Any child puts his hands in his mouth, this is a natural process. And ours pulled and yours, for sure, pulls. It is with this phrase that I decided to start this article, so that you don’t think that your baby is somehow different or too spoiled. This is not a bad habit, it is a natural habit for all newborn babies. I emphasize newborns. If your child is 6 years old and he puts his hands in his mouth, then that’s a different story.
Why does a child put his hands in his mouth?
There are only a few reasons for this and they are quite simple.
- The baby wants to eat, but instead of a pacifier or mother’s breast, he only has his own finger, so he sucks it.
- The child calms himself down in this way. He may want to sleep or something hurts, but sucking a finger or fist makes him calm and he falls asleep faster.
- At the time when teeth are erupting, the child’s gums are very sore and itchy, he will put into his mouth not only his fingers, but everything he can reach: toys, things, napkins, etc.
- This is a habit that he learned in the womb, and from that moment not much time has passed and it will gradually disappear from him.
Is thumb sucking a problem?
Most children suck their fingers from a very young age, some starting in the womb. Sucking is a natural reflex for babies and serves important purposes. It creates a feeling of safety and security. It can also be relaxing. This is why many children suck their fingers while falling asleep.
According to the American Dental Association, children quit thumb sucking on their own between the ages of two and four. They simply outgrow this reflex; it becomes useless.
However, some children continue to suck their fingers well into preschool age. If your child is still thumb-sucking when permanent teeth emerge, it is time to be proactive about eliminating the habit.
What to pay attention to
First of all, observe how your child sucks his fingers. If he sucks passively, that is, his finger lies freely in the mouth, then this will not cause significant problems. If, on the contrary, he presses his finger on the teeth or gums, then this can change the bite and cause uneven growth of the child’s teeth and jaws. Frequent intense pressure can even change the shape of the face. All this will require further treatment by an orthodontist.
Main changes from thumb sucking:
- the formation of a gap between the upper and lower front teeth (open bite, inability to bite off food with the front teeth);
- tilting the front teeth forward;
- narrowing of the upper jaw (crossbite).
How to help your child quit this habit
This habit is quite difficult to break once your child enjoys it! First of all, you need to wean your child from sucking his fingers during the day, and only then will he wean himself from doing it at night.
- Always be positive and supportive of your child. Instead of punishing your child for thumb sucking, reward him for not sucking.
- Put a mitten or sock on his hand not as a punishment, but as a reminder of the need to grow up. You can use bandages or apply mustard to your nails.
- Use a daily reward system: for every day without thumb sucking, the child receives a sticker; for seven days with stickers, he can choose a prize for himself: a trip to the zoo, a new set of blocks. For a month with stickers, he will receive some more significant prize. As a rule, by this time the habit has already disappeared. Making your child an active participant in your treatment will help you achieve success faster.
- If you see that the cause of thumb sucking is caused by the child’s fears, then the work should be carried out by eliminating his anxiety, and not the bad habit.
- Observe the time when thumb sucking occurs (on the road, during a long movie show) and try to create entertainment or distracting activities in such cases.
- Explain to your child in detail what will happen to his teeth if he continues to suck his fingers.
How an orthodontist can help
Orthodontists may be able to provide devices for your child to help with their thumb sucking habit. These are peculiar plates with limiters in the sky.
If a child quits his habit before the age of 6-7 years, then minor changes in the position of the teeth usually go away on their own due to jaw growth. In cases where permanent teeth have been exposed, only special orthodontic appliances can change their position. Fortunately, they successfully cope with this task.
However, bite correction in children can only begin after eliminating the habit! Otherwise, the treatment will be ineffective.
What are the consequences
You can read all kinds of passions on the Internet. Some say that the teeth will become crooked, some that the fingers will begin to develop incorrectly. This is more like a horror story and happens extremely rarely. Below I will list a few real consequences that have affected many parents, including us.
- When a child begins to lean on his hands, actively play or crawl, his hands are no longer as clean as in the first month of life. You simply cannot make sure that your child's hands are perfectly clean. It follows that he can bring some kind of infection into his mouth. The result is illness in the oral cavity or an upset stomach. Usually it ends in diarrhea and returns to normal the next day.
- When sucking fingers or fists, a lot of saliva is released. This makes your clothes wet and you have to stock up on a whole mountain of bibs. Saliva causes irritation on the child's face and minor pimples may appear. (What to do if your child is drooling).
How to wean: effective methods
The main principle of weaning a baby from thumb sucking is to switch attention to something else. If the child is over 3 years old, a calm, friendly conversation can help.
From 3 to 6 months
- Method 1.
If parents are uncomfortable with thumb sucking at any age, you can try replacing the finger with a pacifier. A pacifier is much healthier for a child, and it is much easier to wean him off.
It is necessary to offer your baby a pacifier every time he begins to make sucking movements (for example, sucking on the edge of a blanket), after making sure that the baby is not hungry.
If a child refuses a pacifier, do not insist and forcefully push it. It is better to postpone attempts for 2-3 days, and then try again to switch your attention to the pacifier.
At the same time, you need to spend more time with the baby, pick him up more often, and “walk” the baby around the room, showing and naming surrounding objects. This will not only contribute to the calmness and confidence of the baby, but will also have a positive effect on overall development.
- Method 2.
The baby's attention can be distracted by rustling objects. If you don't have a suitable toy at home, you can use a candy wrapper. Children willingly play with such objects, so it won’t be difficult to interest your baby.
You need to repeat the action every time the child puts a finger in his mouth. This method is suitable not only for infants up to 6 months, but also for older children.
From 6 to 12 months
For babies older than 6 months, massage of the lips and gums helps well. Increased blood circulation as a result of light stroking and rubbing helps reduce pain and discomfort during teething, so finger sucking associated with this reason will gradually stop.
You can help cope with pain in other ways:
- give a teething toy (previously put it in a bag and place it in the refrigerator);
- offer solid vegetables or fruits (apples, carrots);
- smear the gums with a cooling gel with an anesthetic (for example, a special gel for babies “Kalgel”).
If the baby does not feel discomfort, he will not have the need to suck his thumb.
From 1 to 2 years
To wean a one-year-old child from thumb sucking, you should use the following techniques:
- ensure a sufficient level of physical activity (outdoor games, dancing);
- talk and communicate with your baby more often;
- create a favorable emotional atmosphere at home;
- keep your child busy with modeling and drawing;
- Limit watching cartoons and TV shows.
If the baby puts his finger in his mouth, you need to immediately switch his attention to something else, for example, offer to draw or stick stickers in an album. This method gives good results if repeated periodically over a certain period of time.
Important! Sometimes a child sucks his thumb not because he is bored - in fact, the baby just wants to sleep. Even if the baby protests, you should try to put him to sleep for at least an hour. Daytime sleep is important for the full development and growth of a child, so you should not give it up at an early age.
From 2 to 3 years
Children over 2 years old can smear unpleasant-tasting foods (sour or bitter) on their fingers. It is important not to use substances that can cause harm. These primarily include hot spices and seasonings (horseradish, pepper, mustard).
The baby will certainly not like the taste of these spices, and he is unlikely to put a finger smeared with horseradish into his mouth. But if a child accidentally rubs his eyes, he can get a burn to the cornea, so such products are not suitable for use in children.
Aloe juice is great for weaning off finger sucking. It has a very bitter, rich taste, does not cause irritation and is completely safe if it gets into the stomach or onto the surface of the eyes.
At the pharmacy you can buy a special ointment that is applied to the finger. The composition of such products is safe for children, so they can be used starting from one year of age.
Over 3 years old
A good option for three-year-old girls is a beautiful manicure. Girls of this age like to imitate adults (most often their mother), so they gladly agree to an “adult” procedure.
At the same time, it is necessary to explain that thumb sucking can have a harmful effect on his health. You can even compose some kind of fairy tale - the main thing is that it is interesting and reflects the essence of the problem in an accessible language.
Over 4 years old
Thumb sucking is rare in children over 4 years of age, but it is still possible. At this age, the baby needs the help of a child psychologist who will help identify the hidden fears of the child’s experience and solve the problem in gentle ways, without traumatizing the baby’s psyche.
From this video you can find out the opinion of foreign experts about why children develop the habit of thumb sucking.
Is it worth weaning a child from putting his hands in his mouth?
It makes no sense to wean a child from an innate habit that he likes and calms, but to ensure that the presence of hands in the child’s mouth is reduced to a minimum - that’s another matter.
- Feed your baby on time so that he is not hungry and does not put his fingers in his mouth.
- As soon as you see that the baby has put his hand in his mouth, try to start distracting him from this action and talking.
- A child often sucks his thumb when he wants to sleep, so the faster you rock him to sleep, the faster he will stop putting his hand in his mouth.
- If your baby is teething, then buy him special teethers, either water-filled or regular ones. Let him chew on specially designed toys rather than his own fingers.
- Try to keep your baby's hands clean. If you see that he took or touched something that is not entirely clean, then wipe his hands.
So, now I’ll still write a couple of lines about children who are no longer newborns, walk perfectly and understand a lot of things, but still still put their hands in their mouths. This is where it needs to be weaned urgently. It is necessary to constantly conduct explanatory conversations and use your own hand to pull the child’s hand out of the mouth.
Under no circumstances should you smear your hands with any substances. There is no need to shout at the child and sharply pull his hand out of his mouth, much less hit him.
That’s it, I seem to have conveyed the main idea and you understand that a child’s hands in his mouth is not so bad and he will soon go away with this habit.
Causes of thumb sucking
You need to get rid of the ugly and harmful habit of putting your fingers in your child’s mouth by first understanding why this happens.
Teething
If a child is 4-7 months old, then at this time he is teething, he wants to scratch his gums with his fingers. When your baby's gums become inflamed and saliva flows, he is capricious at night, then it is time to buy him a teether and an anesthetic gel. You can give him crackers and oatmeal cookies, and his toys should be washed thoroughly every day.
Unsatisfied sucking reflex
If a one-year-old baby sucks a finger, this may hint that he was fed from a nipple with a large hole, easily sucking out the mixture in a few minutes. At the same time, he managed to satisfy the feeling of hunger, and the sucking reflex, important in the first months, remained unsatisfied. After all, to get the same amount of milk from the mother’s breast, the child would have to work for at least 15 minutes.
Calm
When a child tries to sleep, he very often also puts his fingers in his mouth - this relaxes him and helps him fall asleep faster. Gradually it turns into a ritual. To get rid of it, you need to use the method of replacing this behavior with other actions. You can play calm games before bed, then give him a bath and a relaxing massage. Mom or dad should sit near the baby’s crib, put his favorite toy there, and read him a fairy tale. It is best to stay with your baby until he falls asleep, so he will be as calm as possible.
Reasons for a baby aged 1.5-2 years
If the baby got used to sucking his thumb when he reached 1.5-2 years old, but was not into it before, then this is possible for the following reasons:
- the baby is frightened by something (Baba Yaga, a dog, darkness in the room) and calms down by sucking his finger;
- parents are too strict with the child;
- The baby was sent to kindergarten without preparation, where he lost the desire to grow up and showed signs of infantility, returning him to infancy.
This is where the problem arises of how to wean a child from putting his fingers in his mouth.
Video on how to wean a child from putting his fingers in his mouth
