Thumb sucking is a most common problem seen in babies, and, unfortunately, some of the matured individuals too engage in the finger/s insertion event especially the thumb in their mouth during the daytime or in the darkness. This is a very absurd kind of behavior that comes in the babies and matured ones, due to certain hormonal changes running ought there in the body. The psychologists, as well as child specialists, would like to profess that the anxieties, tiredness or the fatigue might be the reason/s for thumb sucking problem. So, how to stop sucking thumb? Is the basic query in the minds of the parents who wish to wipe out the problem without any additional stress and problems? With the continuous watch of the thumb sucking activity, the parents would like to put a break in the activity through one or the other techniques. The baby thumb sucking has its roots, and its reflexes are seen in the young children who can make their body movements where they can put the finger/s easily in their mouth. While the babies suck their fingers to access the soothing effect, the parents have to undertake the right steps to combat this problem, so encouraging the little ones to stop such a kind of behavior through best of the methods is very crucial. The parents do have wide number of opinions to reason out the child’s behavior; among them some think that the baby with the treasured object in the hand such as security blankets function to suck the fingers.

Stop Thumb Sucking – Techniques To Wipe Off The Habit From Children And The Adults

This inborn habit of the little babies will stop by the age they start stepping their foot towards schools to gain the nursery education. Some of the children and the grownups do find a difficulty in breaking the habit, so a comprehensive solution is required to keep them away from the habit. The habit that took birth unknowingly in the babies will stop after some time by itself in their toddler years between the age group of two to four years, but in case of the older kids the peer pressure in the school would stop the thumb sucking habit. On finding your child in the posture of finger sucking with their knowledge or not, you should remind the little one to stop that activity through gentle reminders. Avoid scolding, ridiculing or scolding the child in personal or in a group, because these things will push the baby to understand the things in a wrong way. It is better to adopt the things like signaling the hands or clap sounds or eye movements or handshakes or any other activity that is understandable to the baby.

If you are really afraid of your child’s naughty behaviors then you can guide your child with some interesting ideas and suggestions but to your surprise the child may adopt your guidelines or may not, into their lives. So, an appointment with the a dentist would benefit your little one, because they would suggest some of the important things like a mouth guard or an appliance that would interfere with the thumb sucking activity and indirectly stops it after some time. Even after getting freed from the habit, the babies may revert to the same habit during extreme stress or anxiety or tiredness. The activity of thumb sucking is fine when the child’s mouth is not having the fully grown teethes, the thumb sucking habit would affect the mouth palate or the teeth line depending on the intensity of thumb sucking. You should come front to stop your child from thumb sucking if you find any of the below-mentioned behaviors:

a. If the child is persistently continuing the thumb sucking activity even after the age of five years

b. Occurrence of dental problems such as projection of upper front tooth out of the mouth

c. Child’s embarrassing attitude towards the thumb sucking activity

Here, in this article we have stressed few of the techniques that help the small ones and the adults to fight the finger sucking habit.

1. On the first hand, confirm the thumb sucking activity and assess the habit to find the percentage of a problem. The thumb sucking is something that is not liked by the babies but to overcome the anxiety and related issues they do put their fingers in their mouths. If the child between two to four years of age group looks the habit as a strange activity followed by leaving it, then the correction is not at all required. But, if this continues beyond the age mentioned, then one has to go for an in-depth analysis. Usually, many of the kids stop sucking their finger/s before foot stepping into a kindergarten. So, below are some of the gestures of the babies that should be taken into account seriously to abandon the thumb sucking activity of the little ones. You should intercede if you find any of the below-given instances:

a. If the thumb sucking behavior has caused the dental problems while varying the child’s bite and the tooth alignment followed by an effect on the roof of the mouth palate

b. Causing an embarrassment to the child among the peers; if this social problem start appearing then you should make something to overcome the sucking to prevent your child from ostracization, teasing, and bullying

c. With the persistent involvement in the thumb sucking, the skin on the thumb may start showing the signs of a chap, crack or shrivel while affecting the growth of a nail and the skin. Sometimes, severe infections may start appearing in around the nail.

2. You should keep track of the triggers, because it is the time when the child resort to thumb sucking activity, so the time may be during the sleep or eating or playing or during other periods, and also notice the circumstances that force them to do so. Some of the children do exhibit finger sucking activity when they are upset or hurt, and to your surprise these small kids will not be aware of their habits. Therefore, the triggering activities offer a wide number of clues, so when you are already acquainted with these, then preventing your child from the thumb sucking behavior would be quite easy.

3. Don’t give much importance to the thumb sucking activity; this is mainly exhibited by the small ones to grab the attention of the parents and the adults towards them. The habit in its developed stage would become an issue of fight between the children and the parents because of the struggle between the perception of the parent and the child’s innocence towards the thumb sucking activity with realization or without. More the attention towards the child, the more the activity is projected with strong adherence. If you come across this kind of behavior, then you should ignore that while waiting for some time. And then, intelligently you have to try to fight back the habit. You should provide at least one month to your child to leave the thumb sucking habit on its own, and therefore you should intervene; only if this doesn’t happen.

4. Go for a positive reinforcement, because this is one of the effective ways that constructively functions in encouraging the little ones to quit the habit. You should praise the child verbally to leave the habit, before practicing it to abandon the finger sucking activity. This should be followed by a small rewarding system to leverage the child’s interest to encourage and help it continue the good thing further. You should keep track of your child’s behavior by putting a sticker on the date when you find the baby’s passivity to the thumb sucking. After monitoring your baby with all the parameters, you should make yourself comfortable to accolade the baby’s achievements at the week’s end while granting it an extra long bedtime or by providing its favorite toys. Similarly, at the month end you should provide a special gift/s in the form of outing or gaming zones or other similar kinds of stuff. Next, you should extend the period of awarding your child for its efforts to leave the habit.

5. Cover up the thumb, by doing this you would be encouraging the child’s attitude of not giving much importance to thumbs and also the nearby thumb sucking kids. The basic lurking in the mind is blocked by enclosing the thumb with the plastic paper, and ultimately asking it leave the habit by itself in a professional manner. Some of the aids that help in covering the thumbs are a finger puppet, finger cot or thumb guard. And, if the activity of thumb sucking is carried out during night times then you can use a sock or a mitten to discourage the kid from that activity.

6. Keep your kid’s hands in a busy mode by engaging your child in doing the activities’ which require two hands to execute. Supply your child with some play articles, indoor outdoor play toys, puzzles, blocks or any of the things that bring in an interest in your kid. So, by doing all these things, deliberately you would be asking your child in choosing the right things of the games very skillfully while discouraging the baby from the thumb sucking behavior. On doing this, you should not worry about the unnecessary things happening around because subtracting the habit from the child’s behavior is the principal aim for you.

7. While in the process of eliminating the habit from your child, one important thing that you must follow is to engage both the hands of the child in any of the playful and enjoyable tasks. When you follow this without failing, only then your child can pick the impressions of being away from the habit. You should bring in the willingness of the child through one or the means to abandon the thumb sucking while making them understand about the ill-effects of sucking in the artful and joyful way. Once you become successful in explaining to them what you want them to do, and then their expectation would vary to a certain degree and after some time that would fall in line with your assumptions and desires; which will keep you in a happier state of mind for a longer duration of time. Because, a child under the pressure of anxieties and fear may push itself in putting its finger/s in the month and subsequently developing all kinds of problems. So, prevention is better than treatment, by implementing a slew of skillful tactics into the baby’s routine; one can achieve the success slowly in a step by step manner.

Difference Between The Positive And Negative Enforcement

You should remember that the positive enforcement is more effective than the negative methods, but in all these processes you should avoid the averse techniques such as using the vinegar or a bitter solution on the thumbnails. Even after executing all these things, some of the kids won’t let the habit to go, even under the peer pressure at the kindergarten or at the school, so in such a kind of instances you should not worry about these things because if you pressurize the children then the process is going to take a longer time in freeing one from the habit. The negative enforcement might work best for some of the adults while others may find it extremely difficult because the bitter tasting substance on the finger tips will deter one from sipping his/her fingers. If you are using rubber bands to overcome the thumb sucking problem, then you should remember to remove the rubber band/s when you experience the craving to suck your thumb. On the other side, you can adopt the swear jar to make yourself alert to finger inserting event so that you can punish yourself while paying for it. Even after doing this, if you are not able to overcome the problem then it is a very high time for you to consult a good counselor or a mental health specialist for a professional treatment.