What to do if babies like to suck their thumbs?

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1. Why do children like to suck their thumbs?

Thumb sucking is confirmed by experts as a normal hobby of young children. 2-month-old babies like to suck their thumb because this action brings refreshment, helps them grow up day by day and this is also considered a hobby in the first months of life. 3-month-old babies like to suck their thumbs can be explained through the following reasons:
From 2 to 3 months old, the baby's body begins to have outstanding development in senses, the most important of which is touch. sense. Tactile development manifests itself in the baby's interest in his fingers. If you pay close attention, parents will notice that the children try to reach up, then look, finally put their fingers in their mouth and start sucking, gnawing... When doing this, the baby shows very enjoyable and satisfying. If parents deliberately pull their hands out of their mouths or prevent their children from enjoying thumb-sucking, it can make them angry, upset, and even cry; Children like to suck their thumb is a sign that children begin to perceive and explore the world around them. Through the act of sucking, children can feel their own hands. 3-month-old babies like to suck their thumbs, showing that they are having good intellectual development. At the same time, this is also how the baby learns, the first stage is to put the whole hand in the mouth, then act more professionally when putting 3-2 fingers, finally the brain develops higher when the baby only put 1 finger. a finger in the mouth. When children put their thumbs correctly in their mouths, it shows that children have the ability to control motor organs and control muscles at will. Children's love of thumb sucking is followed by the act of holding objects around and putting them in their mouth, this happens when the baby's hands are more flexible, able to grasp. At that time, the sensations in the oral cavity help children perceive the attributes of junk such as hardness, softness, size or taste... This process is considered as the way the baby experiences and explores things. Strange things around. At the same time, this phenomenon also helps to gradually improve the functions of the oral cavity.
According to experts of the American Association of Pediatrics (AAP), children like to suck their thumb is a way to show they are hungry. Therefore, the habit of sucking on the thumb is the baby's way of asking for breast milk. In addition, this action creates a pleasant, finger-stimulating sensation in the mouth similar to breast milk. Babies like to suck their thumbs is considered a natural reflex that continues with the development of children from the time they are in the womb.
However, thumb sucking can become a habit, which can occur even when the child is not hungry, and even occurs in older children who have stopped breastfeeding. Most children's thumb-sucking habits will disappear by the time they are 1-2 years old, but in about 15% of cases, children will continue to suck on their thumb until the age of 4. A small number of children like to suck their thumb at night or older children suck their thumb when stressed (emotional stress). To explain this, thumb sucking stimulates the secretion of endorphins (a natural pain reliever) to help your baby feel better when the body is tired, bored, hungry or when the brain needs to relax.
Watch now: Is sucking baby hungry?

2. The disadvantages when children like to suck their thumbs

Thumb sucking is considered normal behavior in infants. Many studies prove that the act of children liking thumb sucking is still safe. However, if this habit is still difficult to break in older children, especially from 5 years old, it can cause some disadvantages in terms of health and development of children in the future:
Tr He likes to suck when his hands are not clean, which is a risk factor for transmitting pathogens through the hand - mouth such as hand foot mouth, flu, chicken pox, helminth infections and some other serious digestive diseases. ; Children like to suck too deeply, leading to vomiting, especially after eating or sucking milk; Children sucking too hard, sucking continuously or even some chewing or pushing their fingers with their tongues can cause skin lesions such as repeated cracking of the finger skin, sores, and favorable conditions. foreign invaders cause skin infections; Children like to suck too much for a long time can cause deformity of the finger bones; More seriously, children aged 5-6 years and older entering the period of permanent tooth replacement, children sucking their thumbs with strong movements or using their tongues to push them will cause damage to teeth and jaws, leading to protrusion or underbite. , misaligned bite , difficult to pronounce ; In terms of psychological development, children who like to suck their thumbs are also considered a manifestation of lack of confidence, shame, even being teased by friends, causing guilt when going to school. See now: What harm does thumb sucking and thumb sucking harm children?

3. What should parents do when their children like to suck their thumbs?

When children like to suck their thumbs, parents need to pay attention to keeping the child's body hygiene, especially the hands, neatly clipping nails, and cleaning the baby's surroundings regularly. Parents should consider the thumb-sucking habit as their child's legitimate job and create the best conditions for the child to perform his or her favorite action. However, parents should also note that children with a habit of sucking their thumb can put anything in their mouth and swallow them, so it is necessary to avoid contact with sharp objects, small, round objects .. to avoid the child choking or having a foreign body in the airway .
For breastfed babies, it is necessary to give them enough milk, making sure that the child is not hungry will limit the habit of finding hands to suck. If the child only occasionally sucks, then parents can distract the child, draw the child's attention to age-appropriate games, help the child feel more comfortable. When children are stressed or uncomfortable such as sick children, pain after injections, fear... Parents should spend more time to be close to their children and take better care of them, create a warm mentality to help children overcome difficulties easily, limiting the habit of unconsciously sucking your thumb.
For more nutritional knowledge and child care for each age, parents should regularly visit the website vimec.com and make an appointment with the leading doctors, pediatric and nutrition experts of the National General Hospital. Vinmec when needing advice on children's health.

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