Young children often develop habits which are considered bad such as pulling out their hair, sucking their thumbs, rocking their bodies and banging their heads against a wall or other object. These habits are actually soothing to the child and may be the result of boredom, loneliness, or some other kind of stress and cause little harm to the child.
The first step in eliminating this bad behavior is to ignore it and not reinforce it by saying “Get your thumb out of your mouth.” Find an alternate activity for the child will require him or her to keep the thumb out of the mouth like blowing bubbles or playing a game together. While doing so, there should be no mention of the thumb sucking.
Giving more attention to the child overall can help as well. It is best to do this in general and not so much just after the behavior is done as this can worsen the situation as the child associates getting more attention with the bad habit.
Finally the behavior can be made less pleasurable. One way to do this is to give the child a short haircut or for a girl tie the hair in a braid or ponytail so it is more difficult to get at. For head banging, the headboard or crib can be cushioned as the habit comes from the pleasure of hitting one’s head against a hard surface.
If these bad habits do not clear themselves by the time a child has reached school age, then it is time to consult a pediatrician. At this stage, professional help is needed to rid the child of the bad habit.