Two year old sucking thumb to fall asleep
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Friday, 15 April 2016
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Published in
Dental Hygienist, Dentists, Orofacial Myologist, Orthodontist, Parents, speech languge pathologist, Therapists
Hi! I wondered what you typically advise parents to do when their two year old is sucking their thumb to fall asleep. I evaluated a two year old girl today who already has overjet and an anterior open bite with a high palate due to her thumb sucking. Would you use your program with a child this young? Can you give me some guidance? Thanks! K
Hi K,
Let me respond to your email about the two year old and what I’ve found. I don’t believe the usual Unplugging The Thumb (UTT) kit program would work with a child that age. If she’s almost three, you might have a chance if she is cognitively really high level, but I’d be hesitant. Unfortunately, I have seen through the years that it is easier to eliminate the habit at an age much younger than two years old or to wait until the child is older. Sad, but true. Once the habit is firmly established for 2 years, it is hard to do anything about it until the child can make that decision for herself/himself based on information we can show them and reason with them about the habit.
Better not to have any type of battles between parent and child so as not to reduce the chances for an opportunity in a year or so from now…to present the program in a positive way. I wish I had more to offer here, but sometimes there is nothing to do but wait, in my opinion.
Hope this eases your mind, K.
Keep in touch,
Sandra
