Dr. Greene’s Answer:
When Jacques Cousteau first took cameras under water, he opened up an enchanted new world for us to see. When ultrasounds were first turned toward the wombs of pregnant women, an even more marvelous world appeared. Sights that had been hidden for ages were now open to our view, and one of the first things we saw was that babies suck their tiny thumbs even before they are born.
Infants are hard-wired to need and enjoy sucking as a separate experience from feeding. In some infants this need is more pronounced than in others. Infants tend to exhibit the sucking behavior most when they are tired, bored, or in need of comfort. Some babies who do not suck their thumbs can be comforted, stimulated, or put to sleep through pacifier use. This is often more acceptable to parents since they can control the use of pacifiers. The problem with pacifiers is that young babies cannot find them when they fall out of their mouths, which happens quite frequently. Babies who use pacifiers are dependent on an adult who must understand their needs and respond to them. Children who suck their thumbs are able to begin at an early age to meet their own need for sucking. These children fall asleep more easily, are able to put themselves back to sleep at night more easily, and sleep through the night much earlier than infants who do not suck their thumbs.
Many parents are worried that their children won’t stop thumb sucking at the appropriate age. The great majority of children stop thumb sucking spontaneously as they get caught up in learning new skills and no longer need to be stimulated or comforted by sucking. A study by Dr. T. Berry Brazelton indicates that as many as 94% have finished with sucking their thumbs by their first birthdays.
According to the American Dental Association, thumb sucking does not cause permanent problems with the teeth or jaw line, unless it is continued beyond four to five years of age. Many studies have looked at the number of children who continue to suck their thumbs at this time. As it turns out, somewhere between 85% to 99% of children have finished thumb sucking spontaneously before this period (the numbers vary depending on the study). Many parents are concerned that thumb sucking at a late age is a sign of emotional immaturity or lack of self-confidence. When investigators looked at this group for common traits, they found that late thumb suckers had one thing in common that distinguished them from other children — a prolonged history of a strong battle with thumb sucking at an earlier age. It is striking that many well-meaning parents have actually encouraged this behavior by trying to forcibly take the thumb out of their children’s mouths.
For children in the first year of life, sucking to fall asleep or for comfort is self-limiting and wonderful. If they are sucking their thumbs simply because they are bored or are “zoned out,” it is a good idea to distract them by handing them something interesting to hold on to, without even mentioning their thumbs. Until your son is old enough to reason with, any pressure applied against thumb sucking will only turn a natural developmental phase into an ingrained habit.
If your child has not spontaneously stopped thumb sucking by the time he is talking, there are ways to actively encourage him to stop. Right now, however, you do not need to be concerned about your child’s natural way of getting the stimulation and comfort he needs in an independent and healthy way. If you find that the sight of his thumb sucking bothers you, you might want to offer him a pacifier to use until his sucking need diminishes at around 9 months.
Sally Wood
9 months???? Never seen any baby who was a thumb sucker stop or even begin to slow down by 9 MONTHS…..Most babies suck their thumbs in the womb, a natural instinct. As the baby self soothes doing so, it becomes habit. As far as thumb sucking not affecting a child’s teeth?….I totally disagree….ask any orthodontist …as babies or toddlers suck their thumb, they push their teeth with their tongue, which in return, presses on the teeth and the result is, teeth are pushed up and outward and why you see many thumb sucking children with bucked front teeth, and not side teeth protruding. My girls both sucked their thumbs and needed braces, my son was not a thumb sucker and grew with naturally straight teeth……although in some cases, there are children who may not suck their thumbs, but still need braces due to their jaw being out of alignment……see professional advice from a dentist or orthodontist to meet your child’s individual health needs on this subject.
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christopher
My child start sucking her thumb at 4years 4months is it normal or means something else
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Anthony
My 6 months old daughter sucks her thumb and does not like food. What should I do?
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Asamoah Koto Stephen
Engage him/ her in an every day activity such as throwing and catching of a ball, assembling and disassembling of toy cars, and many more. This will diminish the need for sucking and hence, with the hunger after the engagement, offer the child the food at that instance, and I really guess he/she will be ready to take in some food. This activity, therefore, has to be continuous to maintain a stable condition for the child.
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Jonda L Smith
I am actually on of the few people I met in my life that still sucks a thumb. The only other persons I know who do this as well happen to be my cousins.(coincidence? Not sure.) But none of our teeth have been disturbed. People actually comment on how nice my teeth are! I think it depends on how the individual positions there thumb in the mouth though as well. At an early age I noticed my teeth began to ache at times so I began being more mindful of how much I impact my teeth with my thumb.
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jo bates
My daughter sucked her thumb and when we took it away at 3 years she started thumb sucking. Eventually she gave up using a fabric thumb guard – http://www.thumbsie.co.uk she gave up in just three weeks.
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Anjel
I have two children ,girl &boy .3 years for girl and 4 months for boy .both children are suckling their thumbs all day .how to stop this habit ? I worry about this.!!
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B.Muse
I was a thumbsucker from birth and my parents did everything to stop me but nothing worked. It bothered them because I was at 6 years old and hadn’t given up the habit but I had promised them on my 7th birthday I would stop which was exactly what happened without struggle. Today my wife and I went for our baby ultrascan and there was my cute little boo boo with thumb in mouth..brought smiles to my face! Luckily for me I have good dentition without the help of a dentist and a very healthy confidence without a psychological counselling. So I am not bothered nor do I think its is problem for babies to thumb suck. They will naturally outgrow it. Putting too much pressure on the child or making it too much of a big deal will be the main cause of issues in their emotional development.
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Jennifer
I suck two fingers until I was a pre-teen and nothing happened to my teeth. I got caught doing so by my cousin one day and that’s how I stopped. I didn’t do in publicly. My three year old does it now, suck her index, just as they say, when she is tired, bored.
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Liya
Dear Dr. Greene,
My daughter’s one year old now. She likes sucking her thumb while she’s sleepy or hungry. Since her first teeth came out, she would sometime bite her thumb while sucking. Today her thumb looks swollen. What shall I do with that? Shall i encourage her to quit thumb sucking at all? BTW, she doesn’t like pacifier at all.
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kalyani lodd
Hi Alan,
I have a 4 months old baby. She sucks her fingers very hardly and makes a lot of suckling sound. Does it mean that she is falling short of feed? I breast feed her and she does the same thing while feeding as well. Is there any particular reason for it?
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Feeface
I am 25 years old and pregnant with my first. I suck my thumb every night and have dome since i was born, everyone has tried everything to get me to stop, nothing works.
I have an aunty in her 50s who also was unable to break the habit. Growing up my parents tried everything to stop me and dentists tried an array of devices. Nothing works!! I am now of course terrified my child will be a thumb sucker.
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Bhumika Patel
My 5 month old sucks his thumb at night and in day time 2finger next to thumb is he going to keep using both option.
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