We have tried sucking it a few times, but he doesn't seem to want us to do it much. He doesn't cry but he'll pull it away and he won't let us mess with it much or suck it playfully like we have in the past. I asked his Dr. about it when I took him in for his latest ear infection and she said that normally HFM disease sores are more superficial and don't cause damage, but hey you never know they could have been worse than normal. I have caught him here and there sucking the tip again, but still not the whole thing like he did before. We have dipped his thumb in iced tea as he likes my husband's tea and since we don't let him drink it that is like a treat and he will suck the tea off his thumb and come back for another dip. We have also gotten his Halloween candy and taken the suckers that he got and rubbed them around on his thumb and he likes to suck it or lick it off his thumb......we still keep trying.
Sorry for the delay in response, with Thanksgiving I have been busy since 11/22/07 up until now......My grandma has been very ill and on Thanksgiving we found out that she was in critical condition. She passed away this morning early (2:00 am) and it has been very emotional for me and my family. She was 93 years old and was my mother's only parent still living, as my grandpa passed away in 1986.
Given the situation and all of the travel, (as my mom's family is 3 hours south of us and we drove there Saturday morning and came back Saturday night late, we got home at 1 am Sunday morning), Ben has been handling it well.
**News: He slept the first 11 hour stretch last night, this hasn't happened in months, I had him down at 7:30 and he got up (from us waking him at 6:45 am--in his crib) he didn't wake even once last night.
Hopefully this will keep up, unfortunately given the circumstances we will be travelling again later this weekend.