I am one of the people who doesn't think it's great for babies to suck on
fingers, either, and I am grateful to the LLL Leader who taught me many
years ago to consider finger- or thumb-sucking as a cue for breastfeeding.

I think it may be less likely to cause breastfeeding problems for a couple
of reasons. One is that it is more controlled by the baby. I'm sure you have
seen parents putting a pacifier in a baby's mouth and holding it there
firmly even as the baby tries to spit it out, until the baby gives up and
sucks on the pacifier. You couldn't do that with the child's finger or
thumb.

I also think that the finger or thumb will get sore if the baby sucks on it
for hours at a time (as some babies suck on pacifiers) and so he will take
it out of his mouth. Babies also don't bite or chew on their fingers as they
sometimes do on pacifiers, and then try to do at the breast.

So I can see some ways in which finger-sucking could be less of a problem
than pacifier use, but meeting that sucking need at the breast seems to me
to be the most appropriate choice.

Teresa Pitman
Guelph, Ontario

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