Do You Regret Letting Your Baby Have a Pacifier??

My older son had a pacifier until he was three. He had one in the mouth and one in each hand. I thought it was cute until everyone started making comments. I tried my best to get him to give them up. I finally took him to the dentist that explained to him how they would push his teeth out and that he needed to give them up. So slowly one by one we got rid of the pacifiers and now that he is 17 we joke about it.

I'd never allowed a pacifier after a year old. It just isn't necessary once they reach higher independence. Why not let her pick out a lovey to replace the pacifier? DD got a stuffed animal when we took hers away at 8 months. Now (a year later) it's still her favorite thing. After a few days she'll forget about it and move on.

I think pacifiers are such a non issue. They do not hurt the child, the offer comfort, they keep them from sucking their thumbs, so many reasons that they are not a bad thing.

I think you are the mom and if you don't really have an issue with it them tell them thank you and then do what you want.

I have one friend who had a son who took to the pacifier and still used it to sleep at 5. He cried at school one or two times at nap time but by the time they came back from Winter Break they didn't have to sleep anymore. He still used it at bedtime.

He has perfect teeth and will never need braces. There is a chance that a child can damage their teeth by using one that is for a much smaller child.

Make sure the one they are using is the best size for their mouth size.

No, but I took it away at 12 months. I think for me...it was less about teeth...and more about the battle. There was no battle for the paci. He was not emotionally attached, and it was not a comfort crutch. We replaces it with a stuffed animal and blanket, which is much more age appropriate, and not a hindrance. When they get older, it becomes an all out emotional battle.

Honestly, I think it looks ridiculous when I see a 3 + year old walking around with a pacifier in their mouth. Generally, I think it's the parent's not having the will power to deal with a cranky, emotional paci-less kid. Paci's can and should be replaced with other comfort items. You can't just willy nilly take comfort items, of course. The paci must be replaced with something else.

I know far more kids who DID have dental issues, then didn't. There is a very good reasons dentists hate them, because they cause damage in the majority. There will always be the minority, but they are they don't represent most. Oh, and the alignment of baby teeth and formation of bone structure, can and DO effect the way adult teeth come in.

YES!

Child #2 loved her pacifier. She has been in speech therapy for 1.5 years beginning at the age of 6 for a tongue thrust issue. This is largely a result of her prolonged pacifier use. Problems include incorrect swallowing, articulation and a gap b/n her top 2 front teeth. The focus of therapy is to retrain her oral motor path (the one she has used from 0-6 yrs) to the correct path. Not an easy task even with a child who is a cooperative therapy patient.

This will be a lifelong battle for her.

Take your doctor's advise and get rid of the pacifier!

My son used one up until 3ish. For a while there his teeth were crooked and I blamed the paci but now that he has his big teeth they are perfectly straight and my younger son who did not use one has very crooked front teeth.
However I will say that I used to get so mad at people who would comment on him being too old for a paci but now I find myself doing the same thing. I realize that it does really look bad for a 3 yo to be sucking a paci and as much as I hated to be judged I am now judging myself. As long as you are only at night you don't have to worry about that though.

Going cold turkey was the way to go. A night or 2 of looking for it and that was that. It went easier than I ever expected it to.

Having watched my family members give their babies their thumbs (because they didn't like pacis) and then watch those kids continue to suck their thumbs til they were well into kindergarten and be made fun of for it, I knew that I'd be giving mine a paci. I asked the doctor how long to let my first baby have one, and he told me that the sucking instinct starts to fade between 4 and 5 months, and that I should wean from the paci by 6 months, "before his has an opinion", as the doc put it.

Both mine were weaned from it between 4 and 5 months. It was only hard for 2 or 3 days. And I never let them have it in the middle of the night, mom. If I did that, as soon as it fell out of their mouths, they'd wake up. So just upon falling asleep for the first time, I'd take it away and that was it for the night.

It is very different that you have a 2 1/2 year old now. The doc is right that it can cause teeth problems. AND it can cause a speech issue too. Is your baby talking? How can she talk with a paci in her mouth? Speech therapists hate for toddlers to use pacifiers. And they should know - it's their business to know.

Please don't allow a paci just because you assume your child will need braces. You will have to learn to tell your daughter "no" about many things as she grows. Not being willing to make the "hard decisions" and say no to her will become irresponsible and lazy parenting. You might as well start now with doing what the doctor has recommended. You can give her something else that gives her comfort, but doesn't mess up her teeth or her speech.

Good luck,
Dawn

K.R.,

This is my take on getting rid if the pacifier. I have posted it before.

We called it a "plug", as in making our daughter quiet. LOL She was 3 and would not give it up when she went to sleep. So I came up with the idea of losing it. We took it away,when she asked for it,my hubby and I would go "look" for it and not find it. it took three days of this and she didn't need it anymore. Our son never had one since I wouldn't allow him to have one since I was older and wiser by then.

good luck

Never regretted it even when my LO was still taking it past 3. He was addicted. I'm with you on thinking crooked teeth are part of genetics. I sucked my thumb until 12 ish and I didn't need braces.

No, the pacis were godsends! I used to think older children with them were weird, until I saw a four year old (at a/the funeral) whose mom and dad both just died in a house fire. Now, it's fine with me. Whatever gets them through.

No. I remember our oral fixations lessons in Psychology, so I'm not removing something just because some outside source tells me to.

My oldest quit on his own close to 3 years old. I'd already told him when he turned 3, he'd be a big boy and have to turn in the paci, but would receive a big boy present in it's place----a Spiderman bike; but I was pregnant and fixing up the nursery before his 3rd birthday and I bought a couple pacifiers and he asked "are those for me?" I said "No, they're for the baby". He threw his pacis out the next day. He didn't like the idea of being a baby. (He only used them at bedtime by then anyway).

My youngest is 2 1/2 now. He goes to sleep with his paci but it inevitably falls out after he falls asleep. He wants it at naptime and bedtime, but he's agreed to give it up in the mornings, in exchange for juice and breakfast. He doesn't ask for it anymore except at bedtime, and I won't give it to him unless he asks (I figure if he forgets, cool). When he has earaches, I don't mind him having it. He had a lot of problems with ear infections and sinus pressure, and it hurt his ears. The paci helped ease that pressure (the sucking did). They both have wonderful teeth.

As a baby, my mom did not give me a pacifier. I had crowded teeth on the bottom, I wore braces for 8 months when I was in 9th grade, and had to have my wisdom teeth surgically cut out before they started cutting because there would be NO room for them at all. My little brother, I distinctly remember that he loved his pacifier. He never had to wear braces. I personally think (with the exception of buck teeth from thumb sucking, or ALL DAY pacifier use) that genetics is what determines our teeth alignment.

I do not regret letting my kiddo have a paci, much easier to take that away than a thumb! I was a thumbsucker until kindergarten when I got made fun of, and my teeth were HORRIBLE. We took our dd's away when she was a little older than 2 and never looked back. By then, they all had holes in them b/c she was chewing on them all the time, so we told her they were broken and had her throw them away.

mine wouldn't take a paci - he discovered his thumb around 5 weeks and slept through the night from then on. he is 5 now, and yes his teeth do protrude out a bit on the bottom in the middle - but they are his baby teeth. he hasn't sucked his thumb since around age 4. so i am not concerned - we are a family of thumb suckers and it has never affected our adult teeth. i have been told (and seen) that sucking on thumbs or paci's only affects the teeth they have at the time. her urge to have it is not wierd at all - my son did stop sucking his thumb, but he still has his lovies he has had since an infant. now he just cuddles them without the thumb in his mouth.

i do think that a 2 1/2 year old wandering around out in public with a paci is not cool. our rule with the loveys has always been- at home, in bed. naps and night time. that's it. maybe you can start restricting when she uses it and it will be easier to give it up later. just a thought.

My daughter used one until she was about 3, we had her first plane ride to take that summer and we packed one just in case. She used them to sleep, when we got home the others disappeared and we did a trials of naps without then bedtime. Her being a bit older I was able to tell her it was time to be a big girl, that she was getting so big it was time to see if she could sleep with out the "papsie".

Ok I never gave my son a paci and he is almost three and he sucks on his fingers and sometimes his entire hand, I know where his hands have been and the things he has touched (especially outside) and its a little gross, plus he covers everything in toddler slobber, so a paci might be better then that. My 4 mnth old takes a paci and she only uses it while she sleeps, and its kind of a love hate relationship right now. She has learned to take it out but can't get it back in then cries, it gets frustrating.

go to the dentist office and find out what its really going to be to have pacifier mouth fixed. your not looking at a few crooked teeth. google image search for the real deal. my kids never took a paci! we tried really hard. my daughter was a thumb sucker (untill she sucked her thumb raw and the blood to the skin! ) my good friend told us to cut a small hole in the tip of each paci and they no longer worked well like they wanted and gave them up on there own.

No, I don't regret it. I nursed both of my kids and they needed it for comfort. My first gave it up shortly before his 3rd birthday, we took it away and he was over it in a matter of a couple of days. My second, now 2.5, uses it only to sleep with. I don't think it's that big of a deal, both of my kids have been to the dentist and I was told my kids have nice healthy teeth with good spacing.

Neither my husband or I used a pacifier as a child, I had crooked teeth and wore braces for years while my husbands are perfectly straight. The two probably aren't related.

I don't regret it at all. Pediatrician never cared, the dentist didn't like it & lectured me about it. It didn't ruin any of my kids mouths. I was an extended pacifier user, myself, and have had zero dental issues.

i dont regret giving her one, b/c it really helped soothe her along with her blankey when she was a baby. but i do regret not making her give it up sooner. mine didnt lose it till 4 and was very addicted. i never used one but needed braces anyway. my daughters dentist took one look at her overbite and said "oh she used a pacifier" and said something along the lines of needing orthodontics when shes 10. her dad and i both have bad teeth that needed braces and both never used pacifiers or sucked our thumbs, so i really think alot of her overbite is attributed to genetics.

Try to look at it this way. I have an 8 year old who had her paci taken away at age 3. She only used it at night from about 12 months on. But at 3, I felt it was somewhat ridiculous, so it went away. I think she actually was old enough for me to reason with her a bit (you're a big girl now, etc.) So far, her teeth are pretty perfect. I also have a 10 year old who, at 9 months, stayed with Grandma for a week. Grandma lost the paci on the second day, never thought to find another, and by the time we came back for her she was done with the paci. I THOUGHT it was a great thing at the time. However, now I have a 10 year old who still sucks her thumb when she's tired, watching a movie or sleeping. I can't take her thumb away. Also, her teeth are an absolute mess. Braces are in her future for sure. So there you go. That's obviously only MY experience, but I thought I'd share it!

My daughter had a pacifier until just 2 months shy of her 3rd birthday. She only used it for sleeping, so it's not like she had it in her mouth constantly, or it caused her speech to be hindered. We ended up talking to her about the "Binky Fairy" and had her leave it on her windowsill one night for the Binky Fairy to pick up, give to a little baby who really needed it, and then bring her a big girl present in its place. She was fine the first night without it, after that she cried at bedtime because it was gone and she wanted it back - it was like the novelty of the big girl toy wore off and reality set in. But we held firm - once it was taken by the Binky Fairy, they don't come back. She was over it in less than a week. She also had other things, like her stuffed bear and her blanket, for comfort.

So far her teeth are fine, and she is now almost 5...and she didn't start sucking on her thumb either. It might be an easy crutch now, but at some point you might have to bite the bullet and just have to get her to give it up, and sooner might be easier than later. I don't have any regrets, but I don't think I waited that long either (we were going through some major stressful experiences so we really didn't want to rock the boat). Sometimes cutting a little hole in the tip works too - it doesn't feel the same and the child just figures its broken and then time to say bye-bye.