Pacifiers

MY LO is done with bottles and loves her cup. She still uses a pacifier though at night. If she doesnt have it to go to sleep she pops her little thumb in there.
Just wondering when I should stop offering it to her or if she will grow out of it on her own. Other than bedtime she doesnt use it much at all.

 

I feel like we really got lucky here..about 5 months or so they just refused it and that was that!

 

At 26 months I told them big kids don't use plugs (that what we call paci) and they exepted that for the most part. They will be 4 next month and still have a night one due ENT doc telling us to. They have sleep apnea and the paci holds their tongue down to so they can breath better. I just wonder how long he is going to have them use it. I am kinda getting tired of them and think they are getting older.
Just went to doc 2 weeks ago hopefully at 6 month visit he says we can get rid of them.

 

The only reason I would say let them use it until you can talk to them about taking it away from them is because you can get rid of a paccifier, but you can't get rid of a thumb. I was a thumb sucker and had to wear a retainer for a year prior to getting braces. Also when kids suck on their finger they tend to get sick more often because germs are always on your hands. In my experience working with kids, at around 18months to 2 years of age when the parents talked to them and told them they were getting rid of it they seemed to do really well. You just have to make sure that they aren't using it during the day since it can hinder their speech developement. You could also try going in there at night and taking it out after she falls asleep to wean her off of it if you really want to get rid of it now. In my experience I have seen older kids (5) suck their thumb, but haven't really seen one suck on a pacifier. I actually have a friend who's daughter still sucks her finger at 10 and she regret taking away the pacifier too early and this kid is always sick. I also knew a kid growig up that had to have a device put in the roof of her mouth to stop her from sucking her thumb. So for me I am going to wait unless my kids decide on their own they don't want one before hand, but for now every time I see them sucking of their thumbs I put a pacifier in their mouth since I have a real pet peeve about kids sucking their thumbs because you can't get rid of the thumb.

 

My oldest DD used hers until 25 months. At that point I felt like she wasn't going to start sucking her thumb so we were safe. I was VERY worried about her picking up thumb sucking. After about 18 months, she was only allowed to have her binky when she slept. It worked out well this way and I plan on doing the same with the twins. Right now they are still VERY attached to their binkies. Hopefully losing the bink will go as smoothly as it did with DD1.

 

I sucked my thumb until I was 10 :shok: Yep. I did not need braces.

That said, dd used a plug at bedtime until she was 2.5 years old. DS now uses one and I would love to take it away before he turns a year, but dh worships the plug.. that's 'his' babysitter. So, my guess is that it isn't going anywhere soon.

 

I asked my pedi about it at their last appointment - she said not to worry about it until they turn 2. So mine still use them!

 

My 3 boys were paci babies, and gave them up around 2-2.5.