DS sucking on his arm - any advice on getting him to stop?!?

[GG]

My DS has never really taken to a paci and, at one point, I thought he'd be sucking on his thumb.  I never discouraged it (as a matter of fact, I've tried helping him 'find' it a few times).  Although he constantly has his hands in his mouth all day (and now his toes are starting to enter the picture), he doesn't use them to self-soothe when going to sleep.

Instead, he has decided that sucking on his arm is his preferred mode of self-soothing.  Yes, he is giving himself hickies on his arms.  :lol:   I discourage this whenever I catch him doing it, but now he's doing it when trying to fall asleep.  I've tried putting long sleeves on him, but he just sucks on the cloth.  I've tried giving him a teething cloth, to limited success.  He still drops it and starts to suck on his arm.  I don't want him to get used to doing this (can you imagine a toddler sucking on his arm as he's falling asleep?).

Has anyone else encountered this with their LO?  Any advice?  I'd appreciate any help I can get because he's extremely frustrated that he can't suck on his arm and I'm frustrated that I can't seem to find anything else that will satisfy (except, of course, suckling on the breast, which I have worked hard to get him to give up).

[tylersmommy]

My guess is that if you let it be, he'll find something else (like his thumb) eventually. If he doesn't, I don't think it's a huge deal even if you do have an arm sucking toddler! They do all kinds of weird stuff to self-soothe, and if you've got him self soothing at all, I think that's great! Long sleeves may cut down on the arm hickies, but even if he has them, oh well. Tyler has never liked teething rings or anything else to chew on when his teeth bother him, so he'll often chew his hands or his arm. He gets arm hickies too!

[Jaime]

for a while there, luke liked LICKING his arm to help go to sleep.  he's now decided that he likes rubbing his blanket or his stuffed animals across his face as he sleeps.

i wouldn't worry about it too much - if he has some way of self-soothing, i'd just go with it.

[Deb_in_oz]

Georgia - my lo is doing the exact same thing - she is ina sleeping bag (winter here) and the left sleeve (her preference) is soaked from wrist upwards as she is currently using this to settle to sleep.  i am trusting that in a few weeks she might move to the thumb, but at least thir arm is portable (my Dh asked if he shoudl offer her a dummy again since she always refused it - i yelled at him are you crazy - at least she can find her arm if she wants it  :lol: )

they will do what they need - dd1 sucks her tongue still and strokes/touches her shirt simultaneously.  people comment but i have never once asked her to stop.  i figure that she does it for whatever reason so as long as she needs it i will leave her be.  My mother is 65 and still twirls a strand of her hair  :lol:

[Hunter & Sithia's mom]

he he he  :lol:

I'm giggling because DS used to do that too.  The doctor looked at his arm during a checkup and lifted an eyebrow at me.  I had to reply that he's practicing giving hickies to future girlfriends on himself.

Shortly thereafter he accepted a soother, so stopped sucking on his arm.  Now that the soother has been taken away, he sometimes will suck on the cloth of his PJ, but usually on the fingers.

Good luck

Beth

[GG]

I had to reply that he's practicing giving hickies to future girlfriends on himself.

*LOL*  Very cute!!

Okay, you're all right... since I posted this I realized that he does need to soothe himself and at least he's found something (he had nothing for so long), so I've eased up.  He sometimes hesitates doing it (because I was taking the arm away and saying, "No" to him) but now I encourage it if I see hesitation.

I really appreciate your feedback!