If there is something that parents like is to comment on our own experiences as such, to compare, warn, remember, share ... even if they have not asked us for an opinion. One of the phrases I have heard most in recent months is that of "Well, my son sucked his finger until he was X".
Of course, this data does not appear suddenly without coming to the case, but is given by observing the pleasure with which my baby sucks his finger from two months of age. I already told you how sometimes, between pacifier and finger you can not choose.
The fact is that I have heard all kinds of comments, and I think that the maximum age for pacifiers of children (or nephews, or cousins ...) has been 14 years old. Sucking his finger until age 14! Don't you think it's amazing?
I also especially remember the case of a girl who sucked her finger until she was 9 years old and had been "beaked", that is, with the upper teeth deformed out in the form of a beak.
They are not the most common cases, because almost all babies seem to leave "vice" by the year of age, but many of them take several years to stop sucking their finger.
And it is in those cases when parents have had to manage to try the most varied tricks (and barbarities) for their son to leave his finger alone.
I have to say that before all the comments, it is normal for one to be alert, and I have been looking for information that has reassured me, in the sense that my baby only sucks his finger at very specific times (when he is sleepy or sleeps) and also begins to accept the pacifier.
To take the pacifier better than before is a relief because it is great to avoid the wound that is done on the finger (now, with the teeth, it is peeled), although even at midnight many days the pacifier has fallen and returns to the finger But it doesn't seem to have as much "love" as before.
At least all the comments have helped me to find information on the subject and see that the cases in which children suck their finger beyond five years of age are exceptional, and the fact itself does not imply any disorder if it is not lengthens until after the exit of the final teeth.
So hopefully the baby does not become a pre-teen who still sucks his finger. On this occasion I am going to ask you to tell me, because I am interested in knowing other experiences: What cases do you know of children who sucked their fingers and how old?
Photos | c r z and Paul - Somers on Flickr
In Babies and more | Guide to the proper use of the pacifier, Does the pacifier generate tranquility or dependence ?, Is the pacifier needed ?, When a pacifier is removed
