29/12/2025
👶✨ Thumb sucking begins even before birth — inside the womb.
It’s one of the first ways babies explore their body and interact with the world around them.
In early infancy, thumb sucking helps:
💛 Self-soothing and emotional regulation
🌱 Oral sensory exploration — textures, sensations, and movement inside the mouth
🧠 Understanding the size and dimensions of their mouth
💪 Triggering reflexes needed later for chewing, moving food around the mouth, and building feeding skills
Around 7 weeks, babies start discovering their fingers — this isn’t a habit, it’s motor + sensory learning.
This early hand-to-mouth exploration prepares them for solids by teaching the tongue and mouth how to handle food safely once they begin eating around 6 months.
🌼 What parents can do:
• Let babies explore their hands freely before 6 months
• Offer teethers, spoons, or soft utensils for safe oral practice
• After 6 months, introduce a variety of flavours, textures, temperatures for rich sensory input
Thumb sucking is harmless and normal in early years, but if it continues beyond 4–5 years or becomes the only way to sleep, it may need gentle guidance.
💛 You’re not stopping a behavior — you’re supporting development first.
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