A young mother wrote this on her blog: Niu Niu is 2 years old and still has the habit of sucking her fingers before bed. Everyone says it’s a bad habit and should be wrenched. Some moms say that sticking it with a needle works well. I decided to give it a try with a toothpick. When it was time to go to bed at night, Niu Niu habitually sent her thumb into her mouth and enjoyed wrapping it up. I quickly told her not to wrap her fingers anymore, the thumb will be deformed, and the teeth will grow unattractive. The girl grunted and looked at me unhappily. It seems that soft is not enough, but also hard. I took a toothpick and said, “If you wrap it again, I’ll stab you! And touched her finger with the toothpick. She cried out with fear. When she went to bed at night, she didn’t seem to know where to put her finger, so she habitually put it by her mouth and fell asleep. I was happy and thought it was easy to stop sucking, but in the middle of the night Niu Niu got a fever and started sucking again in the morning, so I had to talk about it later since I couldn’t bear to talk about her again because she was sick. There must be a few mothers who are distressed because their children are biting their fingers, and some of them have tried everything, but they have failed. Perhaps these parents went through a similar stage as children. Finger biting is a very common habit of children. So why is such a common habit not accepted by parents from generation to generation? Why does it happen again in generations of children? Then we need to explore the habit of finger biting. Sigmund Freud called the period within one year after birth the “micturition period”. This is the period when the infant’s needs are met by sucking, such as drinking milk, which is innate. If they are not satisfied, the infant will seek other ways to replace and soothe themselves, such as sucking on their fingers. If the mother feeds incorrectly or too quickly and fails to satisfy the infant’s desire to suck, the infant will feel anxious and upset and self-soothe by sucking on her finger. In addition, some mothers are so busy that they neglect their children’s need to communicate with the outside world, and the child may also vent his or her frustration by sucking his or her finger frequently. If the child is anxious or neglected for a long time, the finger-sucking habit can easily be retained and become a “finger-sucking” baby. Some children suddenly start sucking their fingers when they are four or five years old, which is a sign of behavioral regression. When a child faces a sudden mental shock, such as parental divorce or a change in parenting style, he or she will regress psychologically to the old days and, just like a small baby, will have a need to suck to reduce internal anxiety and gain mental comfort by sucking on his or her fingers. In this way, it seems that sucking is a need of the child, but this natural need can be harmful in the long run. Because finger sucking is very unhygienic, it is a bad oral habit. It is detrimental to the development of teeth, causing the buccal muscles to contract, the dental arch to become narrow, and the upper front teeth to protrude, affecting the bite and appearance of the teeth. Fingers that are sucked by children often become infected and become swollen, enlarged or even deformed. “Finger-sucking” babies will be too intoxicated by the pleasure of eating fingers to participate in other activities, which affects intellectual development. In addition, long-term finger sucking can also affect the child’s psychology. If the teeth are not aligned, it will affect the child’s pronunciation, resulting in a lisp, hindering communication between the child and children, and may also be ridiculed by children. When a child occasionally eats his or her hands, parents find it and reprimand them severely, making the child feel nervous about the child, which in turn reinforces the child’s hand-eating. Some parents also let their children eat their hands and do not correct them in time, making hand-eating a stubborn habit that affects the child’s future life. So what attitude should mom and dad take to deal with the “finger sucking” little baby at home? Psychologists believe that about 75% of babies start eating their fingers 3 months after birth, which is considered normal. This action usually disappears on its own after the age of 2 years. If this habitual action continues beyond the age of 3, it becomes a bad habit and needs to be corrected as early as possible. First, enrich your child’s life. Parents can use the time to do housework every day, laughing and joking with their children, or let them be a little helper and do housework together. You can prepare some toys and instruments that are good for developing eyesight, hearing, touch, imagination and movement, so that the child does not feel lonely. These methods not only dilute the “finger sucking” little baby’s attachment to fingers and give up “finger sucking”, but also give normal children no chance to put their fingers in their mouths and become “finger sucking” babies. Secondly, pay attention to the child’s emotions and deal with emergencies in a timely manner. At this time children are not yet capable of understanding the adult world, sudden changes in the environment will make children feel stressed. For example, moving is a normal thing for adults and can be handled. But moving is a big deal for children. As a parent, you should be careful to find the child’s bad mood, find the event that triggers the child’s anxiety, and make a reasonable explanation to the child in time, such as telling the child “whatever happens, it will not affect the love of mommy and daddy for you”, “mommy and daddy will always support the baby “etc. If parents can anticipate changes, they should make some preparations in advance and do a good job for their children to get through the tough phase smoothly. In short, if there is a “finger sucking” baby at home, do not be distressed, and do not think that the baby is “very sick”. This means that your baby is a playful child, and mom and dad need to find other more interesting and satisfying “games” with their children to make them quit “finger sucking” automatically!