FAQ

Thumb and finger sucking are both very complex problems. They are the same, just different appendages. You have the physical motion of bending your arm and putting your thumb in your mouth causing a lot of physical damage to the teeth, jaw and palate. These can also lead to other problems like a speech impediment due to a strengthening of the tongue known as a tongue-thrust. You now have a total misalignment of their teeth. Handaid works at stopping the physical by keeping the Thumb & Fingers out and away from the mouth. Then you have the emotional problem; the emotional attachment that grows the longer you let the child suck their thumb/fingers. It is the emotional problem when left unaddressed that will be the most harmful to the child long term.  That is why here at Handaid, we recommend that you start breaking this habit starting at 2 years of age.

Handaid is designed to keep the hand away from the mouth. If the instructions are followed correctly the child will be unable to remove it. Handaid can be hand washed or gentle cycle in cold water and remember to air dry only. Tguard and other devices made of plastic all have 1 fatal flaw that they have yet to address. FACT: that you cannot sterilize plastic. The plastic cannot withstand the high temperatures needed for sterilization. The only way you can kill germs on plastic is with chemicals and sanitizers. That’s why all plastic syringes are disposable after 1-time use. You can’t just rinse these devices off once-a-day and put it back on your child’s hand. Moisture gets trapped behind the plastic and it cannot evaporate.  Just like your child’s saliva, tap water also has germs in it. Those germs start multiplying again and can cause irritations to the skin behind the plastic which if left untreated can turn into a staph infection.  Because the Handaid is designed to keep the hand away from the mouth, you can squirt or spray sanitizers onto the Handaid surface because the child’s hand will not be going anywhere near their mouth. Those chemicals can be washed off the Handaid. So please, do not spray/squirt hand sanitizers onto any plastic device which is designed to work in the mouth. The chemicals that are used in those products should not be ingested by anyone. So it’s your choice: The Handaid or something made out of plastic.

One of the advantages of being a quality-priced product is that we become the last thumb/finger sucking product that you have to purchase.  After you’ve tried all the other cheap devices that, for some reason, just did not work. Remember, those other devices only cost less than ours… if they work. Our products are  for informed parents that take these habits very seriously.  Every new customer tells us every problem they had with the last products(Tguard, Nipit, Thumster etc.) they used. They hold us to a higher standard for all of those reasons and we always accept that challenge. One of the many reasons why our product has a 99% success rate is because we can adapt by learning from the mistakes of our competition.

The Handaid has a patented child-proof closure system which the child cannot open without adult assistance.

We have found that the longer your child has been thumb/finger sucking, the longer it takes to break the habit. The Handaid is worn for a minimum of 3 weeks (24/7), and then one additional week during sleeptime only.

DO NOT BE FOOLED BY EARLY SUCCESS. The Handaid works; that is why we are the #1 thumb sucking deterrent in the world.  Follow our guidance of wearing the Handaid for a minimum of 3 weeks to ensure your child never goes back to the habit.

The Handaid can definitely help. A displacement of the tongue and other problems like a tongue-thrust will, in most cases, disappear once the child gives up their habit. Tongue-thrust is a strengthening of the tongue caused by the child pressing their thumb against the roof of their mouth so they can relax their arm and shoulder. This strengthening of their tongue can lead to problems with their speech.