Baby’s or toddler’s bad habits are rarely cause for alarm

In this article, you’ll find answers to questions like:

1. Should I call the doctor?
2. When to intervene?
3. How to break bad habits?

Babies who bang their heads on walls, toddlers who suck their thumbs — it seems like a rite of passage, though it’s perplexing for parents.

Should you be worried? Probably not, says Kathryn Tancig, assistant manager of Healthy Families, a program of Families First of Palm Beach County. “Most of the time, these behaviors are just phases or habits — not serious medical problems — and the child typically outgrows them,” she says. 

1. SHOULD I CALL THE DOC?

However, Tancig advises concerned parents to contact their pediatrician. “Yelling, calling attention to the habit and punishment do not usually work to stop the behavior, but praising the absence of the behavior, using positive rewards and patience are likely to help,” she says. 

Sierra Boyce of Jupiter says her son seemed to pick up a bad habit just about every day. “When he was younger, he would bang his head on things. Once he started moving around, he loved to poke the dogs in their eyes,” she says.

Luckily, most of these of quirks disappeared just about as fast as they came on, Boyce says. Except one: eating dirt.

“My neighbors were no longer fazed by the sight of my boy with a ring of black mud around his lips, nor were his grandmothers, the mailman, the UPS guy, my friends. It used to worry me because it seemed strange . . . but he genuinely seemed to enjoy it,” she says.

Dr. Chris McGinnis, a psychologist and founding clinic director at Boys Town South Florida, agrees with Tancig that these habits don’t necessarily signal something is wrong. However, if a child eats dirt regularly, he recommends talking with the pediatrician, “especially if the child is a picky eater, as this can indicate the child may not be getting enough iron.”

2. WHEN TO INTERVENE?

Don’t worry about thumb-sucking until age 5, says McGinnis, who echoes Tancig on providing positive reinforcement by praising the child when they’re not engaged in the habit. “It can be a powerful behavioral shaping tool,” he says.

But it’s time to act if your children start hurting themselves. “Head banging that causes harm in any way should be looked at by the pediatrician and, although rare, it could also be indicative of a neurodevelopmental disorder, which is important to catch as early as possible,” McGinnis says. “As for bed-wetting, almost half of all children still bed-wet occasionally at the age of 3, with 10 percent or so bed-wetting still at the age of 10. All bed-wetting resolves on its own over time, so the question is when is the family ready to address it?”

Quality sleep is the key, he says. It boosts cooperation and overall functioning. “Once we help improve sleep and cooperation, then we move on to other concerns like picky eating, problems with the homework routine, anxiety, bad habits, bed-wetting and others,” he says.

3. HOW TO BREAK BAD HABITS?

• Calmly explain what you don't like about the behavior and why. This approach can be used with children as young as 3 or 4 to help increase awareness of the problem. Say something like, "I don't like it when you bite your nails. It doesn't look nice. Could you try to stop doing that?" The next time it happens, don't scold or lecture. Punishment, ridicule or criticism could have the opposite effect by causing the behavior to increase.
• Involve your child in the process of breaking the habit. If your toddler is crying because someone mocked his thumb-sucking, understand this is a way of asking for help. Parents can ask their children what they think they could do to stop the habit or if they want to stop the habit. Brainstorm ways to break the habit together.
• Suggest alternative behaviors. For example, if your child is a nail-biter, say, "Let's wiggle our fingers," instead of "Don't bite your nails." This will increase awareness of the habit and may serve as a reminder. To occupy your child's attention, provide a distraction, such as helping you in the kitchen or working on a craft.
• Reward and praise self-control. For example, when your children refrain from sucking their thumbs, reinforce that with praise and give them a sticker or other small prize.
• Be consistent in rewarding good behavior. If you fail to notice good behavior, it will disappear over time. The new positive habit must be firmly established before the old one will disappear.
• Be patient. It takes time for the alternative behavior to replace the bad one. For the best success, motivate your children to break the habit.

• Dr. Chris McGinnis, founding clinic director, psychologist, Boys Town South Florida
• Kathy Tancig, Healthy Families assistant manager, Families First of Palm Beach County
• KidsHealth