How to help the baby get rid of thumb sucking.

When we look at a newborn baby sucking a thumb we find it cute and let them suck. But when that baby keeps on sucking till the age of 3,4 or 5, then thats when we take a notice and want them to leave the habit immediately. 🙄Which is not possible.🤨For this you need to understand why is the baby sucking the thumb and what impact is it having on him.

WHY DO THEY DO IT
Have you ever seen an ultrasound pic where the unborn baby is sucking his thumb in the womb…its not a made up thing. 🤰They tend to do it quite often in the womb so now you know that when they are born they already have mastered the art of thumb sucking.😎
Toddlers suck their thumbs because they find it comforting and calming. They unintentionally start sucking their thumb when they are scared, tired, bored or when adapting to different aspects of life. The thumb even helps them to lull themselves back to sleep. 🤱

WHAT MAY HAPPEN, IF CONTINUED.
A few issues that may occur are:

• Mal alignment of the jaw that may require braces.🤦
• Speech malfunction or speech delay. The tongue muscles don’t have the space to develop properly hence the baby experiences more difficulty in vocalizing a few phonetics.⚠️
• Indentation (thumb hole) on the palate. That may make further difficulty in speaking and may need braces for improving the defect.

WHAT TO DO:

A few people believe that putting bitter tasting food over the thumb helps.😫 But we have seen thatkids are quite smart. After 2-3times they remove the stuff from the thumb and start the process.

Some say putting a sock or a cover over the thumb during sleep hours helps.🤐 But we found those kids to have a disturbed sleep as they remain frustrated the entire night in order to remove the covering.

Every kid is different what works for one may not work for others. Herest a list of things you may try.🕵️

1. NO NAGGING: Its a deeply rooted habit, doesnt go easily so please hold on to your tongue as yelling wont help. It will only get both of you frustrated. Also avoid nagging or punishing your child because sometimes they don’t even realize when they are sucking it.🙄 So when you see just politely make them aware. So that they realize and stop it.
2. DISTRACTION: Keep those little fingers busy in art crafts or clay work. This causes the mind to divert.👾👩‍🎨
3. STORY TELLING: Tell stories to your little ones. Story telling in which the hero of the story leaves thumb sucking or the kid who leaves sucking the thumb is praised. And you can also name their favorite chartoon characters and tell them how they also dont suck their thumbs.
4. YOUTUBE VIDEOS: There are a few videos available on YouTube which on leaving thumb sucking where babies stop the habit.it gives motivation to the kids.👼
5. NO THUMBSUCKING DURING SCREENTIME: Many kids tend to turn to thumb sucking when they are watching cartoons or when its their sleeping time. Politely tell your kid that he wont be allowed his screen time if he takes the thumb. Or you wont tell a story at bed time if he doesn’t leave it.👀
6. TALK TO THEM: THIS Is the most important thing…💗Talk to them about it. The points that you should cover in these talks are: How they are grown up now, how they have to go to school, how other kids will tease about it, How germs are going in their mouth at all times, How bad their teeth will become and how they will need to wear braces (show them pictures).🧠👁️👁️‍🗨️

Always remember:
Appreciation can do wonders so when your child stops even for a while appreciate him. If he goes without sucking for a few hours praise him, for half a day give him his favorite play time, for an entire day give him a present. You can have star sticker system or any reward system that you feel is better for them👏

“Help your child understand that whenever he is ready to stop, you will always be there to help him out,” this is very important and very commonly neglected. The thumb is a comfort zone for the kid so he should know that whenever he plans to leave it, mommy will be there to help out.👩‍👧‍👧

Every child is different so we can’t be really sure that which method will work for your little one. You have to try and find out. Be patient. Be his friend. Help your child get rid of it. Together you will do it better.🤩😍

#happy parenting, #thumbsucking, #getridofthumbsucking, #letsdoit, #wecandoit, #happymommies, #letshelpourlittleones#weanofthumbsucking