Show Your Baby's Healt By DR MORRIS FISHBEIN Editor Journal of or tho the American Medical Association and of et tho the Health Magazine l Pra Practically L c all I babies 1 in hi the Instinctive 1 lu bit bitof of th thumb Like em many other e habits thu thumb b sucking In tn nufi ot t- t Ion tion probably do docs doc no ria harm But dentists point to th the r that that hat overindulgence In n this habit bif causes auses a typical deformity thi of tAb i jaws aws in which the upp upper r front teeth ceth are arc pus pushed cd forward or ar low lower ower r front ron teeth ar are tipped back k 1 ward They Thoy have found tb t i the left thumb is sucked th the theare b are aro displaced to the left leU if t thumb Is sucked the teeth ate moved toward tho right ft tr This serious possibility of ot- nuy f j 1 formation of ot the jaw should b ben bi decided warning to parents to do something early about thumb thumb suck su Ing If tho habit is broken the he child Is five year old the may disappear ar Yi year or two If If however the 5 5 ice is continued tho the def deformity HIM become permanent In an extensive study a prominent dentist discovered that 70 io of children had developed s such as sucking the tho thumbs ff i-fa i tongues or lips Thirty of th sucked their thumbs With the exception of two children who began the habit during duning second year of life liCe all who l I d their heir thumbs had had started dut their nursing periods T Twenty Twenty-on cn of the 30 children were easily br broken k ri of the tho habit but nine persisted persist d I t. t In practically all c cases case thumb sucking was asleep L j Although the practice In tion lion may not be harmful It Ili Is h hird fd to draw the th line between and excessive indulgence t. t est eat plan is not to permit thumb sucking to any degree W which will Indicate that it is apt to becom j n established habit All sorts of devices have be bc a d. d to cure euro a child of th the ha h habit bil One of the simplest methods j I wrap some adhesive tape lightly around the thumb This makes b. b sucking somewhat disagreeable kni nd with a good many babies will prove to be sufficient to break th the Milt hl An Another method is to place a stiff Wf cardboard over the childs child's that the arm cannot be bent And Ad still sUU other ideas are th the Uon of bitter medicine on the thumb use of or wire rings aluminum mitts rnEtt and similar devices The Ib W cuffs cuts seem to be the most effective A professor of at psychology at t Johns Johns' Hopkins university suggest ts appealing to the childs child's var Bj fly this system the child is taken fr from im play twice u n day and made to n nits k its thumb thum for or 10 minutes minutes' b lor il mirror If the thc child is not permitted uj y distractions while watching it lj suck its thumb it will In tho m ma of cases pro promptly gy give up up the habit it f r i |