When should I stop my child sucking their thumb this winter?
When should I stop my child sucking their thumb this winter?
As a parent, staying on top of the numerous things your child should avoid doing can be a massive headache. Watching your child and reading their every action and intention is likely to become a huge problem for you. That’s why if you are a parent of a child and you want to help look after the little one you need to look out for actions both little and large. For example, have you noticed your child taking to thumb sucking quite a lot this winter?
Then you are not alone. Many parents will find their child returning to the old womb habit of thumb sucking. It is something that can give a child total comfort, reminding them of the ‘good old days’ when they lived in the womb all happy and warm. However, for a child beyond the age of three, thumb sucking is not something they should continue often. Come age four, it should be stopped almost entirely. As parents, though, we know that things aren’t that simple when it comes to our kids!
With that in mind, then, you might wonder when you should look to intervene. If you are spending a lot of time at home due to COVID-19, then you will have more time to observe your child and work out what they do with every action. If you spot them turning to the thumb sucking in moments of uncertainty and worry, then you should definitely look to step in and make them generally less likely to turn to thumb sucking.
Stopping thumb sucking in your child over the winter
So, the first thing you should try with your child is making it clear to them the long-term damage that thumb sucking could cause them. Most children once informed it can give them sore teeth and bad alignment in their teeth will simply give up on the issue. However, sometimes that fear of having deformed teeth can make a child suck on their thumb more. Why? Because they are scared!
Instead of using fear tactics, try and use a more humane approach to stopping the habit of thumb sucking at its source. For example, you should look to use a more positive reason. Tell them that it is not something that bigger kids do, and if they want to grow up and be more like mom/dad/brother/sister then they need to stop thumb sucking as it will show how much they have grown up.
Most children love that idea, but if you cannot convince them of this then you might need to buy them a trinket. A popular way to distract a child from the desire to suck on their thumb is to show them a Glovey Huggey. These adorable little gloves look great, feel great, and should fit onto the hands of any child with a minimum of fuss. On top of that, they will feel great by being able to wear the glove and walk around with a sense of total confidence. Instead of thumb sucking outside, their little glove offers a means of resistance that simply works. If your child won’t give up thumb sucking this winter, buy them a Glovey Huggey and watch the habit melt away.