When babies are born their neurological system isn’t completely developed. The nerves in the brain in an adult are covered in a myelin sheath that protects them and allows them to work more efficiently. In an infant that sheath isn’t fully developed. Imagine that the nerves are wires and instead of being covered in colored plastic they are raw and exposed. That is what the neurological system in an infant would look like.
Because of this immaturity in the nervous system infants do well with security and comfort objects as well as special ways of wrapping them. One way of comforting a new infant is to swaddle them. Although when they are laid in bed their arms or legs often will be splayed outward their neurological system will mature more quickly and with less stress if they are swaddled.
Swaddling involves having the legs and arms drawn closely to their own body and wrapped in a blanket This swaddling helps to calm their nervous system and keep them from crying as much.
As children grow older they develop attachments to other objects, often the blanket with which they were swaddled, or other blankets or toys. These comfort items can include a pacifier, bottle, toy, blanket or stuffed animals. And these comfort items or security blankets are an important means of helping children to feel secure and emotionally attached.
From infancy through toddlerhood and beyond many children become attached to items that provide them with a sense of security that helps the child to soothe themselves and cope with their everyday life experiences. These familiar objects can help when the child is separated from their parents or when they are in an environment that causes fear or anxiety.
Not every baby latches on to an object that gives them security or comfort but for those that do they are an important part to their development. However, child development experts also believe that whether a child does or doesn’t develop an attachment to a comfort item isn’t an indication about anything of the child’s future personality or future abilities.
Children who grow attached to their pacifier or their thumb do so because they also have a neurological need to suck. Other children grow attached to transitional objects such as blankets or toys. As children grow and mature these changes can give them a sense of mental chaos and uneasiness and a familiar object can be comforting.
The child that does have a comfort item may be able to tolerate a parent’s absence better than the child who needs only the parent. And if the child does use a comfort item it just means that they have chosen this particular means of handling stress.
Children always outgrow their need for their security item on their own. Most parents let them carry a security blanket or toy until they feel comfortable on their own. But most parents also attempt to remove the use of a pacifier by the time the child is 3 in fear that the pacifier will change the shape of the mouth or placement of the teeth necessitating the services of an orthodontist by the time they reach their teens.
But in most cases peer pressure puts an end to thumb sucking or pacifier use before the need for parental intervention. But children can also return to things that they find comforting as they grow tired throughout the day. They could revert to rubbing their nose, sucking their thumb or holding a blanket. When this happens it only helps your little one to cope with the stress at hand and is harmless. The best way for parents to handle it is to relax.