Majority if not all babies suck their thumbs. It is a habit that naturally arises in a baby as his or her little known remedy for hunger, offering themselves comfort or merely an instinct. Whatever reasons they have, parents need to pay attention with this situation for baby thumb-sucking could also trigger teeth damages or dislocation.

The Right Thing to Deal with a thumb-sucking baby

Knowing that thumb-sucking is not a good habit for your baby, you have to find the best possible solution to help him stop. But this does not mean you have to pull out his thumb every time he places it into his mouth. You have to avoid from doing this for it will only lead to backfire, which would eventually prompt to accumulating the actual thumb-sucking habit of your baby. Remember that it is a natural habit on every baby that would vanish in time, particularly when they reach the age of 3-6 years old.

Different Reasons why a Baby thumb-sucks

As mentioned previously, there are several reasons that would trigger the baby to thumb-suck.

Hunger

One of these is due to hunger. A baby tends to adopt this act especially when he or she has not got full from sucking at the bottle or mother’s breast. In order to suffice his unfulfilled hunger, they turn to sucking their thumbs instinctively. This requires parents to feed their babies at the right time. As recommended, little babies have to be fed after every three hours. Following this standard feeding schedule would help your baby evade from developing such habit.

However, there are still some babies who would suck their thumbs regardless of following the right feeding schedule. In fact, babies already start doing this when they were still inside their mother’s womb. Others would even obtain sucking blisters on their hands and arms upon delivery. While thumb-sucking acts in babies are not really a serious concern, it is still necessary for parents to control this natural act right from the start to avoid it from becoming a permanent habit.

Bottle feeding

Bottle fed babies are more likely to suck thumbs than the breastfed ones. Breastfed babies are said to be more satisfied in every feeding. With breastfeeding their natural need to suck is completely fulfilled. Breastfed babies are the ones who will decide when they would let go of the mother’s nipple.

Conversely with bottle fed babies, their sucking need are more likely not sufficed due to the inappropriate measurement of feeding amount offered, leading to the craving to suck. This is depicted by a common scenario that most breastfed babies can consume a bottle of milk in just ten minutes, instead of twenty. The remaining ten minutes they missed will then be compensated by turning to their thumbs to suck, instead of the bottle teat or nipple. This requires parents to adjust bottle feeding pace especially during the baby’s first six months. Doing so would help the baby reach the complete bottle feeding duration of twenty minutes. This can be possibly fulfilled by procuring new nipples or teats with smaller holes and with a good vacuum system.

There are still other baby thumb-sucking reasons but the aforesaid appears to be more significant. But whatever the reasons why your baby sucks his thumb, knowing why he does it is already a good way to finding the best possible solution at hand.

Your baby’s health must be your first priority. Learn the ways on how to make your baby healthy by reading some Health News & Tips.

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