Pacifier vs. Thumb Sucking

Pros of Each

My first child was a thumb sucker. Well, technically she sucked the two middle fingers on her left hand, but for simplicity’s sake, we’ll just call it thumb sucking. Anyway, she started sucking the fingers when she was only two months old and it would help her fall asleep. We had tried giving her a pacifier, but she would just spit it out. We thought it was so cute that she discovered something to soothe herself and saw no problem with it. The nice thing about fingers is that they never get lost or fall on the floor. People say that hands transmit so many germs, but I think pacifiers that get dragged around probably pick up just as many, if not more germs.

My second child was instantly drawn to the pacifier. We clipped it to his shirt and he would suck it almost all the time. The pacifier helped my son fall asleep for naps and bedtime for a good two years. The nice thing about pacifiers is that when the time comes to break the habit, the pacifier can just go away, whereas the fingers (being attached) make quitting a bit more difficult.

Cons of Each

The worst part about a child who sucks their thumb is the quitting part. For a long time, they rely on it to help them fall asleep, soothe themselves, and generally cope with life. This is a normal part of being a baby and toddler. The problem comes if they are still relying on it when they start school. Then they start to feel pressure to quit and they don’t understand why and may even think something is wrong with them. My daughter didn’t stop sucking her fingers until well into Kindergarten, and even then, it required a lot of help from us. She wanted desperately to stop, but she was worried that she couldn’t fall asleep without doing it. The whole ordeal only lasted three nights, but it involved several tactics like crushed chili peppers rubbed on the fingers to make them “spicy” and letting her suck on a rag with an ice cube inside for two nights.

With a pacifier, it is very easy to remove it, but then you may have a miserable child for a few nights if they are not ready. When a child still needs the pacifier, it is frustrating if they get lost and you have to search for one before naptime or bedtime. My son was very particular about which brand of pacifier he would take and we only had two of that type. Washing and sterilizing the pacifiers is kind of cumbersome also and if your child wears it on their shirt, it can be dragged in dirt, food, and anything else he may come in contact with while playing and generally being a normal toddler.

Also, the pacifier was hindering my son’s speech, since it was always in his mouth. We tried keeping the pacifier in the crib to use only during sleep, but my son would sneak in and get it to use during the day. I tried hiding it other places, but he would whine and cry until I gave it to him. We finally just had to quit cold turkey one day and it only took a couple of days to adjust. He had some trouble waking in the night for awhile after, but would fall back asleep fine, so we’re not sure if the lack of the pacifier had anything to do with it.

Final Analysis

Overall, I would have to say that finger sucking was more convenient for the duration, but much harder to overcome. Since it took until age five to quit for my daughter, we worked on removing the pacifier from my son at the early age of two, before he became too attached. Remember, though, even if you prefer one method of soothing, your child may prefer something else and if there’s one thing I’ve learned as a parent, it’s to “pick your battles.” Sometimes you just have to go with the flow and let the child choose what works for them.