So my 11 month old is a thumb sucker. I'm actually very happy that he self-soothes, but his poor little thumb has been taking a beating this week. He's teething and has a cold on top of just starting to walk and say a few words, so he's fairly miserable and way too excited for sleep lately. Yet he's still sleeping 11 hours a night thanks to his thumb. I hear a little whimper every few hours, then some determined sucking, and he's back to sleep. Lucky me! But not so lucky for his thumb which is all red and chapped. Is there anything stronger than Aquafor that I can put on it? Something that will stay put a little longer in spite of the drool? I know this will fade again once the teeth come in and he sleeps more soundly, but in the meantime it just looks so raw! Thanks Mommies!
Thanks so much moms! Why didn't I think of my Lansinoh? I'll be trying that as soon as DH is finished giving the baby his bath.
Aquafor is petroleum based, so I would skip that, personally. I second the lanolin cream. I've used the Lansinoh brand for years and years after I discovered it was not only good for breastfeeding, but chapped lips and cuticles, as well. I love this product. You can find it at Target in the baby section.
http://www.drugstore.com/products/prod.asp?pid=72400&...=
B., I know this isn't really what you want to hear, but it would be so much better if you could get him to self-soothe a different way - a lovey of some sort like a blankie or stuffed animal...
With him sucking so hard, he is going to shape his mouth to have an overbite and you'll be looking at braces to fix it. If you can't get his thumb out of his mouth, it will also affect his speech. If you tell a speech therapist about your son's sucking, she will tell you this.
It's something to think about...
Don't put anything on his thumb that should not be ingested.
Try olive oil.
It is food grade, and edible and used in many face/body products.
And most people have it already in their kitchen.
Google search "benefits of olive oil on skin."
You could try putting on some of the lanolin breast cream that is made for breastfeeding mother's nipples. It is safe to ingest and stays on a lot better that other creams.
Yep...Lansinoh...gentle, safe to ingest. Also works great on chapped hands or chapped skin. I still keep it in the house and my kids are 6 and 3. :-)
I used lanolin when I was breast feeding because it did not have to be washed off before the next feeding, so I would think it would be safe to use on his little thumb as well.
Aquafor is water soluable. You could try something more greasy, such as Vaseline which won't dissolve in his spit. It may not stay, tho, because he's sucking and he may suck it off.
Would he let you put tape around it so that the tape would take the beating instead of his skin?
Awww, poor guy! I had a thumb sucker, and can't remember her thumb EVER getting chapped! That is so sad! The other posters had some great ideas, and my only add-on is to try and show him that he has another one :) My thumb baby favored her left ONLY, but if it had hurt, she may have tried her right...ya never know.
