Just a few anecdotal thoughts on thumb-sucking: I was an extended thumb-sucker (to about age 13 years--frankly I am relieved to read on Lactnet that I am not alone here). My mom says she nursed me for a time as a baby and I am guessing she means typical 1967 nursing supplemented with bottles and early solids from the get-go and abandoned after 6 weeks. I was also a very "self-reliant" baby much to her admitted disappointment (she felt that I did not need her). She and I are still far less close than she and my "needier" younger brother are. I suspect that I may well have been a "natural" thumb-sucker but that the feeding and parenting choices my mom made influenced the matter. At this point the feeding and parenting choices make a lot more difference than the thumb-sucking did--I at least have naturally straight teeth. As a parent I have always felt that thumb-sucking was not desirable but was preferable to pacifier use. At least the thumb is always present and not any kind of choking hazard. My son Patrick has never shown the slightest interest in thumbs or pacifiers although his interest in the real thing continues quite unabated at 2 1/2. Although at times the nursing can be irritating (e.g. he falls asleep nursing and refuses to release the nipple for half an hour--and I mean like last night!) I still prefer it to the alternatives. In speaking to mothers about pacifiers and thumbs I try to keep my focus on the need of the baby to suckle at the breast adequately and the desirability of avoiding nipple preference/confusion by early introduction of artificial nipples. I will also add if appropriate that I sucked my thumb "for a long time" and never had dental problems personally. It really does seem that parents worry about this stuff more than need be perhaps due to society"s pressure to routinely offer babies mother substitutes (but that is a whole nother harangue). A lot of babies never feel the need to supplement their sucking needs thank goodness! Penny Piercy, LLLL, MOM (Patrick 2 1/2) from Bloomington, IN