How to wean a baby to suck a finger? Looking for reasons and finding alternatives.

Sucking fingers of a small child can turn into a serious problem. If earlier this behavior was considered just one of the bad habits, trying by all means to prevent the baby from sucking on his finger, now the attitude to this problem has changed. Why does the baby start to suck a finger and how can we stop it from such an action?

The main reason for thumb sucking is the desire of the child to satisfy the sucking instinct. It is noted that children whose feeding frequency is higher suck their fingers less often. Also, those children who suck the milk faster, more often resort to finger sucking than babies who suck milk for a long time.

A baby can suck a finger because:

• He is hungry or else wants to suck the breast.
• He cuts his teeth and wants to scratch his gums.
• The baby lacks the attention and love of parents.
• So the child calms himself.
• He is just bored.
• He was too early or very sharply weaned.

Most often, finger sucking can be seen in infants, and the type of feeding affects the development of this habit.

Babies receiving mother's milk suck their finger quite rarely, especially if the mother gives the baby her breasts on demand and does not interfere with sucking. Mom does not see if there is milk in the breast, so it gives the baby the opportunity to suck longer than when feeding from a bottle.

Artificial babies often start sucking their fingers if they drink a portion of the mixture too quickly. Normally, the baby should suck the milk from the bottle for 20 minutes (this time only sucking, without taking into account the rest periods), and the holes in the nipple should be chosen in such a size as to ensure the milk sucking for just such a time period.

The child very rarely begins to suck his finger at this age, he was usually seen in this action before. Children older than 12 months suck their fingers for the sake of comfort when they are bored, upset, tired or want to fall asleep. And therefore, to get rid of such a habit, they need completely different measures than in babies of the first year of life with a strong sucking reflex.

In most cases, children suck exactly the thumbs. If such a habit takes root and the child continues to suck his thumb over the age of 4 years, there is a great risk of a violation of bite as well as speech. The problem is that when sucking the skin of the finger coarsen and may even become inflamed. Prolonged sucking can also cause deformation of the finger.

Often in babies who suck their thumb, the upper teeth in front of the baby slightly protrude forward, while the teeth at the bottom are slightly tilted backwards. The longer the baby sucks a finger, the more pronounced will be the displacement of the teeth. In many ways, the position of the teeth will be determined by the position of the finger in the mouth during sucking. However, it should be noted that this action does not affect the permanent teeth, if the child has stopped sucking his finger until the age of six.

In the methods of weaning from thumb sucking, parents show considerable ingenuity, but it is not recommended to do the following with the baby:

• Smear a finger with aloe, mustard, bitter varnish or something else with a very unpleasant taste.
• Bandaging fingers and tying hands.
• Wear tight mittens or sew them to the shirt.
• Yelling at the child, forcing him to take out his finger.
• Threaten punishment or punish.

Tying the baby's hands and other restrictive measures make the baby suffer. In addition, such actions will not save the baby from sucking a finger. As soon as the mother stops tying hands or smearing her finger with something unpleasant, the child will return to his habit and will suck even more intensively than before binding, because he will need to calm himself down.

It is necessary to take measures in relation to thumb sucking immediately as soon as the parents have noticed such actions of the baby. The first three or four months of life is especially in need of sucking babies, and after half a year in most children, the sucking instinct begins to decrease. And so the first attempts to suck fingers babies make up to 3 months. A little later, all the kids begin to suck and bite their fingers because of the cutting teeth. This behavior must be distinguished from thumb sucking.

If baby breastfed, the duration of breastfeeding should be increased to 30-40 minutes. In cases where the mother gives both breasts to the infant for one feeding at the same time, she should hold the infant to the first breast as long as possible. An artificial child needs to choose the right nipple for the bottle so that the child sucks the mixture long enough.

It is not recommended to reduce the number of feedings for a baby sucking a finger. On the contrary, it is sometimes necessary to add one feed, which over time can be canceled.

In children older than one year should find out the reason for this behavior. Perhaps the child lacks a society of peers, toys, communication with the mother. Try to protect the toddler from various stresses, and also increase the physical contact of the mother with the baby.

Parents can:

• To teach a child to calm down in another way, for example, to express his own feelings with words, read a book, sit in the arms of a mother.
• Give the child a toy that he can use his fingers, for example, a small rubber ball.
• Make a little fashionistas nice manicure, like a mother's, who does not want to spoil.
• Babies can be offered a teether, which will be an alternative to sucking fingers.

The sucking finger of an infant practically does not cause anxiety in adults If the child is already one year old, and he continues to suck his finger, the parents begin to worry, but they do not need to worry too much. Often, such sucking is still a reflex and unwanted habit quickly becoming a thing of the past if adults understood its cause and helped the baby.

The main secret is that if mom already falls into despair in her desire to wean the baby off the habit, which is so harmful in her opinion, she should stop. Finger sucking really is an alarming signal to react to. But we should not consider it a catastrophe, which should be urgently addressed.

Be patient and act consistently. Try to create a baby the most favorable conditions for development and life. The well-being of babies depends only on parents. And if mom realizes this, then the chances of successfully parting with the habit of sucking her finger will rise.

If the child actively sucks only the thumb, you can offer him not to deprive other fingers, and suck them too. Many children, trying to fulfill an assignment, are so tired of sucking their fingers that they stop doing it at all.

The famous pediatrician, like other doctors, considers the instinctive satisfaction of the sucking reflex to be the cause of finger sucking. He proposes to switch the child’s attention to the pacifier, experimenting with their different types. Komarovsky is sure that it is useless to just fight instincts. If the parents “take away” a finger from a child, they certainly need to offer the crumbs something in return. Do not eradicate this phenomenon, and create an alternative to it.

So that the baby does not start sucking his fingers, the following actions will do:

• Breast babies are allowed to suck their breasts for a long time.
• If the baby has a strong sucking reflex, to accustom the child to the soother.
• During the period of teething, give the baby "rodents".
• Communicate more with the baby, play, show the world around us.
• Constantly engage in that improves fine motor skills and takes hands - modeling, playing with sand, folding puzzles, designer, mosaic and the like.