Thumb-sucking and finger-sucking are very common in young children. It is estimated that around half of all children will be thumb-suckers for several months or more during their toddler or preschool years. It is therefore considered a normal part of development, and despite parental protestations, rarely needs any active intervention.
Sucking of the fingers or thumb often starts during infancy. A young baby may initially bring his hand to his mouth accidentally, in the course of general movements of the upper limbs. In many babies this then becomes purposeful, as the baby derives comfort and pleasure from it. Indeed, thumb-sucking may be seen as a positive behaviour in infancy, and is regarded as part of the baby’s ability for self-regulation and self-comforting. Babies who can suck on their fingers are often more easily able to settle themselves without relying on parental involvement. This is especially helpful when going to sleep, or at times of distress.
Some children simply continue this habit that they have acquired in infancy. Others begin to suck on their fingers or thumb at some stage during the toddler period. For most children this is a normal developmental behaviour and it will soon pass. By the age of 4-5 years, only a few children are still sucking their thumb, although many will still revert to it at times of stress, tiredness or when going to bed.
There are rarely any serious or long-term complications of thumb-sucking. Many children will develop calluses on their thumb or fingers, which will often become misshapen. These effects are not long lasting and will return to normal soon after the child ceases the activity.
Infrequently there are more significant concerns. The main one appears to be a concern that the persistence of finger- or thumb-sucking beyond 4 or 5 years may interfere with the normal development of a child’s teeth, so that the teeth will grow unevenly. It is worthwhile asking the child’s dentist to check on this after the child prolonged thumb- or finger-sucking may interfere with normal speech development but it is likely that factors other than thumb-sucking are responsible for this.
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