My three month old son has become fascinated with sucking on his fist. I thought at first he was just searching for the thumb, but he has found the thumb several times and doesn't want it...he wants the whole hand. He has pacifers and takes them when rocking, but throughout the day and when I put him in the crib to sleep, he wants the hand. Also, any time his hand is in his mouth, he is drooling and getting his drool everywhere. I understand babies drool, but when is hand isn't in his mouth the drool hits the bid...with the hand there it gets all over his face and I am worried about his face drying out or breaking out. I am not sure if this is something to be concerned about, so I thought I would ask. Any suggestions or insights?
I believe this is completely normal. Both my kids did this and niether of them ever sucked their thumbs. The drool can cause chafing or chapped cheeks and chin, but I don't really think there's much you can do about that. A very light application of Aquaphor or vaseline on his cheeks and chin might keep them from getting chafed, but I would just wipe my kids off when I could and let them enjoy their new-found chew toy. :-)
My daughter started doing this at 3 months also. At first it was just when she was hungry, but then it started all the time when she started teething at 3 months old. She would put anything she could in her mouth, she started biting on her pacifier and would put the burp cloths in her mouth and bite on them or sucking on them. Try and give him a teether see if that helps.
Sounds normal to me! Just keep his hands clean (well, aside form the drool) so that he isn't getting any extra germs in his mouth. And just wipe his face off with a warm washcloth. This will pass eventually, and be replaced with something even more messy, baby food!
Very normal...my son did it. He stopped for about a year, and he started back up right around 2 1/2.
My son who is 10 months does something similar, he sucks on two or more fingers at one time. I thought it was very strange too. However, his ped. says it's very normal. They are self-soothers, which is great. They can always find their hand! The drool bothered me too. It was everywhere! I've used Aquaphor and Eucerin creams to help with dry skin.
Something to look forward to - I've noticed that since my son has gotten more and more teeth, the sucking has heavily decreased. I would assume that once your son has most of his teeth, it will become very uncomfortable for him to retain his habit. Good luck!
