Thumb-sucking, or sucking, is an innate, human reflex that is completely normal in infancy. However, if the behavior does not stop on its own in older children, it can become problematic. Thumb sucking must be counteracted here with consideration for the jaw and palate.
What is thumb sucking?
Thumb-sucking, or sucking, is an innate, human reflex that is completely normal in infancy. However, if the behavior does not stop on its own in older children, it can become problematic. Thumb sucking is a human habit. It involves the newborn or toddler putting their thumb in their mouth to suck or suck on it. Sucking the thumb is basically an extremely natural process that every baby is born with and in most cases is unproblematic. In many cases, the reflex disappears all by itself at around two years of age. It is assumed that children calm themselves by sucking and manage stress independently in this way. Babies also find comfort, protection and security in such behavior. In many cases, thumb sucking involves more than just chewing on one’s own finger. Often, children also use familiar objects such as cuddly blankets, stuffed animals or even clothing to suck on.
Causes
The causes of the thumb-sucking reflex are deeply rooted in innate human behavior. The sucking reflex is already present in the child when it has just come into the world. Accordingly, sucking the thumb is one of the first activities that the child performs instinctively and without help. As a result of this reflex, a newborn immediately starts sucking when its lips or even just the tip of its tongue comes into contact with a foreign object such as the thumb. This phenomenon, which can also be observed in monkeys, is particularly important to ensure that food intake is guaranteed during the first year of life. Psychologically, however, thumb sucking is not only sucking reflex, but is also a form of self-soothing in young children, even adults.
Diagnosis and course
Among specialists, the rule has been established that thumb sucking is completely normal and harmless up to an age of about three years. However, if the behavior continues after this age limit and can possibly even be observed in adults, one must speak not only of a bad habit but also of a behavior that is harmful to health. Nevertheless, not all medical experts assign a negative significance to “sucking” in adulthood. Thumb sucking is considered soothing, cozy and stress-relieving even among adults. Despite all this, thumb sucking is often an embarrassing taboo subject among adults. With increasing age, the constant sucking behavior can usually lead to misalignment of the teeth. Especially in the critical toddler age, growth progresses rapidly, the incisors are pushed forward and become crooked due to permanent thumb sucking. In the later course, however, in most cases jaw misalignments also occur, which remain for a lifetime and can only be corrected with difficulty and great effort.
Treatment and therapy
If children show signs of permanent damage due to incessant thumb sucking, treatment of the problem is inevitable. The rule is always: the sooner the better. Basically, the pacifier is always better than the thumb, so a substitute activity for the child is initially sensible. From the third year of life, in view of possible permanent damage to the dentition, a start must be made on stopping thumb-sucking by means of cognitive strategies. It is often useful to teach the child to understand the dangers of his habit and to modify the behavior through praise and positive reinforcement. Sucking on a pacifier as a substitute is also an option up to about age five, although dentists usually recommend eliminating this option completely early on as well. In principle, however, rubber is far more tolerable than any other foreign body. However, if thumb sucking continues into later childhood or even occurs in adulthood, psychological problems can also be assumed.If sucking is perceived as disturbing, treatment by a psychologist is appropriate here, who will get to the bottom of the causes of this form of self-soothing.
Prevention
Since thumb sucking and suckling is an innate reflex, there is little that can be done preventively to stop the behavior. However, studies in recent years have shown that the incidence of thumb sucking is much lower among children who have been breastfed. Presumably, the reason for this is the very long, intense periods of time spent sucking the mother’s breast. In this way, infants already fully satisfy their reflex when feeding and subsequently no longer harbor the need to suck on the finger. Therefore, even with babies who are bottle-fed, care should be taken to allow long and extensive sucking.
