertaining LO. Switching it to the touching feature is even better for us!

ETA: I hate autocorrect.

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