Busted!

We took the little guys for a cleaning a few days ago and the dentist could tell by the alignment of their teeth that they still use their pacifiers (at naps and bed, I proudly proclaimed - trying to defend my pacifier-loving-2.5-year-olds and my bad mommy allowing them to still have them complex!)

I felt so guilty, though. She said if kids stop using them by 2, their bite/alignment usually corrects itself - but past 2, it is possible that it won't. She said I should start "snipping" the tips and be done by July 4th with fireworks as a "Goodbye Pacifier" party.

Darnit, I'm not ready! :cry: They love their pacifiers for naps and bed and I just really wasn't ready to start that battle. Lazy? I don't know....just wasn't a battle I was up for yet. :lol:

If your 2.5+ year old still used a pacifier, was there permanent damage done to their bite/alignment?

Thanks!

 

:hug: Cut yourself some slack! You've got two little kids (and one bigger kid) to keep happy. Survival, survival, survival. You are not a bad mom for doing what works!

 

Mine didn't stop using them until after 3 and their bite is pretty normal looking now. :good: I think we stopped at 3y3m...by then they were done with naps and only used them at bed time...until the day the soothie fairy came and took all the soothies away and left them a present.

 

I have no idea about whether or not their teeth with realign, but I just wanted to give you some encouragement. Maybe the transition won't be as bad as you think. I know I've had some transitions that were way easier than I thought. I'm rooting for this to be easy on your guys.

 

Jori, I just want to give you some encouragement too. :youcandoit: I think having a July 4th Goodbye Pacifier party is a good idea. One of my friends, when she took the paci away from her daughter, she told her that it was time to donate her paci to another little baby in the neighborhood and her daughter took it very well and helped her Mom gather in them into a ziploc bag to be "donated". Good luck!

 

We did the "give to a new baby" thing and built it up over a week. On that Friday, I asked them to put their binkies in a box, we put a bow on it, and they went to bed and the box went in the trash. It really wasn't bad, there were a few days of asking for them, but I said, "remember, we gave them to a new baby" and they didn't ask anymore.

 

I was SO worried about getting rid of them for DS. Let me just say that it was all me and nothing him. I snipped the ends and he just tossed them aside. He whimpered for one nap and one bedtime. Honest. I swear. That was it. He was two.

As I continue to scrapbook their younger days, his bite was SO bad. I mean gap-toothed, projecting bad. It takes being away from it and then seeing it again to realize how much damage had been done. It took almost ONE YEAR for his bite to change. He still has a gap, but I think that's just normal for him. The rest of teeth are aligned, though.

You have to get rid of the pacis, mama. They are actually damaging more than they are soothing. :hug:

 

If it makes you feel better, they might just have bad bites regardless of pacifier use. My DD has a huge overbite and her chin is somewhat recessed too. The dentist tried to give me the "talk" about stopping the pacifier because her bite is so bad, so he was very surprised when I told him that she never used one. Then he asked if she still used bottles or sucked or chewed on something for comfort. Nope. Not that either. The girl just has messed up teeth! So, maybe that's the case with your boys too. :laughing:

 

One of mine stopped the paci before she was a year old. The other one is a thumb sucker still. The thumb sucker has perfect teeth and the former binky user has the messed up teeth. I really think genetics has a lot to do with it. I could see if they had them all day long. If they aren't sucking on them all the time, I think it's fine. My thumb sucker stops once she falls asleep usually, so maybe that helps. Who knows? I'm trying not to stress about it.

 

Just think of how much $$$$ that pacifier is going to cost you in braces $ down the road!! That would be enough for me! Braces are SOOO expensive!

GL getting rid of it!!

 

My oldest DS got rid of the "night-night" at 11mos...for my oldest DD, it was such a comfort object that we didn't push it at 1, or 15mos, or 18mos...finally at 2 we snipped the tip and had the worst 2 weeks of sleep. We gave in and bought new ones. She always (from 1 on) used it only in the crib. The dentist also commented on it at her first visit. We ended up not finally getting rid of it until she was almost 4!! It was a long road...I think the "night-night fairy" was the final thing but we still heard about it for weeks....

I have never had a dentist tell me since that first visit that she has a bad bite or alignment. Both of my older kids have speech issues, but I don't blame the binky's for that since one was done at 1 and one at 4 but both have the same articulation issues. I stressed about this a lot with my DD and what put me over the edge is when it stopped being a comfort object for her and started really interfereing with her sleep (she spit it out when she fell asleep, but would wake up several times/night screaming for it and need it to fall back to sleep). This is when we finally took it away.

The twins never took to pacifiers and we didn't push it with them. I was so happy when they were around 1 and I realized we would not have to do that battle! Good luck when you do decide, but I wouldn't stress too much if you and they are not ready.

 

Thank you, everyone. :grouphug: I will keep you posted with our progress (or lack of, LOL). I know that we need to kick the habit, I just need to get myself mentally ready! :laughing: The start of school is the deadline I've given myself - August 9th!

 

I feel your pain. We were going to get rid of the paci and then Karina started having MAJOR sleep issues, so now that's on hold until we can straighten that out. We also need to be rid of it before school starts. Good luck to you!

 

My dentist said no worries. :drinks:

Just like I wouldn't make a kid stop nursing because they hit a certain age, I won't take away the paci because they've reached a certain age. BUT.. I will say no at certain times. I won't nurse a toddler in the middle of music class (but I would an infant) and a toddler can't have a pacifier in the library (but an infant could). I think it is just a matter of slowly letting the child give it up, within the gentle guidelines you establish.

I can't even imagine how hard it would be to cut my 3 year old off of her paci. Yikes! I always joke she'll go from the paci to smoking! :diablo:

Good luck with that.

 

My oldest ds liked his paci, but it wasn't a "necessity", he wanted it for naps/bedtime but never asked for it any other time. We took his away at age 2 with no problems.

Our oldest dd, however, was literally attached to her suckie. I tried very hard to limit it to nap/bedtime but whenever she would get overwhelmed, she needed it. She would get frantic and start screaming for her "guckie" over and over again. Large crowds, strange people, new places all overwhelmed her. We were just able to get rid of hers shortly after she turned 3. We tried once before, and after a long several hours of screaming and crying, frantically looking for her "guckie" we gave it back to her, and even with having it back, it totally ruined her sleep for months. We used to put her down in a dark room with the door closed, we had to start leaving the door wide open and the hallway light on. Eventually we were able to shut the light off, but we still can't close her door tight anymore.

I'm in no rush to take away the twins suckie's. They use them at night/nap time, and during the day if they are not feeling well, but 80% of the time during the day they don't have them (unless they find one they've "stashed" somewhere! :lol. My older kids have no teeth problems, and I too feel that genetics play a part in that as well :hug:

 

Okay after reading this post today, I decided to snip the tip of my DD's paci. She only takes it in her crib, for naps and bedtime, but she will put it in her mouth if we put her in there at any given time. She's developing a bit of an over bite so I was getting worried about it. OMG I feel soooooo guilty. Mommy's guilt has to be the worst guilt out there. She looked at me with such sadness. Kept taking it out and trying to readjust it. Finally she just put it down beside her. I started tearing up, I felt so bad. When I peeked in on her she was asleep, but she was holding it.

 

:hug:

This is exactly why I won't be taking my dd's away for at least another 6 months. I want her to give it to the paci fairy or a new baby. I want to be able to talk her through it. At this age my dd just doesn't understand why.
She does have an over bite and am sure that she will probably need braces but my oldest needs braces and he never ever took a pacifier. I also agree that it's genetics. I pick my battles and this is one I'm willing to pick later. ardon:

 

You guys have made me feel a lot better. Every time I think about it, I know they just aren't there yet. Just as my oldest DS wasn't ready to stop nursing til 2.5, they aren't ready to "give it up". And I was feeling so guilty about the fact that I was "letting" them ruin their teeth. I had braces and I never had a pacifier. Excuse? Maybe. But I just don't know if I'm ready to force this on them yet. We don't go back to the dentist for 6 months....so I've got time. LOL

 

When did I take mine away? I'm pretty sure they had them in March when we went to my sister's wedding. So lets say April. Between April and June, *I* have noticed their teeth are closer together, which I'm saying, not to show you how much their teeth are out of alignment, but to show you how FAST they move! And when you see something every day you're less likely to notice small adjustments but I can see it!!

ETA: As for having an overbite, Alice has a bad one and has had it since the first visit to the pediatrician! At a week old. I had a really bad one too (and crooked teeth with no pacifier), so bad I could put two fingers in there.

 

Not read everyone's comments but just wanted to say that I got rid of my boys' dodies when they were 25 months I think. Max LOVED his dodi soooo much but he wanted it all the time but I had had enough!!!! I went down the snip the end off route and we talked about how they were now all broken and the dodi fairy was going to come and take them away - Elliot gave his up after the first snip. Max kept sucking on his nub after 5 days but with all the talk of being broken and the dodi fairy he was just great. Took them away and that was that - no trouble whatsoever!!!! Was totally surprised. He asked for it now and then for a few days but no tears and no problems!!! It's time. Good luck!!