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Health Tip: Quit Thumb Sucking
(HealthDay News) -- Usually, your child will give up sucking on a thumb with time. But if the practice seems to go on too long, you can take steps to encourage your child to stop thumb-sucking.
The American Academy of Pediatrics offers these suggestions:
- Don't tease, punish or speak harshly to your child for sucking the thumb.
- When your child isn't sucking the thumb, offer words of praise and rewards.
- Find ways to entertain and distract your child if thumb sucking is a way to battle boredom.
- Speak with your child's pediatrician or dentist about using a device in the mouth to make thumb sucking uncomfortable.
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A federal government website managed by the Office on Women's Health in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
200 Independence Avenue, S.W. • Washington, DC 20201