How Does Thumb Sucking Effect Sleep Training?
How Does Thumb Sucking Effect Sleep Training?
When your child feels lonely, tired, hungry and sleepy, they will always place their thumb inside the their mouth and suck vigorously. Gradually, this thumb sucking becomes a habit and an aid in sleeping. If parents do not allow them to suck their thumb, the child may not easily fall asleep, which can lead to burst of tears and endless crying. If this thumb sucking continues, it will be very difficult for the child to undergo the normal sleeping training as they will become dependent on their habit just to fall asleep.
Thumb sucking provides the baby with so much comfort that it can become an obstinate habit. If not addressed early, the baby will cling to the habit in order to snooze at night. Sweetly sucking on their thumbs the entire night can hasten the negative results of this bad habit. The effect ranges from misalignment of the growth of teeth, speech defects and even psychological problems as they grows old.
Parents, who are training their children on proper sleeping habit and are dismayed by how thumb sucking are resorted to by their little ones, must not resort to harsh solutions. Some even put some bitter chemicals on the thumb in order to discourage the baby. Some even come to the point of physically punishing them. These tools will never be effective, but would result to the baby feeling bad about themselves.
The more effective way of addressing this problem of eliminating thumb sucking on sleep training is the use of thumb guards. These are small spandex devices that are placed on the thumb of the baby and attached around his wrist. It can be worn all day even when the baby is sleeping. With this, the baby will still be placing his thumb inside her mouth. But as she continuously suck it, she will not feel that pressure on her mouth which she can be felt when thumb sucking. With it, he cannot enjoy the pleasure and comfort that can lead her to pro actively give up the habit.
A thumb guard, to be an effective device in breaking this habit, must be consistently used for a couple of weeks. It must be removed and cleaned only during bath time or meal times. Every child is different when it comes to responses to this type of cure. While some may give up the habit in as little as 2 weeks, others may take more. But, once the habit is cured by this device, the baby will no longer gravitate back to it.
Glove Huggey (http://gloveyhuggey.com) is one of the most recognized brands when it comes to thumb guard. They are aiming at assisting parents to eliminate this bad habit on a method which is comfortable both to the child and the parent. The use of this thumb guard also does not restrict the movement of the finger and the hands of the baby. To make the use of it more fun, this is made available in different colors and designs. They have sizes ideal for the 18 months up to 10 years old babies.