Thumb Sucking: A Mother’s Challenge

The truth is, only 10% of babies suck their fingers to show they are hungry and sleepy. The remaining 90% of the kids suck their fingers when they feel lonely. Sometimes they may feel insecure, which can result in thumb sucking. So, if your baby puts their finger in their mouth next time, try to find the reason for their behavior. Look for signs of whether they are hungry, sleepy or feeling insecure. A child can suck their thumbs for many reasons, one reason is, if you were busy with some other household work and leave your baby to play on their own with their toys. Babies that have the habit of putting their fingers in their mouth will soon drop this habit compared to those who put just their thumb in their mouth.

Most of the kids overcome the thumb sucking habit slowly by the age of four. As per pediatricians, the thumb sucking of kids is nothing to worry about until the age of four. Later this habit may affect the teething of the baby, as the baby starts getting permanent teeth after that age.

So, stop worrying and put the efforts into action to try and stop this habit. Here are few ways to follow.

1. Babies below six months of age are prone to thumb sucking. If your baby is younger than six months, and still tries to suck its thumb, then you should try to stop it at that age. The sooner, the better. Also, it would be easy for you to get rid of the habit by replacing the thumb with something else and your baby won’t rebel much at that age.

2. If you can’t stop the thumb sucking at this early stage, then don’t put pressure on your baby to stop the habit by scolding. This will increase the insecurity your baby is feeling which only leads to more thumb sucking.

3. Wait for a couple of months and once your baby is able to grasp what you say to them, try again. Start with saying things softly and lovingly about the downside of thumb sucking. Praise your baby when not sucking the thumb.

4. In the night, if your baby sleeps with its thumb in the mouth, chances of teeth disorder are more. So remove it once when your baby is slept.

5. Try to distract your baby, whenever your baby tries to put the hand in the mouth. For example, if your baby places the hands in the mouth when hungry, feed them immediately. If your baby place the hands in the mouth because they feel insecure, hug your baby and try to play with it for awhile. Keep them active in jobs like drawing, painting, block building, etc…

6. Even when you are busy with your work, keep talking to your baby and asking questions, so that the baby will be talking to you and cannot find time to put its thumb inside the mouth.

7. Keep telling your baby that he/she is a “BIG BABY” now and should behave accordingly. Babies love to hear that they are grown big. So they may start acting as if they are mature enough to obey a few things when instructed to do so.

8. Keep in touch with your dentist and pediatrician, and get advice every now and then.

If you cannot stop your baby by any of the above methods, don’t give up. 75% of babies stop thumb sucking when they are mocked and made fun by their group of friends or peers in pre-school. Preschool interaction with other children usually takes care of this job for you, so don’t worry.

If your baby is not ready to stop thumb sucking even after the permanent teeth started coming up, then a visit your dentist and pediatrician immediately would be in order, as it may affect the facial structure of your babies jaw and teeth.