CHAPTER IX NON‐NUTRITIONAL SUCKING IN AGES FROM INFANCY UP TO 8 YEARS OF AGE

Summary The origin, frequency and gradual decrease of the habit of finger sucking during the first 8 years have been studied in 212 children involved in a longitudinal study of growth. This extra sucking of the whole group stops at a median age of 12.9 months. Comforter‐ A sex difference with a significant dominance of girls becomes evident on each level from l to 8 years. It is possible, however, that the time of cessation of nutritional sucking, which is relatively late for the boys in this sample, may determine the indicated sex difference. Significance teat8 were made of the correlation between fingereucking and the mode of feeding. Breast‐ or bottle‐feeding makes no differen ce but the time of cessation of nutritional sucking, the duration of the sucking meal, and the satisfaction at this meal are inversely cox related to prolonged thumbsucking in a way which cannot be coincidental. Eleven psychological and four social vmiables have been significance‐tested in their relations to the prolonge sucking habit and are illustrated in tabular form. It has not been possible to prove that emotional stress symptoms distinguish long‐term thumbsuckers from others. Housewifes have more fingersuckers than mothers gainfully employed during early ages of the children. The effects of habitual fingersucking with respect to malocclusion and articulation defects have beesl studied. Slight discrepancies in pronunciation occur significantly more often in 4 ‐ 5 year old thumb suckers than in others. In the poup with sucking habits 13 more children had symptoms of malocclusion than in the group with minimal or no eucking. “he difference is not statistically significant but even concerning special malocclusions it alweys pointed in the same.