How to quickly wean a child from thumb sucking. If a child sucks his thumb If a child sucks his thumb what to do

Recently, pediatricians and psychologists agree: a finger in the mouth is, first of all, an unsatisfied sucking instinct.

Sucking reflex

By the way, one observant mother noticed an interesting thing. Her son is on a mixed diet - that is, he is fed formula from a bottle along with breast milk. So, the child copes with the bottle much faster than with the mother’s breast, and after that he immediately puts his fist into his mouth. This example is a vivid illustration of the fact that thumb sucking is required by an infant precisely in order to satisfy the sucking reflex. In babies whose mother breastfeeds for a long time (and not according to a regimen, but on demand), such a habit, as a rule, is not observed.

The fact is that for an infant, the concepts of “suck” and “exist” are very close. They suck not only for saturation, but also for development. Studies have shown that when sucking, natural processes that have been established for centuries are launched: nutrients are absorbed, digestion improves, the brain develops, and the child feels psychological comfort.

What mechanism is responsible for sucking?

Three nerves with very large areas are involved in sucking: the vagus, ternary and nasopharyngeal nerves. No part of the body has such powerful receptors as the mouth. The best thing that nature has come up with for the development of these systems is the mother's breast. That is why it is so important that the baby can receive it at his first request.

Unfortunately, sometimes you have to look for a replacement breast. Of course, a bundle with bread crumb (as in the time of our great-grandmothers) or modern “correct” orthodontic pacifiers are only a pitiful imitation of a mother’s warm breast. But, alas, to some extent they are necessary if your baby is bottle-fed.

Another way to satisfy the sucking reflex, which is literally always at hand, is your own finger. But dentists and speech therapists unanimously claim that sucking a pacifier, and especially a finger, leads to deformation of the palate, the formation of a malocclusion, and poor closure of teeth. In children who suck their fingers, the teeth often grow in a specific way - the upper ones protrude forward, and the lower ones grow slightly back.

What to do? On the one hand, this habit is natural and natural, but on the other hand, it is harmful, and you have to fight it.

Why does a child suck his thumb?

There may be several reasons.

Breastfed babies often suck their fingers before or after feeding - in this way they show that they are already hungry or have not yet “pumped.” After all, the baby eats the main portion of milk in the first 5-10 minutes, and the rest of the time they suck just “for pleasure,” squeezing out the milk drop by drop. If your baby puts his fingers in his mouth after breastfeeding, you may be holding him less at the breast than he needs.
The child is teething - and then with special enthusiasm he pulls into his mouth everything that comes to hand.
At an older age, a child may suck his thumb if he lacks parental love and affection.
Sometimes thumb sucking becomes a sedative - this is how the baby instinctively relieves excessive excitement or calms himself before bed.
Your child may simply be bored.

How to stop thumb sucking

The “ingenuity” of some parents simply knows no bounds. They:

they smear their children’s fingers with mustard, aloe juice, and cover them with a special bitter varnish;
they tie their hands and bandage their fingers;
They put on (and sometimes sew on a shirt so that it cannot be taken off) woolen mittens.

These are quite cruel methods that cause a lot of suffering to the baby. And, most importantly, they stop working as soon as parents stop repressive measures. And everything returns to normal.

Constant shouts of “take your finger out of your mouth” are also useless - at some point children simply stop reacting to them, this is a kind of protective reaction of the body to a habit that, for one reason or another, is important for the body. Moreover, threats and punishments sometimes lead to the exact opposite result. After all, as we found out, a child often sucks his finger to calm himself down. This means that in a stressful situation for himself (namely, shouts and punishments lead to stress), the baby will strive with redoubled force to somehow calm himself down - with the help of sucking.

How to break the habit of thumb sucking

If we are talking about a baby under one year old, try increasing the sucking time. You can simply offer the breast to the baby more often and hold it longer (thirty to forty minutes). It is more difficult with artificial ones - you will have to choose a pacifier from which it will be quite difficult to suck, in this case the baby will need more time to absorb the same portion of the mixture than before. Ideally, this should take about twenty minutes. It may be worth adding another feeding; it will disappear over time.
If your baby is no longer an infant and sucks primarily for self-soothing, find other ways to soothe him. For example, if he is upset, teach him to express his feelings in words, hug him, caress him, read an interesting book together. Sometimes children put their fingers in their mouth in some repetitive situation - for example, while watching TV. In this case, find an adequate replacement - give him a small rubber ball or another toy that can be crushed with your fingers.
It is important to keep your hands busy. Speech therapists and psychologists get tired of repeating the benefits of developing fine motor skills - this is very important for speech development. Let the child tinker with clay, pebbles, sand, assemble a construction set from fairly small parts, put together mosaics or puzzles.
The little fashionista will appreciate her first “real” manicure, just like her mother’s. Perhaps she won’t want to spoil such beauty?
Sometimes a visit to the dentist can help and tell your child about the dangers of thumb sucking. This is a person who is quite authoritative for the baby, and he will confirm that parental demands are not an empty whim.
Focus your child's attention on the fact that once he stops thumb sucking, he will be a full grown adult. This habit is permissible only for the smallest, but for such a respectable young man or adult girl it is simply unacceptable. By the way, most children actually wean themselves from this habit between the ages of two and four years.

Inessa Smyk

Have you noticed that your baby systematically sucks his thumb? Sometimes, not even one, but two, three or all five at once? What to do? The child sucks his thumb! This is a bad habit. It's both unhygienic and ugly. Let's start with the fact that you are not alone in this situation. And many parents face a similar problem. Of course, the first instinct of any mother will be to categorically prohibit the baby from even putting his hands to his mouth. But, usually, prohibitions do not bring much benefit. But if you understand in detail the reasons for this behavior of the toddler, then it may well happen that you do not have to forbid the baby anything. How to stop a child from sucking his thumb? Yes, just give him something, the lack of which he is trying to compensate for with such a pastime. Indeed, often, thumb sucking in infants is precisely of a compensatory nature, and in preschool children, the reasons for the development of such a habit are also psychological.

First of all, parents need to find out the reason why their baby started sucking his thumb.

Why does your baby suck his thumb?

In infancy, a child begins to suck his thumb for two reasons: when he is hungry, and when he needs to satisfy the sucking instinct.
Older children thus try to calm themselves down.
And for some babies, thumb sucking is a sign that they lack parental attention, love, and support.

Usually, when a toddler reaches 3 years of age, he gets rid of the habit of thumb sucking on his own. If this does not happen, parents should make some efforts to help him with this.

After all, there is nothing useful in such a childish addiction. Quite the contrary.

The habit of thumb sucking in infants is most likely associated with errors in diet and daily routine. Psychological reasons predominate in preschoolers and adolescents

Is it harmful?

When a baby sucks his fingers, bacteria from the external environment enter his digestive system. And these bacteria are not always harmless. Some of them may be pathogens. It is clear that when the baby is still in its cradle, the likelihood of such a development of events is small. But the time comes when the little one begins to move independently and actively study the objects around him. That's when it's very undesirable for his little fingers to constantly end up in his mouth. This is unhygienic to say the least.
A child's thumb sucking in infancy does not have much effect on the growth of his teeth. But if the baby does not get rid of such an addiction before he reaches the age of 5, this is fraught. Often, in such children, the upper front teeth protrude forward, and the lower ones grow a little back.
Among preschoolers and children of primary school age, there are not so many owners of this habit. But those little ones who have not yet managed to get rid of it may experience problems communicating with peers.
The fingers that the baby sucks also have a hard time. Cracks and calluses may appear on them. And it is possible that when experiencing pain, the baby will begin to suck his thumb even more actively in order to calm down.

As your baby grows up, the habit of thumb sucking can cause him to develop an incorrect bite.

Is thumb sucking harmful for a child? From the above we can conclude that, yes, it is certainly harmful.

It is imperative to rid the baby of it. But how? This directly depends on the reasons why the child sucks his thumb and his age.

How to wean a child from such a habit?

If you asked representatives of the older generation how to wean a child from thumb sucking, you would probably hear from grandparents at least a dozen recipes, each more “effective” than the other. The most popular in their rating is to smear mustard or something else equally unpleasant on the baby’s fingers.

Various restraining devices, such as splints on a baby’s elbows or mittens on the hands, were also previously used in folk use. But they all only make the little one suffer. Is this your goal? And will the baby develop fully if his movements are constantly limited?

Do not smear mustard on your baby’s fingers, sprinkle pepper or other substances that are unpleasant for the baby. Have pity on the child. Don't cause him unnecessary suffering

How to rid a child of this not at all useful habit painlessly? Without causing him suffering and inconvenience? The only sure way is to eliminate the reason why your baby starts sucking his thumb.

Up to a year

Take a close look at the circumstances under which your baby begins to suck his thumb. If this happens shortly before feeding, then the reason for this behavior is simple to the point of banality. He was hungry, that's all. There is no need to increase the amount of milk or formula at one time. The baby should suck his age norm. This means you need to increase the number of feedings per day for a while. If your baby eats once every 3 hours, try feeding him once every 2.5 hours. If you have already started feeding your little one with four-hour breaks, go back to the previous schedule when he ate more often.
There is one more point that you should pay attention to. You probably know that children are born already having in their arsenal a set of unconditioned reflexes (some also call them instincts), which help them survive in a new environment until conditioned reflexes develop in their body. One of these reflexes is the sucking reflex. A child is programmed by nature itself how much he needs to suck so as not to remain hungry. If for some reason the feeding time is reduced, the sucking reflex that is not fully satisfied will force the baby to look for something else to suck. And your own finger is perfect for this purpose. Moreover, he is always available.

If you are breastfeeding, try increasing the length of your feedings.

When breastfeeding

According to statistics, infants suck their thumb much less often than children who are breastfed. This is explained by the fact that their mothers feed mainly on demand. And they stay at the mother’s breast as long as they need in order to be satiated and satisfy the sucking reflex.

If, however, you notice that your baby periodically puts his fingers in his mouth and begins to suck them enthusiastically, the first thing you need to do is make sure that you have set it up correctly.

What should you pay attention to?

Increase the duration of feeding. The baby should stay at the mother's breast for 30-40 minutes. Then he will satisfy both hunger and sucking instinct.
If you offer your baby both breasts during one feeding, give the second one only after the baby has sucked the first for 20-30 minutes.
Don't worry that your little one will overeat. This only happens when the child is very hungry. Staying at one breast for 40 minutes, the baby will receive the same amount of milk as in 20 minutes.
If, some time after starting the meal, the baby is distracted from the breast and turns his attention to something else, do not rush to finish feeding.

When bottle-feeding, pay attention to the rigidity of the nipple and the size of the hole in it.

When feeding formulas

With artificial feeding, the specifics of combating the child’s habit of thumb sucking are somewhat different. After all, here you feed the baby strictly according to the schedule, and clearly dose the portions of the formula he sucks.

But you can reduce the breaks between feedings if you see that the baby begins to feel hungry and, accordingly, pulls his hands into his mouth to suck them a little earlier than he should.
To satisfy your toddler's sucking reflex, buy a pacifier that is stiffer and has a smaller hole. Then it will take the baby much longer to cope with his portion of the formula.

And also, unlike a baby, you can try offering an artificial child to suck a pacifier instead of a finger. And, it would not be amiss to repeat, do not rush to switch to a lower frequency of feedings. Four-hour breaks between meals can be taken when the child is ready for this.

Preschool children suck their thumb when they experience psychological discomfort

At 4-8 years old

When a toddler grows up, the reasons why he sucks his thumb are no longer related to physiological processes in his body. Rather, one should look for emotional and psychological subtext in them.

The baby is bored or scared. He is excited, excited, upset. The child feels uncomfortable or lacks parental attention. Then he uses the habit of thumb sucking as a kind of life preserver in the world of his experiences. It becomes his personal sedative. And he uses it in certain cases.

If you understand why your baby is experiencing psychological discomfort, what puts him out of balance, and eliminate this reason, the habit of thumb sucking will very soon disappear from your baby’s life due to its lack of demand.

In adolescence, thumb sucking, along with other obsessive movements, can be a symptom of diseases of the central nervous system.

10 years and older

Most often, children's addiction to their own fingers goes away before their teeth begin to change. But every rule has a number of exceptions.

When, in addition to the fact that the baby sucks his fingers, he has other obsessive movements, and these symptoms tend to worsen with age, it makes sense for parents to seek advice from specialists: a neurologist, psychologist, psychiatrist.

There is no point in scolding a child for his habits. It is better for parents to make every effort to help their child cope with them

The fact that a child sucks his thumb during adolescence may be more than just a bad habit. This often indicates disorders of the nervous system or psychological problems that require professional help. And the sooner such help is provided to a child, the faster and more successfully he will cope with his problem. For your own good, and, of course, for the joy of your parents...

Video “What to do? The child sucks his thumb"

After the birth of their long-awaited first child, all parents immediately find themselves under close control from grandmothers, aunts and other relatives. And the generation that has already raised their children has their own personal opinion on everything, and they constantly strive to give advice to young mothers and fathers. The advice is quite varied, but most often it is absolutely useless. And as soon as all-knowing relatives notice that the baby is sucking his finger, they immediately begin to give recommendations on how to rid the baby of this bad habit. But is this necessary? What to do if your baby constantly puts his hands in his mouth? And why does the baby suck his thumb?

Main reasons

There are several reasons why babies put their hands in their mouths.

Hunger

Often a child starts sucking his thumb when he wants to eat, especially if there is very little time left before feeding, and the baby is already hungry. In this case, there is no need to wait for the allotted time. When breastfeeding, it is better to feed your baby on demand. It happens that an infant, having already eaten, again pulls his arms to the chest. This means that he is not full, and there is no need to refuse him. It is recommended not to give the baby both breasts at one feeding; the baby should drink both foremilk and hindmilk from one breast. This will keep him full for a longer period.

Sucking reflex

A newborn initially has a sucking reflex, which constantly needs to be satisfied. By the way, babies begin to put their fingers and fists in their mouths even in the womb. Most often, children who are bottle-fed begin to suck their fingers. This is explained quite simply. When breastfeeding, the baby eats longer than from a bottle and fully satisfies the innate sucking reflex. But when feeding with a mixture, the innate reflex remains unsatisfied. Thus, if a newborn baby does not receive the breast, then he pulls his hands into his mouth, smacking his lips.

Anxiety

A newborn baby needs to constantly feel the presence of his mother nearby. It is by clinging to his mother's breast that he feels safe. That is, sucking the breast calms the baby and relieves anxiety. Therefore, if a child is nervous for some reason, he puts his hands in his mouth. In such a situation, to get rid of a bad habit, it is enough to simply pay more attention to the baby, play with him, and talk.

First teeth

If, in addition to fingers or a fist, a child begins to put toys and objects that come to hand into his mouth, then the first teeth may be expected to appear soon. Typically, such a sucking process is accompanied by increased salivation. Moreover, this may not just be sucking, but biting objects. The child may feel angry, irritated, and nervous.

Negative influence

Infection

According to pediatricians, a child's thumb or fist sucking has a number of negative consequences. When a baby puts hands in his mouth, he can infect the oral cavity and, accordingly, the stomach. Such a process directly leads to development. Signs of such a disease are abdominal pain,. That is, treatment with medications will be required.

Parents often wonder: where do these dangerous bacteria come from? The fact is that the baby strives to touch everything he can reach. For example, furniture, any objects, towels, adult clothes, mom's hair, plants.

Dehydration

During sucking, salivation inevitably increases. Because of this, the child’s body loses more fluid than it should, and dehydration may begin. The cheeks and neck also begin to get wet, and this directly leads to irritation of the baby’s delicate skin.

Improper jaw development

Thumb sucking can lead to future deformation or abnormal tooth growth.

Some orthodontists, by the way, claim that finger sucking during tooth growth in no way affects the formation of the bite. There is also an assumption that due to finger sucking in infancy, difficulties with speech development may arise in the future. But this is only if you cannot get rid of the habit for a very long time.

Nail deformity

Constant finger sucking leads to abrasions on the child’s delicate skin, calluses and deformation of the nail plates. Moreover, such a habit threatens not only the penetration of dangerous bacteria into the gastrointestinal tract, but also the penetration of fungus under the surface of the nail.

What to do?

If it was noticed that the baby began to suck his finger, then you should not immediately use the numerous advice of relatives who know about everything. Most often, they advise spreading bitter aloe juice or mustard on children’s fingers. Such methods are effective, but not for long. As soon as the bitter taste evaporates, the fingers are back in the mouth. Moreover, such actions can lead to stress in the child.

Some parents begin to limit the baby’s actions and swaddle their hands. But in such a situation, the child has no problem finding a substitute for his fist - a lip.

Weaning off hand sucking must be approached very responsibly. To begin with, you should pay attention to what time the baby puts his fingers in his mouth. Alternatively, you can simply apply it to the breast more often as soon as the baby requires it.

Is it possible to increase the duration of feeding? Of course you can. This will have a positive impact on the current situation. A baby who sucks at the breast as much as he deems necessary will never begin to put his fingers in his mouth. But in no case should you change breasts during one feeding, even if there is an assumption that the baby has eaten everything. The fact is that the baby can pump several more flushes of mother's milk. Moreover, later the milk will be more satisfying and nutritious.

If the child is fed formula, you can offer him a pacifier. But babies who are fed breast milk will most likely not accept the pacifier. Although, you can try to trick the baby by dipping the pacifier in breast milk. Not for long, but the baby will try the pacifier. Under no circumstances should it be used for such a procedure. This product can cause allergies in a child.

You can try to distract the baby or simply keep his hands busy. For example, play with the child, give him toys that develop motor skills. Children usually enjoy playing with clay or special bags filled with cereals.

In cases where a child puts his hands into his mouth to scratch his gums, teethers will come to the rescue. Pharmacies and children's stores offer a wide range of similar products. They come in a variety of shapes and from a variety of materials. Cooling teethers are widely popular because they can relieve irritation from the gums.

Most mothers react absolutely calmly to the fact that the child sucks his thumb, and are not going to interfere with it. They quite correctly believe that if a child receives enough attention from his parents, he will soon give up this habit. In infancy, a child should communicate a lot with mom and dad. You need to play with him, talk to him, and pick him up. The baby should not lie alone in the crib.

Unacceptable measures

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In order to prevent irreparable mistakes when weaning a baby from thumb sucking, the following measures should under no circumstances be used:

Using diapers to wrap your baby's arms and legs. Young parents use this method quite often, but it is absolutely useless. As soon as the baby feels freedom of action, the fingers will be in the mouth again;
Smearing the hands with substances that have a bitter taste. Firstly, substances with bitter tastes, for example, pepper, mustard, can irritate the mucous membrane of a child’s mouth or, even worse, the walls of the stomach. Secondly, as soon as the unpleasant taste disappears, the baby will take up his favorite activity with greater vigor;
There should be no reprimands or punishments for pen sucking. These are unacceptable methods of raising a child. Punishment for such a habit will inevitably entail serious disorders of the child’s psyche.

The above methods of dealing with fingers in the mouth will not help achieve the expected result. They are more likely to complicate the situation and cause the baby’s whims and protest to the demands of mom and dad. Moreover, thumb sucking will become the most effective method of calming a child.

Doctor's opinion

The famous doctor also has his own opinion about the problem under consideration. Komarovsky believes that hand sucking is, first of all, a problem for the parents, not the baby. After all, quite often young mothers are pointed out to the “wrong” actions of her child. But if you don’t focus on such a habit, it goes away by itself.

Many babies calm down in this way and help themselves fall asleep faster. And no one sees these actions except mom and dad.

When weaning a baby from the habit of sucking fingers, you need to act carefully. The main goal of mom and dad is not to harm the psycho-emotional state of the baby. It is important to remember that a child may start sucking fingers due to lack of parental attention. First of all, you must always determine the reasons for the development of such addiction and only then decide on ways to combat it.

Many parents consider thumb sucking to be a major problem. However, this is an innate reflex that is necessary in the first months of life and goes away over time. By the way, not every child experiences the same need for sucking. Some suck a bottle or pacifier for 15 minutes, while others – at least 20. In addition, the latter continue to suck their thumb even after the bottle. This is due to physiology, genetics and developmental characteristics.

When does a baby stop sucking his fingers?

A child up to four months simply needs to suck to meet his needs and fully develop. Thumb sucking provides comfort and calms the baby. In addition, this is how he shows his mother that he is hungry. Most often, the baby begins to suck his thumb due to the fact that the baby does not have enough breast or pacifier sucking. Do not confuse finger sucking with chewing on hands or objects, which is often caused by...

By seven months, babies suck their fingers much less often, and after a year they refuse completely. At one year old, finger sucking ceases to be a reflex and gradually fades away. But for some kids, the reflex develops into a habit. Particular concern should be given to those parents whose babies continue to suck their fingers at two years of age and older. Behind this behavior there are often psychological problems, feelings of fear and anxiety. The older the child, the more serious the problem becomes.

There is no need to strictly forbid the child to do this; give the bottle, pacifier or breast longer. Perhaps the baby’s diet is too strict, and he does not have time to pump. Before you take any action, you need to figure out why your baby sucks his thumb.

Causes

Hunger is one of the common reasons. For very young children, sucking is the only way to obtain food, whether the baby is breastfed or formula-fed. Therefore, when he wants to eat, he begins to reflexively suck his finger.

Emotional or psychological discomfort is a common cause of many childhood illnesses. Kids feel tension, bad mood and negative changes. Even a small move can be stressful for a newborn. Infants react especially acutely to separation from their mother. Children who experience feelings of fear and anxiety, discomfort and other negative emotions, eat poorly, are capricious a lot and often get sick.

As a result of psychological problems, the child’s colic increases, his tummy begins to ache, and his overall health deteriorates. In addition, he does not sleep well and often cries for no reason. Such nervousness and lack of communication with the mother become the reason that the baby begins to put his finger in his mouth more often. Sucking calms the baby, and the finger replaces the mother's breast, a symbol of comfort, calm and protection.

Weaning methods

Continue breastfeeding and periodically put your baby to the breast, even if you have already started the transition to complementary feeding. You can safely continue breastfeeding until 2-2.5 years;
Review your diet and increase the number of feedings. Try to breastfeed on demand, and then the baby will fully satisfy the sucking reflex;
Increase the time of latching and feeding. Better yet, wait until the baby releases the nipple on his own or falls asleep at the breast;
Use pacifiers and pacifiers, but not too often. They calm the baby and satisfy the sucking reflex, but they often cause a number of problems, including malocclusion and early caries, digestive disorders and addiction. Read more about using pacifiers for infants;
Protect your baby from stress and anxiety. Take the baby in your arms more often, rock and talk to him, spend more time together and increase the number of physical contacts (games, touching, joint exercises, massage, etc.);
Try to distract your child when he puts his finger in his mouth. Take and carefully remove your finger, offer the baby an interesting game, show the toys. Do not scold the child or shout, be gentle and friendly!;
The famous pediatrician Komarovsky recommends swaddling very young children up to 1.5-3 months along with their arms so that they cannot pull their fingers to their mouth. At the same time, swaddling should not be tight! Older children can wear overalls or blouses with closed arms.

You shouldn’t start fighting too actively in the first year. Offer your baby alternatives in the form of games and toys. If your child sucks his fingers after two years of age and nothing helps, contact your pediatrician.

Some parents use extreme methods, including the use of special gloves and fingertips. This impairs the development of hand motor skills. In addition, the baby will be able to remove the fingertip with his teeth, chew and swallow threads or pieces of material!

Do not lubricate your fingers and hands with mustard, garlic or other bitter substances. This will greatly frighten the child and traumatize the psyche. In addition, such products will severely burn the mucous membrane of the mouth and stomach walls of the baby.

How does a baby, peacefully snoring in a cradle and sucking its little finger, make you feel? It's a nice sight, you'll agree. Well, what about a seven-year-old first-grader who, forgetting himself and getting lost in thoughts, inadvertently puts his fingers in his mouth? The situation is different, there is nothing to be touched by here. Indeed, even children have bad habits, which are sometimes very difficult to get rid of. You already guessed what we are talking about. Let's talk about how to stop a child from sucking his thumb and where this childhood habit comes from.

Where do feet (read: toes) grow from?

You won’t have to look for the root cause of this phenomenon for long: it’s all due to an unconditioned reflex, namely sucking. Reflexes are instinctual behavior patterns that help the newborn survive. Attentive mothers can observe how, during an examination, the doctor checks these same reflexes in the newborn and already reveals the presence or absence of developmental abnormalities or pathologies. Those who are especially curious can even experiment and test them themselves (it’s easy and safe).

Among all these reflexes, it is the sucking one that allows you to eat your mother’s breast so skillfully and thereby not die of hunger. Knowing how to suck, the baby will be able to get his own milk from the breast or bottle. It must be said that breastfeeding is very strongly associated with the habit of thumb sucking (more on that later). After all, what does a mother mean to a newborn? These are her breasts, tasty and nourishing milk, a warm body and a gentle voice. Did you catch the associative series? Sucking a breast/finger/corner of a blanket means being warm and safe, full and calm, and having fun.

Thumb sucking and child's age

It is known that the sucking reflex tends to fade by the age of 3-4, so modern pediatrics tries not to focus on the problem of thumb sucking at this age. In the overwhelming majority of cases, having crossed the four-year mark (often much earlier), the baby forgets about this habit. But, as practice shows, this does not always happen.

At the age of up to 1 year, the baby's sucking reflex is pronounced, and after six months the child himself begins to actively explore the world around him. How? Of course, tasting everything, including your own fingers. However, nothing prevents him from calming himself down in this way or trying to satisfy his hunger.

At 2-4 years old, a child sucks his thumb (or even several), again for the purpose of calming and receiving pleasure, since positive emotions are associated with this process.

In preschool and primary school age, this habit is less common than in children under 2-3 years of age, but it can signal both the child’s stressful state, lack of self-confidence, and various types of neurological diseases.

It’s worth mentioning right away that the solution to the problem cannot be simple and obvious. Each child needs an individual, often complex, approach.

Causes

In children under 3-4 years of age, this phenomenon is directly related to the sucking reflex and is especially pronounced in the first two years of life. In older children, this can be a direct signal of increased anxiety, neurosis and psychological discomfort. But, let's take it in order. What could be the cause of persistent thumb sucking?

Hunger

A child under one year old may try to drown out the unpleasant feeling of sucking “in the pit of the stomach,” thereby letting the mother know that it is time to have a snack;

Teeth cutting

The child is scared/sad/uncomfortable

Such psychological stress can be caused by many factors (new environment, social circle, tense parental relationships, separation from mother, etc.). Remembering how safe it is at the mother’s breast, the child instinctively tries to calm himself down, especially if he is no longer breastfed;

Chronic stress and neurological disorders in children over 4 years of age

Usually the matter does not end with just thumb sucking; the child can show his anxiety in different ways (biting nails, pulling out hair, scratching, obsessively and constantly performing some kind of manipulation).

Thumb sucking and breastfeeding

While preparing this material, I had to deal with a curious relationship between the nature and duration of breastfeeding and the presence of such an unpleasant habit in the child. It is curious that various sources and studies by scientists from different countries contradict each other, which suggests certain conclusions.

As you know, thumb sucking is in many ways similar to the habit of constantly sucking a pacifier, or these two phenomena are interchangeable non-food habits, if suddenly one of them is prohibited (not allowed, not given, etc.).

Brazilian scientists from the University of Sao Paulo in 2008 conducted a series of studies showing that children from 3 to 6 years old who were breastfed for less than 9 months, in the overwhelming majority (70-85%, and the percentage is higher the earlier breastfeeding was stopped) have persistent non-nutritive habits (pacifier sucking, finger sucking). This fact is confirmed by numerous materials on the Russian Internet, describing insufficiently long breastfeeding as one of the reasons for the occurrence of such behavior.

Our scientists from Moscow State University of Psychology and Education received contradictory data when they highlighted the results of their research in 2011. According to them, thumb sucking as a habit was observed in the vast majority of cases in those children (39%) who suckled at the breast for more than a year than in those (9%) who were switched to formula after 6 months. Moreover, the results were confirmed by long-term observation of such children, and, therefore, are not based only on the results of a survey of parents. It was possible to note that children who were breastfed for longer than 13 months were more anxious, lacking initiative, and showed self-doubt. Data from children who were breastfed for at least seven months and no more than a year were used as a control group.

Consequences

Some of the consequences of prolonged thumb/finger sucking include:

✓ Maxillofacial pathologies (“open” bite, deformation and impaired development of permanent teeth, facial asymmetry);

✓ Possible intestinal infections and increased risk of developing infectious diseases (the child often puts dirty hands in his mouth);

✓ Injuries to the skin (the skin of the finger swells under the constant influence of saliva, seals, calluses, sores and cracks may appear, and the nail plate may become deformed).

But the most serious consequence, of course, is malocclusion. It is interesting that Komarovsky’s advice on the topic of thumb sucking cannot be called radical. The pediatrician does not consider this a problem at all if the child is under 4 years old. He is even sure that this is a problem of mothers, and their attempts to conform to social norms (so big, and also sucks a finger, other children don’t do that).

Komarovsky believes that such a bad habit should be tried to be eradicated at the stage of formation of a permanent bite, since a finger in the mouth does not significantly affect baby teeth. In other cases, there is no need to focus special attention on this if the small child feels well.

We solve the problem gently

All you need to ensure is patience and delicacy. Remember that an individual approach works here, and often you need to influence the child in a comprehensive manner. Be sure to consider the age and needs of the child. So it’s better to talk and explain with older children, talk about the consequences of such an addiction; they are already quite capable of understanding and analyzing. It is important for very young infants to ensure maximum tactile contact with their mother and satisfaction of the sucking reflex.

✓ If the baby is breastfed, do not be afraid to breastfeed on demand, overfeed him or that he will get used to it and will constantly “hang” on your chest. To be honest, even without breasts he will strive to be in your arms all the time. Feeding on demand usually helps to quickly resolve this issue.

✓ If you want to stop breastfeeding, do not do it abruptly, so as not to create a stressful situation for the child. Try to wind down feeding gradually and very smoothly (spread the process over several weeks, 1-2 months), spend as much time as possible with the child and do not let him think that if the boob is not there, then the mother will not be around either.

✓ The temporary habit of putting a finger in the mouth, associated with painful pain, can be solved by distracting attention, using special cooling gels and teething toys.

✓ Opinions about pacifiers are controversial. A pacifier really helps to distract a child and stop him from thumb sucking. But it turns out that we are simply changing the “awl for soap”, although the same Komarovsky does not see anything wrong with a pacifier, especially if it is a special orthodontic one.

✓ Achieving psychological comfort in the child. Thumb sucking is a kind of calming ritual, something satisfying and pleasant for the baby. He feels comfortable during the process. Your goal: to make him comfortable without it. Think about it, perhaps frequent, difficult adjustment to kindergarten, a new nanny, moving, and phobias or other factors could influence this.

✓ It is better to keep older children occupied and captivated by an interesting activity involving their hands and the need for subtle manipulations with their fingers (assembling a puzzle, drawing and modeling). Many argue that visiting clubs and development centers has a positive effect on correcting the habit (the child is enthusiastic and forgets about thumb sucking, takes an example from other children).

✓ Delicate conversations with a child over 2 years old. This cannot be called a 100% solution to the problem, but the experience of many mothers proves the effectiveness of such conversations. The child is explained why thumb sucking is not necessary (it is not beautiful, it will “hurt” and become different).

I really liked the example of one mother who weaned her two-year-old daughter from obsessive thumb sucking: in a conversation she explained to the little girl that if this continues, the thumb will one day turn green. Naturally, at night the finger was smeared with brilliant green, and in the morning the child was stunned, to put it mildly. But the habit quickly became a thing of the past.

✓ Colored fingertips. Perhaps there is some comparison with the restraints, which are described a little lower, but it is unlikely that the elastic bandage somehow limits the baby’s freedom. These colored fingertips remind fidgets that they shouldn’t do that. Of course, nothing prevents the child from taking it off or sucking his finger just like that, but they say it works.

Controversial methods for solving the problem

Many will call the option with greenery controversial, and they will be partly right. And there are no guarantees that a particularly impressionable child will not be injured, and indeed whether such a trick will work at all.

But definitely controversial methods include all kinds of physical punishment and restrictions on freedom, verbal rudeness and shouting, and causing discomfort to the baby. For example:

✓ C touching prohibition, screaming and corporal punishment. I think there is no point in saying that beating children is terrible, absurd and completely unacceptable. There is no way to get rid of the habit this way: the baby will simply do it in secret from you until you see, and therefore will not be able to punish;

✓ N smearing with all sorts of bitter and pungent substances (mustard, pepper, vinegar). It is expected that a child, having put a finger in his mouth, will immediately change his mind about doing it. Maybe. But what prevents a child from simply changing his finger, wiping it or washing it if he is already smart enough?;

✓ About borders and special bandages. Yes, there are special structures that fix the finger and prevent it from sucking. Moreover, the design is such that there is no way to remove it yourself. Whether or not to use such devices is a personal matter. In some cases this actually works.

There were also cases of simply bandaging or tying the thumb to the palm. Judge for yourself whether this is acceptable at all.

Conclusion

It is much easier to fight a bad childhood habit if you know the root cause why a child sucks his thumb. It is important to understand one thing: is there really a need for weaning right now? Since in the overwhelming majority of cases children simply satisfy their sucking reflex in this way, over time it fades away along with the obsessive desire to put a finger in their mouth.

Otherwise, just have a lot of patience and try to act as delicately as possible, trying different methods.