The harm of babies sucking their fingers

Nowadays, every child is the treasure of the family, so the health of the child has become the most concerning issue for parents. However, recently many parents have reported that their children have the habit of sucking their thumbs, so parents are very worried, but there is no solution. So today we will introduce to you what are the symptoms of babies sucking their fingers? What should we do when we encounter this situation?

What are the harms of sucking your fingers?

Hands: Babies often suck their hands, which are soaked in saliva and pressed by their teeth. Over time, their fingers are prone to peeling, swelling, infection, and deformation. Teeth: Putting children’s hands in their mouths will affect tooth eruption, which over time may cause uneven teeth alignment and poor tooth closure.

Hygiene: The baby's little hands move around a lot and get stuck with a lot of dirt. Once they eat their hands, the dirt enters their mouths, which can easily cause diarrhea, parasitic infection, etc.

Psychology: If a baby develops the bad habit of sucking his fingers, it will not only affect the baby's physical health, but also easily cause negative emotions such as tension, anxiety, inferiority, depression, etc., affecting the baby's mental health.

Generally speaking, there is nothing wrong with sucking thumbs, but you must carefully observe the effects and not let your baby's health be affected in the future due to excessive thumb sucking.

1. If the permanent teeth happen to grow during the process of sucking the fingers, the direction of the force applied when sucking the fingers will cause the teeth to grow in the incorrect direction, which will affect the arrangement and bite of the teeth and easily cause oral problems.

2. Due to improper force application direction, the upper and lower jaws of the mouth may be deformed.

3. The appearance of the face will be deformed due to incorrect bite, and the baby may be laughed at, resulting in negative emotions such as inferiority complex.

4. Because the teeth are not aligned properly, there will be air leakage or unclear pronunciation when speaking, resulting in unclear speech.

5. It may bring germs into the mouth, making the baby more likely to catch a cold or gastroenteritis.

Reasons why babies suck their fingers

Sucking fingers has different meanings for babies under six months old and for babies over six months old. Babies under 6 months old suck their fingers purely to satisfy their sucking needs, which is particularly obvious in formula-fed babies and hungry babies. The sucking reflex is an innate and unconditional reflex. When the lips of a baby under three months old are touched, it will trigger his sucking reflex. This reflex is an instinct to maintain survival and is particularly excitatory. Therefore, babies, especially those under three months old, often use fingers as stimuli to satisfy their sucking needs, showing that they particularly like sucking their fingers. Breastfed babies can suck milk to their heart's content and have more time to satisfy their sucking instinct, so finger sucking is less common among breastfed babies.

The above are some symptoms and simple treatment methods of babies who love to suck their fingers introduced to us by professionals. Therefore, parents who are still troubled by this problem may wish to refer to the content above. Parents should also pay more attention to their children's physical condition. If a disease occurs, immediate treatment is needed, but medication should not be used blindly. I hope the above content can help you.