Only parents can keep their children from the bad habit of thumb sucking with various tricks and strategies. Some parents get tensed at the first stage and take them to the child specialists. You can now get some advices and tricks from your child pediatrician to safe your child from the habit of thumb sucking exclusively. Some kids gets this habit by birth but other develops at the later stage. According to the researchers, the activity of thumb sucking is quite soothing to the babies and they do this just for nothing. Sometimes in order to reduce boredom babies adopts the procedure of thumb sucking. Some kids are quite prone to breast feeding and even after completion of their diet they enjoy sucking nipples of their mother. When they are withdrawn from sucking, they take thumb as a replacement and keep on sucking. But, today you can easily reduce this process of thumb sucking.
Ways to stop thumb sucking habits in children
Intervention
First and foremost way of making your child stay away from the thumb sucking activity will be your intervention. If your child is very small and keeps on sucking his/her thumb, come forward and take out his thumb from the mouth. Even if you take the thumb out of his mouth, he will do it again. The more he takes the thumb inside, the more you take that out repeatedly. Initially he might cry but gradually he will realize and soon the habit will come to an end.
Bitter coating to thumb
Children generally do not like bitter taste and this is where you can take advantage. Take two thumb of your child and apply a thin paste of Indian Lilac or Neem over it. Now, just leave it as it is. Once your child will try inserting his finger inside the mouth he will get the bitter taste and withdraw it immediately. Indian Lilac is a natural herb which also has medicinal properties without any side effects. You can apply the paste over your child’s thumb easily without bothering about the side effects or your child’s health. This is a wonderful way of making your child withdraw this bad habit.
Positive reinforcement
Once your child grows up but even then his habit of thumb sucking does not come down, you can use a strategy and praise your child. You can also ask him he hope that he will be provided with a nice gift if he stops sucking thumb. The reward should not be a material or a monetary value rather it will be something which can make your child happy. For example you can take him to a park, show him cartoon movie in a movie hall etc.
Soft reminders
If your kid forgets about the bad habit and continue the same, you must give a short touch to your kid and remind him not to carry on with the particular habit. You don’t need to scold him and stop this habit. Rather give him some love and affection and make him understand that sucking thumb is not at all a good habit. You can also give a soft touch and tender to stop him proceeding with the particular habit.
Divert mind
Another way of stopping the activity of thumb sucking of the kids would be simply diverting the mind of the particular person. For diverting his mind give him some toys, a video game, gadget or any other activities that will easily restrict him sucking thumb. You can also give him some color pencils and painting elements as kids likes to draw and paint. These are the ways you can easily restrict the activity of thumb sucking in kids. You can also show other child to him who doesnot have the habit of thumb sucking and give him some boosting words as well. These are some useful strategies to stop your child from thumb sucking phenomenon.
Apply a bitter taste
Your children with the habit of thumb sucking will never stop as it has become a habit. Even if you repeatedly ask him/ her to stop it, they won’t listen. But, you can always play tricks with your child. All you have to do is apply some edible element over the thumb portion of your child so that when he starts sucking, he gets the bitter taste and stop it. You can apply bitter gourd juice on your child’s thumb which he is sleeping or in any ways without informing him.
Take help from his friend
Kids have a tendency of listening to their friends or someone of his age. You can easily take help from your kid’s friend. You can ask him to approach your child and stop the habit of sucking thumb. Since they will be communicating while playing, the fact will be very well getting inside their head. This is one of the great ways through which you can easily make your child restrict the habit of thumb sucking.
Hurt his prestige
You should know that even your child has a prestige issue. Like adults, if you hurt the prestige of your kid, he might remember it for a long time. This strategy is really effective but you must be really careful while applying this strategy. You must make a plan in such a way that your child gets humiliated due to his habit of sucking thumb. This must be planned in a wonderful way and restrict your child sucking his thumb.
Have patience
Another tip for making kids stay away from the thumb sucking habit is having patience. You simply have to do nothing but wait for some time. This will help your child to get away from this habit automatically. This habit generally develops from birth and stays till your child grows up. Gradually this habit can also be eradicated. Thus, you must have to have patience and watch your child. As he grow up, the habit of licking thumb will be completely removed.
