Babies have a strong urge to suck that can be satisfied by the breast, bottle, pacifier or - thumb! Those that discover their thumb have an independence that other babies lack. Thumbsuckers are resourceful, able to look after themselves! Dental and oral consequences do not occur in infants and toddlers who suck their thumb. Only if a child is still a serious thumb sucker beyond the age of 4 is there reason for health concerns. In fact, thumb sucking usually disappears on its own sometime in the first three years. However, if you do want to hurry that process along, you could try intervening when your daughter is two years old. Talk to her at that time about not sucking her thumb and encourage her with little treats and rewards for getting through a morning without a thumb, an afternoon, and an evening. Don't use punishment or anything aversive at this age (bad tasting nail cream like Thum can be used for those kids closer to 4 years old). Use praise and positive attention to non-sucking moments. Also, if you are nursing your baby, let her use the breast as a pacifier or offer her a pacifier in addition to bottle or breast. The more she sucks on something else, the less she'll suck on her thumb. Of course, you may not want her to have a pacifier for the same reason as you don't want her to suck her thumb - but again, you can always remove the pacifier when she is a little older. She's just little right now and really does need to suck on something.   Sarah Chana