If we are want to nurture our child’s health, we need to tackle with thumb sucking habit among the children. Some children just love to put their finger in mouth to suck. I always find the act not hygienic as we don’t know where the child touched with his finger and then he just suck his finger with billions of germ on it! Yakky! Well, this is my personal point of view. Have you wonder why they love to suck their finger especially their thumb? How can we deal with it so that we can continue nurturing our child’s health?
Most of the time, we see babies put their thumb in their mouth to suck. The common reasons of their act is because they are hungry; they are exploring their body; or they are seeking comfort. Babies begin sucking thumb even long before they are out of their mummies’ wombs. Research found that breastfeed babies unlikely to develop thumb sucking habit. This is because the mother couldn’t tell when her breasts are empty, therefore it satisfies the baby’s craving of suck as milk is emptied from the breast within 5 to 6 minutes. It’s acceptable if you find your baby sucks her thumb for few minutes before mealtime as this indicates that the baby is hungry.
Generally, a child stops sucking his thumb or fingers when he reaches 3 to 6 years old. However, if we are not careful enough, thumb sucking will eventually becomes a habit for our child. The child will suck his thumb anytime and whenever he wants. A baby or a child is said to have developed thumb sucking habit if he sucks his thumb immediately after feeding/snacks time. Therefore, it is advisable to identify the reason why the child sucks his thumb so that we can search a solution to the problem :
- Going through teething period - the child needs to chew his thumb or fingers to relieve the pressure off his gums
- Seek comfort as the child is feeling lonely, tired, bored, frustrated
- Lack of security feeling, maybe in the process of adjusting himself to a new environment such as new school, new home, new sibling, parent etc.
- Lack of love and attention from adults
Prolong thumb/finger sucking develops dental and speech problem. The front teeth and the surrounding bone are pushed out of shape. The top jaw begins to form a gap in the front where the thumb is always placed causing an open bite. Other problem include a cross bite, crooked teeth, malocclusions, lips or tongue thrust. Moreover, as I mentioned earlier, it is not hygeine all!
I have a 3 year old girl who will suck her thumb and sometimes put her fingers in the mouth playing with saliva whenever she is free or bored. Please do not pull the child’s fingers out immediately as this action could backfire resulting the child to rebel and develop the thumb sucking habit. Do not nag your child about it! Do not use blankie or whatever that is associated with the thumb sucking. Use the following approaches to help your child stop his thumb sucking habit:
- Ensure that the child is well fed
- Distract the child with a toy when he begins to suck
- Distract the baby with bottle or a pacifier
- Meet the infant/toddler/child’s emotional needs so that they feel secure and response to their cry to soothe them
- Talk to the child about the effect of thumb sucking, show him pictures of those misalignment teeth
- Let the dentist talk to the child, it is very effective!
Be firm with your decision. First few days are the toughest and emotional. The child may experience withdrawal. He may not fall asleep easily and may become irritable. Some mothers find it too tough and later give in to their child, so the thumb sucking habit continues. We have to be persistent as we want our child to have a healthy life! We can start by eliminate only the day time sucking, once it is mastered then proceed to work on the night time sucking or vise versa. We can also starts with one hour without sucking, then the day, then two days and so on. Keep the child busy and distracted during the first few days. He will slowly forget about his needs to suck his finger or thumb eventually. Nurture our child’s health with persistence and patience!
