All my life I have come across mothers struggling really hard to stop their babies from putting their hands or fingers or even foot in their mouth. There have been kids around me who are more than 4-5 years and still end up soothing themselves by either putting their hand or thumb in their mouth.
Looking at so many examples around us, my husband and I decided that we would make sure we won’t allow this to happen to our baby. Yes I agree to the point that all the babies do this, and also I am aware that all over the internet and in all the baby care books it is stated that , all babies do this and it’s vital to their development. It’s neither a phase or a problem. It’s what they have to do to learn.
But this was not all to convince us to let us let our baby follow the same pattern, that all the babies all around the world were following. Now this was another challenge we took as new parents. This was yet another stereotype rule that we chose to break.
As a parent we have a choice, whether to follow something that we feel the whole world is following, or break all these barriers and set your own new cool parenting rules.
I have chosen to not allow this to happen to my baby, just because maximum doctors, websites or other experienced moms felt this was alright.
This was definitely my view point since I found it pretty unhygienic, but also since I never wanted my baby to do something that was really unpleasant for her to do and form a habit of.
I know for once this might be a very small issue for most parents. But for me it was very important. I never wanted my baby to put her hand in the mouth or suck her thumb, just because everyone felt it was alright and was important for the development.
Do you want your baby to stop sucking thumb? Here is what worked for me… :
1. Everytime my daughter put her hand in her mouth, my husband or I gave a very light pat on her hand (this pat was as light as when we are trying to call someone, you have got to be careful with this one and be extremely gentle. Please don’t end up spanking instead ) , and took her hand out. I know it was a difficult task but we decided, everytime we would see this happening. we would stop her. It took us a while, but then our daughter gave up, and stopped it.
2. I got loads of teethers for her. Exploring the world for me didn’t mean exploring by putting hand in the mouth. So got too many colorful teethers for her,which i used to freeze and each time gave her a new one. Yes that’s the golden way to handle most of the things as parents- Simply divert their mind with something more interesting. So now my daughter had more interesting things to put in her mouth, than just her hand. My favorite one was Sophie which you would find in the article: 12 New-Mom Must-Haves No One Tells You About
3. Got Rid of mittens. Yes, I know that most parents feel that, that’s the easiest way to stop kids from putting hand in their mouth. But if I put mittens on, how will the child ever know what are hands for, how will they learn to hold things and play. So putting on the mittens is another thing that wasn’t what I wanted to follow.
4. Never gave pacifiers to my little muffin. Yes, I know that again most parents feel this as another way to divert their baby’s mind from putting hand in the mouth. But is it right to form another bad habit to get rid of one. I have seen kids getting addicted to pacifiers, hence they never were a part of our life.
So, to sum it up, The only way to stop this is, to stop the baby each time you see the baby do it. If you are a working mother you may instruct the person taking care of your baby in your absence ,do the same. And soon enough the baby will give up. All we need is a bit patience with this, or else be ready to cope with this for a much longer time.
I really hope that this article helps a lot of mommies to change their perception about this really important topic. Lets make the change together. I am sure you wouldn’t want your child to be sucking thumb for a lot of years. My little one got rid of this in just 2 months and hope this helps you all mommies too.
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