Pacifiers

I have been told to absolutely not allow my boys to use a pacifier past three months. That seems kind of young to me. What has everyone else done? I'd love to wean them, but let's face it, they sure are handy.

 

One of my boys never took one (neither did baby girl), but L did and I weaned him off of it around 9-10 months old. J, who never took the pacifier, still sucks his fingers though...that wa/is his self-soothing behavior. I wouldn't worry about it just yet. As L got older, I did regulate the use of the paci for sleep/nap time and then worked on weaning.

 

Mine are almost 21 months and Jake still uses his for going to sleep. Ryan just likes to play with his. He weaned himself off it shortly after 1yr. I never let them have it when they were playing (when they were started sleeping in the crib) and only let them have it for sleep. Even now, Jake knows he has to leave it in his bed before going downstairs (though I have been letting him play with it when we play upstairs). Good luck with your decision!

 

3 months?! That seems kind of restrictive....my SIL's DD is still walking around with hers at 15 months!

My ped just told us to throw away pacis and bottles at 1 year, but Nate never really liked a paci, and Jack decided at about 5 months that he preferred his thumb.

 

I never wanted my kids to have pacis (before kids). My oldest didn't, but the twins changed it all. They use theirs only for sleeping and most of the time they are found in the middle of the floor. I think I should just ditch them, considering they don't use them all the time.

 

I would recommend the same time as the bottle (at 12 months). I weaned them from the bottle at 12 months, weaned down to just naptime and bedtime for the paci at 15 months, but didn't take the paci completely away until well past 2 1/2. Don't wait until 2 1/2, it would have been way easier to just do it at a year...WAY easier!

 

My boys all took a paci, and were all about 2 when we finally ditched them.

 

All 3 of my boys took a paci for the first 2 months and then totally lost interest in them! My dd on the other hand still has hers at 16 months. I think 3 months is young and have never heard that. Our ped said that it's okay until 2 years. Good luck in your decision!

 

I weaned my kids at 2 months. It's kind of true what they say- the longer you wait, the harder it generally is. I think that's practically true for everything baby related. I really did not want my kids walking around and talking and still having them. Our Godchildren were permitted to have them past 1 year of age and were actually scolded by their Ped for it. Their verbal skills were terrible and their front teeth were literally starting to push forward and look horrible. It was quite unfortunate. Breaking these kids was like breaking wild horses, even though they were only allowed to have them in the evening and for bed. Anywho, at 2 months I stopped swaddling my girls and gave them their 'lovies' (12 inch square blankies). The comfort of their hands to suck and the blankies made the transition easy. I'm so glad it's over with. From experience, I'd strongly urge you to do the same. They're not too attached at this point, so you still have that window of opportuinity. They are also nowhere near as aware as they will be in another month...or two. Best of luck to you

 

My first son i weaned to night/nap use at 18 months, gone by age 2.

My first daughter night/nap use at age 2 and she's 2.5 and still uses it. She's very very attached, almost like a crack addict. Pretty sure she's going to have to choose to give it up.

Twins are 3 months and like them to calm down and go to sleep, but spit them out once they are asleep. I think giving up at 2 months is very early and it doesn't hurt them to have them past a year.

Both my older kids have great teeth and a vast vocabulary, having a paci past a year did them no damage.

 

Mine started taking them around 8 months. And they mostly just play with them. I figured it'd help soothe them a little during their teething stages. I put one in their crib also.. I figure I'll slowly take them away around 14 months. Don't think it'll be a huge issue with them though.

Also, yeah.. 3 months seems a tad too young to take them away IMO :unknw:

 

3 months seems really early to take them away. They still have a strong urge to suck at this age. Many babies drop the paci no problem when they are older. My mom says mine got left at grandma's house. I cried on the ride home for 2 hours and that was the end of that.

 

We took the pacifiers away a bit after the girls turned 5 months old. I read that it was extremely hard to take away pacifiers after 6 months, so we made sure to do it prior to then. When they were 4 months old, we started only using them for naps & bed time. When we took them away completely, it took about 2 days for them to learn to soothe themselves without the pacifiers for naps & bed time.

 

3 months is way too young. My doctor said pacifiers are recommended by the american academy of pediatrics for the first year, it reduces SIDS. So don't worry about it yet! Obviously if kids don't take to it, you don't need to force it but i wouldn't wean until at least a year.

 

My two still have them for night and naps.

 

My plan was to take them off them at 4 months. They decided at 3 months that they didn't want them anymore. The only time mine ever took them anyway was after eating, and Jon only took one because I "forced" it on him to strengthen his suck.

 

Mine still have them. IDK when we will get rid. Definitely by two.

 

I was never a big pacifier fan, especially as a speech-language pathologist, but one of my girls loves it, and let's face it, when I have a quick and easy way to soothe one when they're both screaming, I'm going to go for it! I've always said I would wean her by 6 months. The twins are 5 months now, and I'm already dreading the weaning. I think at 6 months I will go down to nap/bedtime only, and then go from there.

I've heard it's easier to ditch the paci before they can ask for it (not counting endless screaming as "asking"), and I tend to believe that a child that can verbally request it is too old. Babies like it because they have this sucking reflex, and the sucking is soothing. Supposedly, they outgrow that at 6 months. The suck used on a paci is considered an "immature suck," as opposed to the suck used to drink from a straw, etc.

Here's where I think the issue comes in (from my point of view as a professional)....I've seen countless kids in my office with horrid speech disorders because they've learned to talk with a paci in their mouths, which pushes the resting posture of the tongue back, and forces sounds to be produced with the tongue further back in the mouth than it should be. It also affects the palate/arch and teeth. You can spot a paci user/thumb sucker by just their smile, they generally develop an "open bite," where the top and bottom teeth don't overlap as they should because the paci has pushed to top teeth out. I'm' not saying your child is destined for this if s/he uses the pacifier for a prolonged period of time; but persistent users, frequent suckers, and those that talk with the pacifier in their mouth are more likely to have issues.

With all that being said, I think you're fine to go past 3 months. I tell parents all the time to ditch the paci at work (with kids 18months and up), yet I have a paci user at home now.

 

QUOTE(Adrianna @ Jun 11 2009, 09:52 PM) [snapback]1351182[/snapback]
I was never a big pacifier fan, especially as a speech-language pathologist, but one of my girls loves it, and let's face it, when I have a quick and easy way to soothe one when they're both screaming, I'm going to go for it! I've always said I would wean her by 6 months. The twins are 5 months now, and I'm already dreading the weaning. I think at 6 months I will go down to nap/bedtime only, and then go from there.

I've heard it's easier to ditch the paci before they can ask for it (not counting endless screaming as "asking"), and I tend to believe that a child that can verbally request it is too old. Babies like it because they have this sucking reflex, and the sucking is soothing. Supposedly, they outgrow that at 6 months. The suck used on a paci is considered an "immature suck," as opposed to the suck used to drink from a straw, etc.

Here's where I think the issue comes in (from my point of view as a professional)....I've seen countless kids in my office with horrid speech disorders because they've learned to talk with a paci in their mouths, which pushes the resting posture of the tongue back, and forces sounds to be produced with the tongue further back in the mouth than it should be. It also affects the palate/arch and teeth. You can spot a paci user/thumb sucker by just their smile, they generally develop an "open bite," where the top and bottom teeth don't overlap as they should because the paci has pushed to top teeth out. I'm' not saying your child is destined for this if s/he uses the pacifier for a prolonged period of time; but persistent users, frequent suckers, and those that talk with the pacifier in their mouth are more likely to have issues.

With all that being said, I think you're fine to go past 3 months. I tell parents all the time to ditch the paci at work (with kids 18months and up), yet I have a paci user at home now.



Good answer. I work closely with SLP's (special ed) and that's what I know. So different when you're the parent right??

 

My oldest LOVED his pacifier. We let him have it for a good year, year and a half or so. I honestly can’t even remember the transition to not using it, so it must not have been a big deal. And considering how devoted he was – that’s really saying something! He’s 7 now and the pacifier days seem like an eternity ago.

I guess my point is that in the grand scheme of things I don’t think it matters terribly much for most kids. You'll KNOW when you think they're just too darn old to be sucking on those things. If it comforts them and you don’t mind then I say go for it!

 

Neither of the boys like them, and will tongue them out and make a face as soon as they realize no milk is coming out of them. lol


Kenneth and Ian are 7 weeks and 4 days old

 

The twins don't really take the pacifiers but my 2 older ones did now 7 and 5 and we weaned them both at the age of 3. The dentist said it wouldn't harm there teeth unless they kept them past 3. My 7 yr. old it was hard to wean and my 5 yr. old just gave it up with no crying and had no problems.

 

My boys were never really big on the pacifier and did ditch them around 3 months, but are now chronic thumb suckers. I'm the farthest from an expert their is, but to me, I almost wish they would do the paci instead so we could wean them off them at some point. How do you take away their thumb?!? I teach first grade and see those 6-7 year olds that still have their fingers in their mouths all the time..... GROSS.

IMO- let them keep them. At three months, they are just learning to self soothe.

 

QUOTE(ADL2009 @ Jun 10 2009, 05:04 PM) [snapback]1349164[/snapback]
I have been told to absolutely not allow my boys to use a pacifier past three months. That seems kind of young to me. What has everyone else done? I'd love to wean them, but let's face it, they sure are handy.

3 months seems way too young to have self-soothing expectations. that's really not something you can expect of them until they're 4-6 months.

here's what we did. we let our boys have pacis as much as they wanted for going to sleep. if they dropped the paci and woke up crying for it, we soothed them back down without it. by the time they it 7 1/2 or 8 months they just didn't even want them anymore. we offer and they hold the paci in their hands and maybe chew on the nub for a bit, then they stop looking for it. they sort of weaned themselves because they learned to sleep both with and without it.

just don't let it become a crutch after 5 or so months and they'll be fine.

 

QUOTE(Yusra @ Jun 13 2009, 01:00 AM) [snapback]1352694[/snapback]
My boys were never really big on the pacifier and did ditch them around 3 months, but are now chronic thumb suckers. I'm the farthest from an expert their is, but to me, I almost wish they would do the paci instead so we could wean them off them at some point. How do you take away their thumb?!? I teach first grade and see those 6-7 year olds that still have their fingers in their mouths all the time..... GROSS.

IMO- let them keep them. At three months, they are just learning to self soothe.



I agree I would much rather have a paci sucker than a thumb sucker, it may be hard to break the habit, but it's easier than taking away a thumb!

 

Our pedi said to get rid of them by 9 mo. well... we didn't. But I've only let them have them for naps & night time from the beginning, and it took my daughter several months to even like it. Both will settle quite quickly with the pacifiers and go to sleep great. But also in the carseat if they are tired they will sleep whether or not they have the paci so that's a comfort for me that they don't "have" to have them. and like a pp said, I'd much rather have them on a paci that we can throw away than a thumb... I figure I'll deal with it later, hopefully well before they are 2. But teething has become such a lovely monster with the molars (each baby just got 1 at 13 months), that I'd like to let them have the soothing effects of the paci during this next year of getting big teeth in. Usually if we go in to see them sleeping they've already spit their paci out... but they'll find it and get it back in if they need.

with that being said... 3 months seems way too young! like I said my daughter never even liked it until then... it is nice to let them have something to suck on to help soothe them.

 

We pretty much have just used them for soothing to sleep, or very occasional other times when they seem to need extra soothing (or to hold one off when his bottle gets interrupted because his brother needs to get burped, etc.). Because the use has always been limited (and as often as not, they just spit them out) I don't think it will be hard to wean them. Perhaps if you just limit their use now it won't be too much of an issue later on?

 

We never offered them much and with them being premature our Dr actually said NOT to use them to stregthen their suck but to offer a bottle instead...with that being said we did let them have them as they were falling asleep but around 3 1/2-4 months they stopped really "wanting" them so we switched to the lovey (the little blankets with animal heads) and they have been paci free ever since! I think the last time we used it was around 5 months they got sick and Jack really wanted it, I should just throw them away...I don't even pack them for daycare anymore.

Anyways...back on track...I was just reading my Parenting magazine last night and I read not to let babies past 15-18months have them bc their suck reflex is actually so strong that they can pull bacteria from their mouth into their ears causing them to have more ear infections!! I never knew that...I always thought it was a speech/teeth problem they were trying to prevent...but there is something else to add to the list

Also at 3 months if they are still wanting it I would let them have it, I will say mine are 6 1/2 months now and I would dread having to wean them I'm glad they did it sooner!

 

that is interesting about the speech issues and then potential ear infections...