Hi,

My 5 mth old baby boy has started sucking his fingers & thumb a lot for the past 1 month.

Does this indicate that he is hungry? He takes 3 solid meals a day & my milk so i dont think its due to hunger??

How can i stop this habit frm developing further - will he stop on his own later?

Thanks

Nidhi rajji replied. hi,
i think u should start giving teethers so that ur baby will stop sucking her finger try to distract the baby from sucking the finger,i used the same thing for my baby now she stopped sucking her fingers.
hope this tip will help you
bye vibha replied. Hi,
Even my baby had the same problem but now she is fine and not sucking her fingers. when we took this complaint to our doctor,she said \";Many babies like to pacify themselves by sucking something.Your baby has chosen it free of cost.thats it
sucking his thumb does not mean that he is hungry ,he just want to pacify himself.Unless and until your baby is having his stomach full of meals no need to worry.
If you doesnt like him to suck his thumb try something like pacifier in place of thumb ,if not just leave him,he will leave it when he is little older.\";
hope this helps you.
Shital replied. Hello Nidhi,
Even my son used to do that. And Even I was worried but my ped said that sucking thumb or fingers can have 2 reasons.
1) either they are teeting and it's little itchy in their gums and sucking thumb or finger helps to sooth them
2) Sucking thumb is their security object. Most kids have security object that helps them feel secure. My son had blanket as his security objects but I know few of my friends kids suck their thumbs.

My son is now 19 months old and his teeth are out and he doesn't suck his finger anymore.

Bottom line, don't worry too much. It's normal for kids to do that. I sucked my fingers and I am sure eventually I stopped ;) and now I am mommy :) We all used to do things but eventually we all stopped right? :)

Hope this helps! :)
-Shital