{"id":1414,"date":"2025-01-29T21:14:35","date_gmt":"2025-01-30T04:14:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.peckfamilydentistry.com\/blog\/?p=1414"},"modified":"2025-01-29T21:14:35","modified_gmt":"2025-01-30T04:14:35","slug":"my-child-is-sucking-his-thumb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.peckfamilydentistry.com\/blog\/my-child-is-sucking-his-thumb\/","title":{"rendered":"My Child Is Sucking His Thumb"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We finally got rid of my son&#8217;s pacifier, but now he is sucking his thumb. We can&#8217;t throw that away! Should I be worried about this? His baby teeth have already started coming in. <\/p>\n<p>Alexi<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<p>Dear Alexi,<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.peckfamilydentistry.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/boy-with-toothbrush-300x259.jpg\" alt=\"Young boy smiling holding his toothbrush\" width=\"300\" height=\"259\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-1321\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.peckfamilydentistry.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/boy-with-toothbrush-300x259.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.peckfamilydentistry.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/boy-with-toothbrush.jpg 746w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m glad you wrote. One of the most prominent emotions of good parents is worrying. The good news is that your son sucking his thumb at this age won&#8217;t really matter. It is not until his permanent teeth are in that you have to start worrying. In my experience it is best that you don&#8217;t make a big deal out of the thumb sucking. Most children give it up on their own by the time they are school age. If they don&#8217;t their peers sort of encourage that. <\/p>\n<p>If his permanent teeth are coming in and he is still sucking his thumb you could try using something called Thum. It is a liquid that you can paint on her thumb that tastes bitter. <\/p>\n<p>Those children who continue to suck their thumb after their permanent teeth will likely need some type of orthodontics. Your best bet it is make sure he sees a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.peckfamilydentistry.com\/pediatric-dentist-phoenix.html\" target=\"_blank\">pediatric dentist<\/a> regularly. Don&#8217;t wait until he has a dental problem. You want his first experience at the dentist to be a positive one. If you wait until he has a dental emergency, then he will always associate the dentist with pain and fear. If the dentist isn&#8217;t scary to him, then they will have a healthy relationship and he&#8217;d be more willing to listen to advice about handling his teeth. <\/p>\n<p>This blog is brought to you by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.peckfamilydentistry.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Phoenix Dentist<\/a> Dr. Hillary Peck.<br \/>\nClick here for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.peckfamilydentistry.com\/dental-tips-for-parents.html\" target=\"_blank\">dental tips for parents<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We finally got rid of my son&#8217;s pacifier, but now he is sucking his thumb. We can&#8217;t throw that away! Should I be worried about this? His baby teeth have already started coming in. Alexi Dear Alexi, I&#8217;m glad you wrote. One of the most prominent emotions of good parents is worrying. The good news &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.peckfamilydentistry.com\/blog\/my-child-is-sucking-his-thumb\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">My Child Is Sucking His Thumb<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[658,513,511],"class_list":["post-1414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pediatric-dentistry","tag-childrens-dentistry","tag-orthodontics","tag-thumb-sucking"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>My Child Is Sucking His Thumb - Peck Family Dentistry Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Should she be worried that her son is sucking his thumb?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.peckfamilydentistry.com\/blog\/my-child-is-sucking-his-thumb\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"My Child Is Sucking His Thumb - 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