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Hi, my four year old has started thumb sucking, approx. 5 months now! not sure why or how to break this habbit. hoping he will grow out of it


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  • You can see thumb sucking as a self-soothing mechanism for coping with stressful situations. At age 4yr they may go to day care and Kindergarten/Prep is around the corner and there is a shift in our expectations. Other things what may play could be a move, a new sibling or other change in circumstances.
    Initially I wouldn’t be too much on top of it, other then a calm, loving and patient approach and make sure your child gets 1on1 attention and gets confirmed on how important he/she is


  • My daughter started before 1 as its a comfort/soothing thing for her even though she has a blanket. I was told to just leave them to grow out of it


  • It’s definitely something he will grow out of. My son used to be a thumb sucker, he broke the habit when he cut his thumb and it was too sore to suck. You could try that, but I wouldn’t recommend it lol ????


  • There are a number of ideas on pinterest including phrase reminders, reward charts etc


  • Usually you have to replace one habit with another, but I’m not sure what to suggest you replace the thumb sucking with. Maybe give him a toy like a yoyo that he has to keep fiddling with and that might distract him from thumb sucking.


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