My child has started thumb sucking during lockdown; what do I do?
My child has started thumb sucking during lockdown; what do I do?
Like the vast majority of the world, you have likely never lived through a lockdown before. At least, not one quite like this. Lockdowns are the kind of thing we associate with disaster fiction and horror movies. Now, though, we can all say that we have lived through close to one year’s worth of sadness, pain, loss, and fear. COVID-19 has dominated the world for over a year, showing us many separate issues with how society works as a whole. That, though, is another topic for another day! Today we will discuss thumb sucking during the lockdown and why your child needs to stop right now doing that!
What we wish to discuss here, though, is your ability to help your child handle the lockdown. For a youngster, especially those under the age of 4, lockdown could have been a huge challenge. It will have an impact on their ability to get out and do things, to see the world, and to generally enjoy life. This might lead to them feeling stressed and upset, which can lead to an increase in one thing: thumb sucking.
If your child is sucking their thumb, it can seem adorable at first. Once they reach the age of 3 to 4, though, it really is upon you to try and make them stop. While it might feel harsh to take a coping mechanism away from your child, the reason is just: you want to avoid them suffering from the long-term damage that comes from thumb sucking.
Most people who see their child sucking their thumb will not react, or they will try to use reverse psychology to get them to stop. If you are like many other parents and find yourself losing your mind due to lockdown, though, you might be running out of ideas to bring an end to this problem.
How can I stop my child sucking their thumb during a lockdown?
The best way to bring an end to the issue of thumb sucking in toddlers is to give them an alternative. Simply removing the thumb sucking without giving them an alternative emotional outlet is quite cruel and should be avoided as much as you can. Instead, we highly recommend that you look to give them something that can ease the pain and stress that they are feeling.
And for many parents, the choice at the moment is to buy a Glovey Huggey. These cute and stylish gloves contain the kind of bright imagery and designs that will give a child fixation. It also covers the thumb, making them unlikely to suck on their thumb as they won’t like the texture or the taste. Yet, they will love their little glove so much that they will have to be spoken into taking it out!
That is why we highly suggest you look to get a thumb sucking solution in the form of a Glovey Huggey. Instead of removing a coping mechanism, you are simply swapping out the emotional support they have just now for something that is less likely to leave them with dental damage in the long term.