Q: Hi, Good day ma’am! Thanks a lot for the way you have been helping lots of people with their problems. I have three questions that have been bothering me.

First how does one stop a child from sucking her thumb always in a healthy way? Secondly how do I change the bad sleeping habits of a child? And the most important, three of my kids have knock knees I have been able to trace this to my hubby’s extended family. And it worries me a lot. Please is there any way I can correct them before they grow older?

I would appreciate if my questions are answered. Thanks ma’am.

A: Interesting questions!

Children suck their thumbs at an early age as a means of soothing themselves or coping with stress/anxiety or even when bored. Usually, this habit would stop between the ages of 2 to 4 years old. If it continues longer than that your baby’s teeth start to give way to accommodate the thumb leading to a situation where your baby’s upper teeth no longer align properly with the lower teeth. It can also lead to speech problems.
How do you stop a child from sucking his thumb? Hmm, I’m sure that lots of people can share a lot from their personal experiences eg tying up the thumb, putting terrible tasting stuff on it like vinegar, mustard, bitter leaf, nail polish etc. In some instances, these harsh methods get children to stop this habit but they probably latch on to another habit, like bedwetting. So, we do not advocate any of these.

What can you do as a parent? Well, if the child, is not 6 years yet, ignoring the thumb sucking is an option. Don’t go into a big fuss and fight about it. He’s more likely to stop because some children teased him about it that the fact that you screamed about it.

Talk to him about why sucking his thumb is a bad idea. Talk to him about germs that he’s giving free access into his body etc and be sure to praise him when he’s not sucking his fingers/thumb. In fact, you could go as far as providing a reward to re-enforce this good behavior.
Remember that before the age of 6 years, we still believe that your baby will kick this habit all by himself. He usually does about the age of 4-5 years.

Now about knock knees, when a child is born, his legs are naturally curved in a bow position as a result of their position in the womb (or sometimes due to a disease condition). This situation continues till 18 months. From 18 months to 24 months, the legs go into neutral mode (neither knock knees nor bow legs). From 2 to 5 years, the legs go into knock knee mode and would usually ‘straighten’ out by 6 years. If it continues beyond this time (by age 7 or 8 years), using braces may help and in some cases, where braces do not work, in rare cases, surgery may be an option.

Other causes of knock knees include rickets and injuries. Children who are overweight are more prone to knock knees…so be sure that your children eat healthy and get at least 30 minutes of activity daily as soon as they are old enough to run around.

For more on this, please click on: https://chatwithdrketch.com/2014/03/09/daily-health-tips-my-baby-has-knock-knees-k-legs-what-should-i-do/

I really do not understand your second question. You will have to be more specific about the bad sleeping habits.

I hope this is helpful.

Have a good night, y’all 😀