如何帮助孩子改掉吮指,挖鼻的坏习惯

This morning on parenting today. How to break kid's bad habits from thumb sucking to nail biting. Paeditrician Lisser Thorsont has some explanations and solutions for parents. Dr. Thorston, Good morning.

Good morning.

So, how do kids develop these bad habits in the first place.

Well, a lot of its are just natural, like thumb sucking. Very natural, babies do it in the womb and they do it when they come out, because thumb sucking is really soothing and feels good, and helps babies comfort themselves,in fact, babies suck their thumbs tend to comfort themselves more easily than those who don't suck.

It's very true , my oldest did that, and it comforted him right way. Oh, let's get to these five behaviour issues. A lot of parents complain about that they have to break their kids from these habits. And the first one is biting. And a lot of parents complaint about these. Why do toddlers even go there, why do they bite in the first place.

So common, and they tend to do between ages about 18 months and 3 years when they're just developing language, and they don't know how to express themselves. So a lot of time they would bite to say ' Hey, I was using that toy' or ' I'm not ready to go' or something like that. They don't communicate well.

So, it's a frustration that is not necessarily,something they come from teething.

Right, and it's important for parents to know that it doesn't signal some awful behaviour problem in the future,although it is really devastating when your kid is a biter, and really annoying you when your kid gets bitten.

Well, I like, we have a couple of our parents responded to that on our Facebook page. Christian wrote: My daughter started biting us, and we bit her back, she quit really quickly because she didn't  want to be bitten. Is this the right way to handle this?

Well, I guess it work for her. (yeah) but in general, it can backfire because some kids, well, say, mommy bites, it must be ok. So, you gotta be careful, the best way to do this is to try to figure out if there's a pattern to the biting. If you can sort of predict when your child might do it. And also, if they do bite the child, to point out for them, that hurts. We can not bite people. And you're hurting someone, and then allow the child to involve themselves in confronting the other child, putting a Band-Aid on if it's necessary or whatever.

OK. Thumb sucking is next. And you know. I think some people who as you said, what's so bad about it, that's a self-soothing, let them go ahead and do it,But is there a problem with thumb-sucking as they grow older. I mean, obviously, not anyone 20 year old thumb sucking.

Well, that's for sure. And you can cause a dental problem, so you really don't want your child sucking their thumb too long once the teeth's coming in. Um, it's a natural habit but if it becomes a bad habit, sometimes other children will get them to stop,cause they may mention that hey you're sucking your thumb.  But usually, it becomes sort of mindless thing for a lot of kids. So, if you just remind them, you're sucking your thumb. Then they can take their thumbs out, some kids need substitute like a blanket, or stuff animal, sometimes, you can substitute that,they will stop.

Ok, Toya on Facebook page told us: My youngest three sons suck their thumbs.  so we took athletic tape and wrap their thumbs and they stop. Is that possibly a solution or you know, some sort of way that prevents them or at least make them think about it.

Yeah, that's what it does. So, when they put thumb in their mouth, oh, I gotta that athletic tape in, then pull them out. So, that's one way we'd tried.

Ok, next one is nose-picking, very embarrassing, I knew my four-year-old went through a face while he was testing me on this one. So, what do you recommend parents do.

Nose-picking are super common. Next time you're in your car, the guy next to you, he might be doing this in his car. (hahaha) Very common, hehehe.. it's because(sadly, they want to grow it) that's right, some don't. The kids feel like there're something up there. Kids who are  allergy tend to pick their noses a lot more than others because they have a lot of mucus in there. Nose they dries out , so think to keep your kid hydrate this one way. Teach them to use a tissue, to carry a tissue with them, blow their nose frequently. And you just can not get them to stop, tell them there's a place for. It's in the bathroom. And wash their hands so they're not passing germs from their nose to other people.

OK, cracking knuckles that's a bad habit as well. What is, first of all, what is the sound, where's coming from.

There's gas in your joints. And that gas builds up. and some people notice it more than others. And so they crack their knuckles,cause they feel like loosing them out. (Right)

How do you break this habit.

Well, you know, you just gotta ask people to stop. You know, this is annoying. It's not so annoying to cracker, but it's cracky. You can believe me ,you know what I mean.

Very pleasing, I like doing it.

So, again. This is something that you say, there's a place for that. Please do that in your room by yourself, or something like that, but it can be really annoying to the people around you.

All right, Dr.Lisa. Thorston, great tips. Thanks so much.