pacifires prevent them from starting to talk

I give my girls pacifires. The pedi said it's fine for them to have pacifires until they are 2. They aren't really talking yet. First my aunt told my mom that if we took their pacis away they would start to talk. I thought to myself, "how does she know?" considering she's the same age as my mom and hasn't had a baby in 30 years. Then yesterday my MIL said the same thing. So I was wondering if there was any truth to it. If pacifires prevent them from talking then why wouldn't my pedi have suggested I start taking the pacifires away before they turn 2?

 

Do they have them during the day? Only at certain times like naps, bed, car rides, etc?

I think the thought is if the child always has a pacifier in their mouth and they are sucking on it all day long - they would be less likely to talk b/c their mouth is occupied.

We try to limit pacifier use to bed, naps, and car trips - but they will have them sometimes during the day - and I've noticed mine just talk around the pacifier if it is in their mouth. They'll somehow keep it in their mouth yet still talk.

I'm guessing that is an old belief - but there might be something to it if a child has a pacifier in their mouth ALL of the time.

 

My son has a pacifier and has been talking up a storm for ages.

 

I honestly don't know. My DH didn't speak at all until he was over 2 ... he didn't take a paci. My daugther doesn't take a paci, and have a slightly bigger vocabulary than her brother. Jake takes one for naps and bedtime, and he talks a ton.

Obviously, these are just anecdotal stories, but I know tons of kids that take pacis and talk a lot ...

 

QUOTE(mama23boys @ Apr 6 2009, 08:31 AM) [snapback]1260678[/snapback]
Do they have them during the day? Only at certain times like naps, bed, car rides, etc?


Well since people have started making comments I've become more aware of when the girls have pacis, and it is quite often. This morning when they got out of their cribs I attempted to take them away, but they just found two more around the house and put them in their mouths as soon as they were done with breakfast. I attempted to take the two new ones away but the girls threw a tantrum so I broke down and gave them back. Guess I'd rather have quiet babies with pacifires than screaming and crying and no pacifires.

So as much as I would like to say that they only have pacifires in their cribs or during car rides, the honest truth is they have them in a lot during the day.

 

My girls voluntarily gave up pacifiers before four months, so I'm not an expert. It does seem to me, though, that if kids have pacifiers in their mouths during the day, they will miss out on opportunities to mimic verbal sounds and words. There's a lot of trial and error in making sounds that eventually become words, so if your kids (any kids) don't have the opportunity to babble and chatter, I wouldn't be surprised if they're slightly delayed in speech.

That doesn't mean there's a problem... just an opportunity to see if eliminating the pacifiers during the day helps.

 

When mine are "talking" over the paci while it is in their mouth, I just take it out and put it away for a while. They mostly use it for sleep or when they are getting a little fussy.
My older dd had her paci all the time until she was two (did the same with her) and she talks fabulously! At two it was only in the crib and she weaned from it herself.
My pedi was NEVER worried about the paci...

 

Mine talk right over their pacis and I usually remove them if that is the case. I had a paci myself until I was almost 3 and my mom tells me I would pop it out say what I needed to say and then pop it back in. I also would remove it and hold it behind my back for photos. :FIFblush:

All four of my nieces had pacis until 3 or (gasp) 4 and only one had speech delays and it was not due to the paci at all and worked with a speech therapist to overcome her obstacles. The other 3 talked over/through their pacis or popped them out to talk. We did do a lot of "I can't understand you wtih that thing in your mouth" to encourage them to not have it in and talk to us. I have started doing that with C&G also.

My ped isn't worried about pacis in the least either.

 

I was told by a speech therapist that the paci did impeed talking. My DS isn't verbalizing much and so we had him evaluated. That was one thing the therapist said to ditch along with regular sippy cups. She suggested ones with the straws to work different muscles in the mouth. I can say, unscientifically though, that he is definitely talking more since he moved to the bigger kid room in daycare and they took away pacis, expect for nap time.

 

I can't say I have heard of this but mine, I feel like, had to be the only babies who wanted nothing to do with pacifiers. My friends children have all used pacifiers and have seemed to do fine with talking.

 

I've heard about it too... Mostly I guess it depends on the child. Some will be happy with their paci and not really care to talk much because of it, while some will want to talk anyway and won't care that the paci is there or not.

When in doubt, I'd say try to limit the paci to naptime and bedtime, just in case. Good luck!

 

I don't buy it, at least for my kids anyway. They had pacifiers until they were 2 years 8 months old and talked like you would not believe. Now towards the end of that time period they were only allowed to have them at nap time and bedtime, so they were not walking around with a paci in their mouth all day. Like the pp mentioned I think it may depend on the child.

 

I believe it would definitely have an effect on the amount of talking. If you think of it this way, it makes sense: Any time spent with a pacifier IN the mouth, is time that the baby cannot practice talking or talk at all. Even if it's not often, he/she isn't able to move their mouth and lips to speak at that time. It would not make it so that they could never speak so I wouldn't worry about that. I do agree that it would cut down on the time that they COULD be talking. I hope that makes sense. I have also heard that it can cause speech issues. Not sure i that's true either.

I would not be okay with my kids having pacifiers at the 'learning to talk stage' but that's me!! Everyone needs to do what they think is best for their own kids

 

I've heard this too... My dd is the only one that will take a paci and it was only during nap or bedtime until she started teething. However now that she is teething (finally at 14 months) she likes to have it alot more and when she talks she takes it out, says something and then puts it back in! My ds hardly talks, mostly says "da" all day long and he never took a paci.
I think it's a myth...

 

Our OT said the same thing. Paci's are wonderful for bed and naptime but should be limited during the day b/c it can delay speech. It does not mean that it does in all kids. The same w/ the sippy cups. we should be moving to the straw ones. But honestly they just got the handle of the regular ones I would hate to change it on them again. I think you do what you can to get through the day and just mitigate risk as much as possible.

 

My oldest DD loved her pacifier and it did not inhibit her from talking one bit. In fact she would talk with it in her mouth. :lol:

 

I think it's really baout how much they have them during waking hours, not nap & bedtime. We took H & N's away at 26 months. They were talking a good bit before and I would have said their speech and vocabulary were right on track - however once we took them away there was a noticeable increase in clarity of speech, amount of talking and vocabulary. Our sitter noticed it too and brought it up on her own she wasn't just agreeing with me

 

I don't think so. The boys have theirs most of the time. They babble non-stop and are saying more words...and sing(in their own way lol). I don't think it prevents talking at all.

Dianna

 

I would say that if your child is speech or language delay, having a pacifier would certainly compound the problem and increase the delay. If your child doesn't have any language difficulties, then chances are sucking on a pacifier all day long won't affect them one way or the other. Personally, I just got tired of all the photos of my boys with big, plastic plugs where their cute mouths were, and quarantined the pacifiers to their cribs. As a bonus, it made them very happy to get in their cribs for nap and bedtime!

 

Aimee, I tried to quote what you were saying about how often they have paci's but I messed up, so it didn't work...

While Jacob also uses them, Jackson is my hard-core paci boy. He LOVES his. Truthfully, it is the ONLY thing that will calm him down sometimes so I let him have it more than I probably should. However, I started a sticker reward system, where they get to trade their paci for a sticker every morning and at naptime. They LOVE it. I just put the sticker on their shirt, hand, whatever.... Just an idea in case you find it hard to take away their paci's.

As far as talking goes, Jackson does talk a lot more frequently if I keep his paci out of his mouth for most of the day. However, he is ABLE to talk very well, he just does it less when he has his paci. He will also often talk with a paci in his mouth, and if I ask him to take it out so I can understand him, he will. The frequency of our paci use has gone down dramatically in the last 2 months. I don't know when I will completely take them away, but I am comfortable with the way we are using them now (although I think that maybe they were using them too much a couple of months ago). If I were you, I might work on trying to reduce the use somewhat, but it's my guess that there is a language explosion on the horizon and everything will be just fine.

GL!

 

I have four children. Two never used pacis; one of those kids was a late talker. One used one until about 4 months; she is a non speaker at 21 months. One is a paci junkie and speaks just fine at 21 months. I believe however that it is not a good habit and could contribute to expressive language delay. All my opinion of course, no facts!

 

I think if the talking is coming along normally, I wouldn't worry too much about the pacis. If you fear a delay, then I might try to break the paci habit earlier than you might have planned, to see if it will help.

None of my kiddos took pacis after a couple of months -- but Nadia and Karina are avid thumbsuckers. Nadia was a relatively late talker, but didn't have a true delay -- and she's making up for it in spades. Karina is just now getting going and adding new words like crazy.

Kevan was neither a paci nor thumb baby, and he's the most speech-delayed of my kids -- but that's not significant, because he has his own issues.

 

Abby was my hard core bink user - and talked at 12 mos...I couldn't get Ian to take a bink once he realized there was no food coming out and he went through speech therapy until he was 2

 

My b/g twins both had thiers way past 2 during the day. And they have been talking none stop for along time. I don't think it makes a difference.

 

QUOTE
I would say that if your child is speech or language delay, having a pacifier would certainly compound the problem and increase the delay. If your child doesn't have any language difficulties, then chances are sucking on a pacifier all day long won't affect them one way or the other.


I agree.

Jake gave his up(we actually just lost them all!) around 2, and someone made the comment to me about how much more talkative and outgoing he was since his paci was gone. For him it was true, he kind of hid behind it.
Justin, my oldest, had a paci constantly, and his speech was slightly delayed, but he also had problems with ear infections. I think the paci just made his problems worse.
Josh loved his paci too, but I haven't found anything that will keep that kid quiet!

 

I only see paci's hindering speech when they are in the childs mouth constantly...for example, I knew a little girl who never took the paci out except to eat and drink and she could barely talk at 3; she never had to express herself except for grunts and pointing of the finger to get what she wanted. In this case the paci's use is ridiculous, IMO. As long as you allow a child sufficient use of language throughout the day, I don't see how a paci could hurt. I think once you get past two, its pointless to have a paci, but your children aren't even two yet, and I really don't see any harm at all.