Winnie, that was 46 years ago, LOL. That's the way we thought back then :-) 
Pat in SNJ
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Winnie Mading" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, December 12, 2009 1:16 PM
Subject: Re: pacifier or thumb/finger(s)


One poster mentioned that her husband stoped on the way home from the 
hospital to buy a pacifier because the baby had found its thumb right away 
(perhaps even in utero).
My view is that if one must choose a comfort object other than mom's breast, 
I would choose the thumb over an artificial nipple. Here are some reasons:
1-At least it is skin like the breast, so one less difference from mom.
2-Older siblings can't pick it up off the floor and right back into baby's 
mouth (perhaps after a stopover in the dog's mouth!).
3-You can't force a baby to take it to the same extent you can a pacifier.
4-Older sibling can't toss it out the window when you're going down the 
freeway at 60 MPH!
5-The biggest reason was one given by a dentist many years ago. I had a 
neighbor whose baby was one of those"high oral need" babies that wanted 
something in his mouth 25 hours a day. (He was nursing just fine). The 
little guy found his thumb early on and from that time on through at least 
the first year, any time he wasn't nursing, his thumb was in his mouth. Mom 
was concerned about what this would do to his teeth. When he had his first 
dentist visit, she asked whether his thumb sucking had done any harm to his 
teeth alignment. The dentist replied that the baby must have been breastfed, 
because there was no misshaping of his oral cavity. He went on to state that 
when a bottle baby sucks the thumb, he tends to press up against the palate 
and that is what leads to malocclusion. A totally breastfed baby, on the 
other hand, tends to place the thumb down and back against the tougue, 
mimicking how the breast feels in the mouth and thus not
 pushing the teeth out of alignment. It made sense to me.
Winnie Mading IBCLC


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