Written by Editorial Team
Babies love to put everything in their mouths, and it seems they really like to suck their thumbs, much to the dismay of the parents!! Thumb sucking is a common habit among toddlers and young kids as it provides them comfort and works as a soothing mechanism. Kids who start thumb sucking immediately after birth, have learnt the art inside the womb. By the time you realize that your child is developing a habit, your child has already mastered the art of thumb sucking. This is a very common issue among children till an age of four years. If it persists in a child beyond that age, it needs to be looked into with some serious concern.
Sucking comes very naturally to babies – just like they suck at their mother’s breasts – toddlers tend to suck their thumbs. They soothe themselves up, and comfort their stressed out minds. Older children often suck their thumb as it provides relaxation to them. They might do it when they are scared, bored, hungry or for some other reasons. By forcing your child’s finger out of his mouth, you are pulling him out of his comfort zone and the child tends to be cranky. Thumb sucking is a way to cope up with this huge world, and so many changes happening every second that make a child scared and stressed. Just like pacifiers work wonder for them to calm, thumbs too help babies to relax and feel comfortable.
Most children drop the habit by the time they are 2 to 3 years old and develop other coping skills such as language. The world starts to seem a livable place and it looks manageable to the child. However, if the habit is just not going away, prolonged thumb sucking can cause an array of dental and speech problems. If you feel that once the child learns to speak and communicate well, you will need to get into the act first – by understanding that thumb sucking is your child’s way of curbing anxiety and then finding out strategic ways to help him kick the habit. By the age of 5 a child should have outgrown his thumb sucking habit – and if this has not happened you need to find help so as to ensure that the habit is quickly kicked off.
If your child has not quit the habit by the time she turns 3, you need to become slightly more watchful. However, if the baby is still sucking for most part of the day she is awake, it could be detrimental to her oral health and the habit needs to be broken down. Also, if the baby has some trouble in interacting as she is always busy with her thumb and mouth, you may need to resort to some tactics to break the thumb-sucking habit. Her dentist will also let you know if her thumb-sucking habit is affecting her oral development- in some cases, thumb sucking can cause crooked teeth and speech delays. It can also hamper the confidence of a child- especially if other kids her age have grown out of the habit. In such a case, you will need to devise some plan along with other family members to ensure that the thumb stays out of the mouth. Though it may seem tough at first, but slowly and gradually, your child will develop other coping techniques and the habit will go away.
Here are a few tips that will help you bring your child break his thumb sucking habit.
Regular and aggressive thumb sucking can destroy the texture and the structure of his teeth and might require him to wear braces in the long run. It also could cause pain in the thumb. You can put some moistening cream or Vaseline on his thumb when he sleeps, so that the thumb gets relief, too.
Consult your doctor if your child is a compulsive thumb sucker.
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