Why stop thumb sucking?

 

There are many parents concerned about their child still sucking their thumb when most people have the opinion that they shouldn’t.  This can be frustrating, confusing, upsetting and even undermining to a parent.   My hat off to the parent with great internal fortitude to ignore others’ comments and not feel compelled or pressured to address something that until now has not been an issue for themself or their child., and instead to recognise when the time is right for them.

 

Remember a parent is doing their best with what they have and what they know in the circumstances they find themselves at this point of time.

 

The timing of when this is a concern varies . For some it is when their baby starts to suck his or her thumb or finger. For others it is 12 months and others still not until about 5 or 6 years of age.

Generally it seems to be sometime before adult teeth erupt.  Tis would put it about 6 or 7 years of age.  Many would recommend that from age 5 years if thumb or finger sucking is an obvious issue, do not let it go past this age before you start to address the problem.

As a child health nurse we would become aware of it and monitor it from 12 months on and as the child matures, utilise non invasive habits to discourage it.

 

Why is it of such concern?  Most concerns tend to be about teeth and skeletal development  of the mouth. The risk is that pressure from the thumb can eventually change the shape of the growing jaw and cause things such as overbite, or buck teeth or  uneven or mispositioned teeth.

 

It may also interfere with speech.  The tongue is a muscle so if it is worked for lengthy periods in the wrong way it may become thicker in some areas and cause speech problems.  in some instances  it may cause a delay in speech development and others inducing a lisp or mis pronounciation of certain sounds.

 

Ideally we would like thumb sucking to stop somewhere between 2 and 4 years.  As long as it is stopped before adult teeth come through. If left unchecked  it can go to adulthood.

New Mama Self Care

 

Working out whether you are being selfish or merely anew mama self caring can be confusing and  something that causes many some angst.  This is a challenge for all of us but especially those caring for others, and parents are doing that 24 hours a day to more than one other.

 

The “right” thing to do, or the “nice” thing to do is to be there for others, put others first,etc.   This is great however no one ever told me that to be able to be at your best to, give others your best,  you have to put yourself first at times. That is something I have learned in more recent years and have found it to be so very true.  I have become happier from it too.  I certainly notice the difference in me, my reactions particularly, when I have had time for me to do my thing just for me.  Even for a snippet of time compared to what  I used to.

 

There is no point giving, giving, giving when you have nothing left in the tank to enjoy.  Life is meant to be a balance.  In order to enjoy giving, we also need to enjoy receiving. It is a two way street. Think how good you feel when you give to others.  Is it right to deny that feeling for someone else?

 

Parents particularly seem to feel a greater burden of putting themselves second behind their children.  While to an extent this may be necessary  in some aspects, there still needs to be some room for self care.



It is also ok to want to have time out from your baby. It is important to have time out from your baby. It doesn’t make you a bad mother or that you don’t love your baby. Quite the opposite.  It means that you love your baby so much that you want to give him or her the best of you.  The best way to do that is to take care of you.  Most women feel selfish if they think this way.  It is not selfish just self care.  If you take care of you, you will take care of your baby better purely because you are not so drained.  You need to fill your bucket as much as the next person and especially now that you are giving so much of yourself to your baby. Remember you are a person in your own right and not only a mother now.  Remember you and honour you.

 

Try to have a break from your baby everyday.  Find one thing to be thankful for everyday.

 

Take time out from your baby as soon as you can.  Go for a short walk to the end of the street, around the block.   Have a long shower.  Have a coffee with your feet up. Do it. Do it every day. Leave your baby with your partner- he or she will manage.  5 minutes may be all you can manage to start with. Build on that each week. Talk with your partner about what’s important as far as settling strategies etc and then trust them- you know you can. You being upset doesn’t help anyone.

 

We can’t expect others to respect us and help us if we don’t respect our selves. Part of self respect is self care.  Besides, no-one enjoys being with someone who is so exhausted and unhappy that they are cranky and not fun to be around.

 

So are you giving your best?  If you are not getting some time out from your day to day activities with some fun, chances are that your best is yet to come.

Healthy families and "toxic oil" and "poison sugar"

On a different note, I have been exploring the topics of “toxic oil” and “sugar is poison” ideas that have been floating around. I had wondered about them and finally got to read about it and look a little more closely at it.  After much reading, I think I have an idea of where they are coming from. At first I thought they were talking about all oil /fats and sugar full stop, however I now understand that they are talking about the processed ones that are not so good for us and may well have a large stake in our problems with obesity, diabetes, heart disease and cancers.  This makes more sense to me.

Why am I so interested?  I have always been interested in healthy living and eating. I love food and those who know me, know I love sweet stuff. I have a sweet tooth to rival any in the land.  I, and my siblings have never been physically sick from eating too much sweet or junk, ever. We were brought up eating healthy.  Junk food was limited  but we regularly had sweet treats- all home made. The thought of going without sweet food is very hard for me to accept.

I am often baffled by announcements in general media about certain new super foods that we absolutely must consume to live a healthy life and going into an organic shop is overwhelming for me. I feel  baffled by all the things in there that I have never heard of and supposedly should eat.  Don’t get me wrong, I am all for no pesticides and ethical and sustainable farming practices especially coming from a farming background. I am also into simplicity.

 This is a snippet of what I have learned.

Simple sugar is used by every cell in our body. This is glucose. Also known as dextrose.  Simple sugars are ok for us. Any processed sugars are not. Sucrose is not so good for us and any modified sugars are not good for us. Sugars are processed by the pancreas. The pancreas produces insulin.  There are many people with insulin resistance and more and more commonly I am seeing it in newborn babies in special care nursery with  insulin resistance or low blood sugars in the first few days of life and needing to be on a drip to help stabilise it.  This scares me- the fact that newborns are having trouble with blood sugar.  Something is amiss.

This all leads me towards the questions I have about why so many babies have reflux type symptoms as small babies.  Reflux in infants is often what we see and treat when it is food reaction but difficult at that age to identify. There is too much of it around and I still am confused  about why. So this also got me thinking about babies and unsettled tummies and food reactions.

So I continue on my search for understanding about unsettled infants. It is by no means a simple answer but there has to be one out there.

 Unprocessed, varied diets with plenty of protein, unprocessed fats and sugars, and plant foods is the best way to get on the right track.

How to stop thumb sucking ages 3-5

Are you frustrated by your child still sucking his or her thumb or finger?

Are you silently worried that it may be having a negative affect on his or her teeth?

Are you sick of other people telling you "you have to do something" but not sure what to do or where to start?

You are not alone.

This dilemma is common to many.  The good new is that there are things you can do to start going in the right direction.

Join us on this webinar and find out  the nifty tricks to  help your child stop finger or thumb sucking for good.

https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/how-to-stop-thumb-sucking-ages-3-to-5-tickets-10733422957?ref=estw

Particularly if this habit is driving you crazy and starting to impact your life and theirs -- you will want to be part of this webinar. We will outline the steps to take and importantly what not to do to help your child stop thumb or finger sucking.

No matter what age your little one is- we can work out a plan for you.

Join us live from the comfort of your loungeroom or bed even. You can even be in your pyjamas- I will be.

https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/how-to-stop-thumb-sucking-ages-3-to-5-tickets-10733422957?ref=estw

If you register and something pops up unexpectedly- we've got it covered. Everyone who registers will receive a recording of the webinar whether you attend live or not. So you won't miss out. You can even send in questions beforehand if you want and that way we will make double sure we cover it on the webinar.

I look forward to helping you stop your child thumb sucking and be rid of that habit for good.

Leisa

PS Remember to register here.

https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/how-to-stop-thumb-sucking-ages-3-to-5-tickets-10733422957?ref=estw

Enter our March competition

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[caption id="attachment_2421" align="alignleft" width="150"] White-girls-tutu[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2420" align="alignleft" width="150"] red-girls-tutu[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2419" align="alignleft" width="150"] candy-stripe-girls-tutu[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2417" align="alignleft" width="150"] Win-baby-pink-girls-tutu[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2418" align="alignleft" width="150"] yellow-girls-tutu[/caption]

 How do I get my 2 year old out of my bed?

 

[caption id="attachment_2359" align="alignleft" width="150"] older baby and toddler sleep[/caption]

At times I hear from a parent – how can I get my 2 years old out of my bed?

Sometimes parents find themselves in this position where when once having your little one in bed with you even for part of the night is now not as helpful as it once was.

Instead of everyone getting a good sleep, now it is just the opposite and no-one sleeps well anymore. However how do you change this situation? It is something that you just didn’t see coming.

 It all starts out beautifully.  You have  your baby and to make night time easier you bring your baby into your bed so you both  get sleep.   You don’t mind, it is a beautiful feeling-A nice warm little body snuggled up against you, both of you sleeping peacefully.  The reassurance of the  sweet, soft breath of your little one against your skin. It works for everyone.

 

 

Fast forward 2 years later and it may not be the case any more.  Your baby is bigger, more active  in the bed and getting is sleep is now almost impossible.  Any sleep you get is now broken for everyone, you and your little one are cranky and always overtired.

 

 

So what to do?

 

 

If your little one has been in your bed for a long time, then it will take time and the approach will depend on how you want to approach. You can  start with day sleep in their room, or start with night time in your bed then transfer to their bed.

 

 

Depending on their age talking  about any changes to come will help to ease the transition.  However it is realistic to expect your little one to protest loudly. The first 3-5 days will be the hardest and expect it to take up to 3 weeks to really cement.

 

 

Exactly how to do this will vary  depending on various factors including age of child, how long they have been in parents bed and whether they are over tired or not.

 

 

Of course if there is no problem  then there is no need to change anything.

 

 

How do I get my 2 year old out of my bed?- with patience, perseverance and persistence.

How to make baby have longer day sleep

[caption id="attachment_2402" align="alignleft" width="150"] How to help baby sleep longer[/caption]

I am asked regularly how to make a baby have longer day sleep. Today I am going to discuss this a bit more.

 

I often trip over myself working out where to start with this question. There are a number of things to consider. These include age of the baby, developmental level of the baby, any habits that are in place, what is working , what isn’t working, is the baby overtired, is the baby getting adequate sleep overall, what is happening at night, is the baby well, is the parent well, what is happening in the environment.

 

I want to know as much background information as I can so that I can put it all together and get a really good idea of what is happening not only for sleep but also feeding, family habits, beliefs and values. Sleep and feeding go hand in hand so I would want to know about feeding too.

 

Sometimes  a short day sleep is perfectly normal.

 

The times when we think that  a baby probably would do better with a longer day sleep the things I would look at is refining the sleep cues. This just means  looking at whether the cues that this particular baby have for sleep, are easy for the baby to reproduce or is the baby completely dependent on outside sources for sleep. Remember we all have sleep cycles and when we come into light sleep if what was happening for sleep is no longer happening, your baby may wake .  I also like to reiterate early sleep cues so that your baby is not completely over tired when you want your baby to go to sleep.

 

The main things I would look at are early tired signs and helpful sleep cues.  How we start would depend on whether your baby is really overtired or not. If really overtired  then we may work on building sleep first then addressing the habits.

 

Sometimes what the family wants to do is not compatible with where the baby is at developmentally.   And that is a different kettle of fish.

 

The next time you or someone you know  asks  how to make their  baby have longer day sleep, how we approach it depends largely on what is happening and then tailoring the response  to that.