I’m Having Fits About My Child’s Thumbsucking?

First, let's put the pacifier down and step away from the baby bottle!

Thumbsucking is a natural behavior observed in young humans and in primates. It is a reflexive action where almost anything put in an infant's mouth will be suckled repeatedly and rhythmically. This reflex helps during intake from breastfeeding, and is said to help the child's chances of survival.

The act of thumbsucking brings feelings of pleasure to an infant, promoting the release of several neurotransmitters including dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, and other endogenous opioids (endorphins) in the brain. Digit sucking at this time is thought to somewhat replace the pleasure of breastfeeding. This thumb-or-finger-in-the-mouth behavior (they are in the oral-anal stage, after all) can start in the womb as early as 15 weeks after conception and  usually stops after about four months after birth, but can last longer (even into adulthood, in some rare cases).

But caution must be exercised --and hands must be frequently washed--because putting an unclean thumb in the mouth exposes your child's oral cavity to germs which may cause oral infections, or sickness. And if enough force is used in the act of sucking over a period of time, the upper teeth can deviate from their normal positions causing an anterior open bite.

Speech problems can develop, such as lisping. Tongue thrusting may accompany thumbsucking in some patients. Also, the skin of the involved thumb or fingers can become dry, calloused, peeled, cracked, infected, and even prone to bleeding.

There are many products on the market that may help stop the habit.Thumbguard.com offers a plastic device placed over the thumb or fingers so that the seal between the thumb skin and mouth mucosa is broken and the usual pleasure is not experienced. It must be placed and removed daily by an adult. Its rigidity may make writing or coloring with the hand difficult. Yourhandaid.com offers a custom, flexible cover for the thumb or fingers that's skin toned. Folica.com offers a couple of liquids that can be painted on the thumb or nail to discourage the habit. Those liquids are said to have a bitter taste.

In my practice, I have heard of some parents using hot sauce to stop the child's habit. But in some of those cases, the children started liking the hot sauce, so that deterrent was defeated. In some cases, the atmosphere of making the older child stop the habit may devolve into a power struggle with the parent(s), where the child might say, "It's my thumb and I'll do what I want with it!"

May you have many…pleasure activated, it’s my grin and I’ll smile if I want to, both of my kids are real (   )… smiles!