Thumbsucking is for suckers...

Hi there!

I was recently talking with my orofacial myologist about my exercises and keeping my tongue on the spot. I said to her that I had trouble keeping the middle of my tongue up against the roof of my mouth. She pointed out that I would never be able to keep my tongue completely against the roof of my mouth because my palate was too high... from years of thumbsucking.

I sucked my thumb from infancy until age ten, when I got braces. I quit thumbsucking cold turkey once I got braces, thank goodness. Sadly, it was too late. The damage had been done. I had literally pushed the roof of my mouth up into my sinuses.

That is what all thumbsuckers do. We distort our palates over time. 

Thumbsucking is fairly sacred in our society. How many parents become overjoyed when they see their little one insert their chubby little thumb between their lips for the first time?

"Wonderful!" They say, "Now our little cherub can self soothe!"

Well, that may be all right in infancy but what about when your little cherub is older? Four or five? Nine? In their teens ?? Heck, there are adults who are thumbsuckers! And that thumbsucking takes it toll: open bites and distorted palates. Not to mention, wrinkly swollen thumbs. Ew :P

Having a distorted palate affects your speech and breathing. I'm convinced I would sound a little less nasal if I had not sucked my thumb so long. I'm also sure I wouldn't have as much trouble breathing through my nose. Years of sucking my thumb pushed my palate up into my sinuses, constricting them. Now, I have less space to breathe through.

At this stage, I'm too old for any kind of palate expansion orthodontics but I consider myself lucky. Some people's palates are so high and narrow, they can only fit their thumb between their upper molars! In these cases, the tongue often does not fit in the palate and 'spills over' the molars, contributing to posterior open bites. That's an open bite that happens between the back teeth instead of the front.

Now, it's not just thumbs we need to look out for: pacifiers can be problematic as well. I emphasize can be. Pacifiers certainly have their place in helping keep a fussy baby calm or distracted and may even reduce the risk of SIDS. Here's a page from the Mayo Clinic's website outlining the pros and cons of pacifiers. I also like this brief article from babycenter.com on toddlers and pacifiers. 

Personally, I hate seeing kids with pacifiers in their mouths for no reason. Especially when the child is out with family. It discourages speech and, I believe, locks the little one into their own little world. I believe this because when you don't speak to others, you automatically become more inverted. Why would you want your child walking around with something in their mouth that prevents them from directly communicating with those around them?

Now, you can take away a pacifier... but you can't really take a thumb away can you? Well, you could but then we'd have to call the authorities on you. Morbid options aside, you're going to have to work on getting your child to give up the thumb. Orofacial myologists can help with this and use different methods to discourage their patients from thumbsucking including bandaging the thumb and offering positive reinforcement. There are even arm wraps you can put on your child when they sleep to keep them from thumbsucking!

"But what if he/she's not ready?" 

Well, your little one may not be, especially if their less than 3 years old, and so you may have to wait a little while and try again. But I also wonder if sometimes parents' hesitancy to thwart thumbsucking might have to do with their own anxiety about 'forcing' their child to do something that might be upsetting. We Americans can be very permissive with our kiddies.

If your child is a thumbsucker and you're worried that it's 'too soon' to get them to stop, ask yourself what is it you're afraid will happen? If your answer reflects more on your feelings than your child's than I'm afraid you're doing your child a disservice.

You will also be doing yourself a disservice when you find yourself paying thousands of dollars for orthodontics that your child may not have needed if you had been just a little less squeamish about making them unhappy in the short term.

In fact, getting your child to stop sucking their thumb does not have to be unpleasant at all. Make it a game, give them rewards and encouragement, and lots of hugs and kisses and you'll both be glad to have stopped a habit that will hurt both of you in the long run.

Happy Trails!