How to Encourage Thumb Sucking

The need for babies to suck is so strong that many start sucking on their fingers while still in the womb. Parents can help babies develop self-soothing and comforting skills early on by gently encouraging thumb sucking.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Watch for cues that a newborn is trying to get her hand to her mouth.

2. Help baby bring her hand to her mouth.

3. Hold her hand gently at her mouth if she is starting to suck. If she protests, remove her hand and comfort her.

4. Respect her natural inclination to suck on her fingers or not.

5. Avoid removing other fingers from her mouth, as she may be just exploring or prefer to suck on them. Eventually she'll probably gravitate to the thumb when she has more dexterity.

Tips & Warnings

• If people offer unsolicited comments about the dangers of thumb sucking on baby's teeth, remind yourself how clever your baby is to have found a convenient way to calm and settle herself. And you are not forced to get up at night to put a pacifier back in her mouth. Besides, many children give up thumb sucking on their own before any threat to dental development.
• Avoid sweetening the taste of the thumb with sugar water, honey or any other sweet substance. If she wants to suck on her thumb, she'll do it without sweet enhancements.
• Do not be surprised if baby starts becoming a switch hitter with thumb sucking. She may suck one or the other as her brain decides which hand will be dominant.
• If thumb sucking progresses, be aware that thumb sucking in the preschool years may cause dental problems. It is certainly not a reason to stop a baby who has figured out a handy tool for self-soothing. Consult with your child's health care provider or a pediatric dentist, if concerned.

[xrayspecs]

on 6/26/2007 P.S...to the guy who is 22 and still sucks his thumb...there is a point when it is ridiculous and buddy, you crossed that line years ago.

To the person above whose niece can't put her front teeth together...there is no evidence that the problem your niece is experiencing is due to thumb sucking and not just normal growth.

[xrayspecs]

on 6/26/2007 To the guy who sucked his thumb until he was 18...what's wrong with you? You mention emotional neglect but I think that only means you don't have a child of your own and therefore don't understand how important it is for a child to learn how to self-sooth. It's not always about wanting or needing attention. Sometimes it's simply that the child has awoken and cannot get back to sleep, therefore a simply solution to help this should be encouraged. The fact that you sucked your thumb until you were 18 only reflects on you, not your parents.

on 8/8/2006 I believe there are more stigmas and fairy tales about thumb sucking then there are facts. I have 4 children ages 5, 3, 1 and 10 weeks.

My 3 year old boy sucked a pacifier to comfort himself when he went to bed and in the car when we went places. We took it away at age 2 1/2 and he was over it in about four days. My 1 1/2 year old boy takes one at night only. Both explored their thumbs, but my Russian in-laws who baby-sat them during the day were horrified at the thought of a child sucking on a dirty thumb.

My 10 week old does not seem to want the pacifier, but the in-laws and my wife seem to insist he take it over his preferred fist and thumb. I get him to sleep without either.

However, and this is the reason I'm visiting this sight, my 5 year old daughter did not prefer the thumb or pacifier until age 1 1/2 when she discovered her thumb. She hasn't given it up, although her use has dropped somewhat. She will be in Kindergarten next year and we are concerned she will continue.

Ironically, and this is my own observation, I believe there's a connection between her thumb sucking and her ADHD. I also have ADHD and sucked my thumb until I was age 4. My mother did the same until age 4. My daughter is extremely bright, bilingual in English and Russian, reads and writes in both languages and has been reading since age 3. She has been in a third grade reading class at school since age 4. She knows she has a thumb sucking habit and wants to stop, but says she can't.

Also ironically, she is the healthiest child in the family and rarely is sick. I was the same way out of 4 children. I still feel it's amazing that my father was beside himself all the time and swore I would be sick with every known disease because I sucked my thumb- yet I rarely ever was sick and I have no known allergies- unlike my 3 siblings.

As far as dentition is concerned, I believe genetics plays a bigger part then thumb sucking. If a child sucks hard enough to wear the skin off the thumb, there will likely be problems. I didn't have any.

I am searching for a way to stop my extremely intelligent daughter from sucking her thumb. She can't even say the words and sadly calls it "her problem". She has been down about "her problem" because she says she can't stop but wants to, and everyone has told her she has a "problem." We don't call it that, so I am assuming it came from school. We have been trying everything under the sun to work on her insecurities thinking it will help her in eliminating this behavior. Only time will tell.

on 1/25/2006 I have a five year old niece that has sucked her thumb since she was born.
I can see how convenient it is for parents. They don't need to wake up in the middle of the night and put a pacifier in their kids mouth.
However, I can't disagree more after what happened a few days ago. Although she's just our niece, she comes home for lunch and fun Monday through Thursday. It was the first time I was teaching her how to brush her teeth. To my surprise, she couldn't put her front teeth together. Thumb sucking has deteriorated her mouth like that.
Now my wife is pregnant for the first time. I will not encourage thumb sucking just to avoid getting up in the middle of the night.

on 12/16/2005 I wholeheartedly agree that encouraging thumb sucking is a good, positive thing.

As for the objections:

Germs - It has never been shown, in any study, that thumb sucking leads to increased stomach borne viruses or bacterial infections. If anything, I've heard that thumb suckers have a stronger immune system due, I'd guess, to the production of antibodies stimulated by these infectious agents. This is all conjecture in either case since there are no facts to back up any of these hypotheses.

Teeth - Though it's true that prolonged, intense thumb sucking can misalign the teeth, so can heredity. In fact, heredity accounts for the vast majority of dental malocclusions. The few that occur are far more than offset by thumb sucking advantages: enabling sleep under a variety of conditions, enabling concentration and a meditative state - without drugs or anything illegal and/or harmful, convenience (your thumb is always there, even if the public at large considers overeating and gambling, not to mention smoking, more socially acceptable), and more.

As for the advantages, well, I've embedded the list above but I think that, additionally, sucking one's thumb is an almost instant natural headache reliever and has been shown to increase the natural production of dopamines. It is, truly, totally relaxing.

If you can't see that because you don't suck your thumb, do it for one month, at least 1 hour a day, and it will soon become very apparent. It just works!