How to stop thumb sucking

October 9th, 2009 | Health Care | By Dr. Mervat

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thumb sucking habit in the first months of life may be an expression of the need for food, but what if this situation persists with the child during the first year of his age? “If this situation persists, it means that the child needs comfort and safety or it is the expression of suffering and anxiety .

Baby thumb sucking

This may continue up to the age of three or four .the mother sometimes notice that her child stick to certain things a teaddy bear ,small towel and often can not afford to sleep with out it .. in this case it is a problem for moms it is difficult to clean (because it became a vital part to him.

Here, mothers are advised to withdraw this stuff after his sleep and washing and cleaning itd then returning it. He usually refuses it to be replaced by a new one for example, new towel.

We Advise mother not to resist this desire where there is no reason not to please him and no problem psychologicaly to continue to breast-feed the child as long as he wished to do so.

But does thumb sucking affects baby teeth (primary teeth)? sucking habit may affect the shape of teeth of the child, and certainly permanent teeth.

Between ages 4 and prior to the eruption of the permanent teeth, much of the damage that occurs to the palatal structure can be reversed. Prolonged and vigorous sucking can act as a deterrent to the normal growth and development of skeletal, facial, nasal cavity, tooth alignment, lip structure, tooth eruption, palate, finger growth, speech, breathing and swallowing functions. That little thumb can do an awful amount of damage that many parents are not aware of.

Early treatment is important to prevent and minimize the problems associated with digit sucking. And the longer the behavior persists, the more difficult it is to eliminate because the strength of the emotional dependency increases with time.

Parents are not required to enforce their child’s compliance with this program. Their role in simply one of an empathetic and positive support system.

How to stop thumb sucking

You should repeatedly educate/motivate the kid that his face will look bad. The kid can also be asked to coinciously suck thumb sitting in front of a mirror daily for few minutes

One answer to this parental dilemma is a simple device called a “crib.” Placed by an orthodontist on the child’s upper teeth, the crib usually stops the habit cold the first day of use.

Sucking fingers