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How old is too old for a pacifier?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Lauri
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dragonfly said:
I At least it's something you can take away from them, unnlike a thumb. Thumbsuckers are tough to crack.
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Amen! I have a thumb sucker and I am going through a struggle right now with DD 2 1/2. She would never take the paci and then she started to self sooth with her thumb. I got her to the point where she wont do it unless she is in her bed because I was able to constantly take it out of her mouth (it was a rough few weeks when I started) but once she is in bed it goes right in, and stays in. And I dont know what to do because I cant keep going in her room and taking it out :surrender: The funny thing is when she was an infant I was so happy it was her thumb rather than a paci because she could never lose it and she could put herself back to sleep in the night... ugh was I wrong!
Anyway... In a perfect world I would have done it with the bottles because they go hand in hand and I would think it would be easier to do them both, but our world isn't always perfect so I would say I would draw the line at 3.
 
DS never took one. DD did. By about 8 months it was used only at night. On her second birthday she (not me) threw it away.

She has quite a stubborn streak. I don't remember exactly what the discussion was, but I know she was fighting me about the paci in some way. I gave her two choices.... put the paci in the bed or throw it away. She was so adamant about not putting it in her bed (probably because I had originally just asked her to do that) that she chose to throw it away. Not quite the gentle "paci fairy," but equally as effective.
 
dragonfly said:
At least it's something you can take away from them, unnlike a thumb. Thumbsuckers are tough to crack.
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jlb1382 said:
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Amen! I have a thumb sucker and I am going through a struggle right now with DD 2 1/2. She would never take the paci and then she started to self sooth with her thumb. I got her to the point where she wont do it unless she is in her bed because I was able to constantly take it out of her mouth (it was a rough few weeks when I started) but once she is in bed it goes right in, and stays in. And I dont know what to do because I cant keep going in her room and taking it out :surrender: The funny thing is when she was an infant I was so happy it was her thumb rather than a paci because she could never lose it and she could put herself back to sleep in the night... ugh was I wrong!
Anyway... In a perfect world I would have done it with the bottles because they go hand in hand and I would think it would be easier to do them both, but our world isn't always perfect so I would say I would draw the line at 3.
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AMEN! I sucked my thumb until I was about 6! Paci's are definitely easier to get rid of.
 
I was glad my kids took the pacifier and I had no thumb suckers. They all gave it up on their own by a year. I absolutely would NEVER let a kid who has all their teeth or who talks use it throughout the day. I have seen too many speech problems from prolonged paci use, not to mention the buck teeth from sucking thumbs.
 
jlb, my DD13 was a thumbsucker and it was impossible to stop at night. A bandaid, icky nailpolish, hot sauce, nothing worked in her sleep. Finally she got a pallet expander before her braces about two years ago & the orthodontist put a contraption on it that prevented her thumb. She was just laughing about this the other day- that she was SO old and still sucked her thumb at night. I'm not kidding, if it weren't for the braces, I think she'd still revert to sucking her thumb after she fell asleep. How can you stop someone from doing something they aren't even aware of when they sleep? I used to pull it out of her mouth & then an hour later it was right back in there. :p I was happy she had her thumb, too, but then it just never stopped. :lol: Oh well.
 
When dd4 was 1, I gathered up all the pacis that we never used and was ready to pitch them. She then decided pacifiers were for her! (Never had one before age 1) so she had pacis till about 20 months and i decided she needed to be done. and then I had to lay on her floor multiple nights and nap times till she would sleep and not cry for the pacifier.

I myslef was a thumb sucker till I was a big kid, did it only at home and mostly at night. Never affected my speech
 
My son was a little over 2 when he finally gave up the paci. He's 3 now and found one in a drawer and stuck it in his mouth just to tease me.

I refused to give up my paci as a kid. I finally gave it up for Lent one year and then just never used it again. (No need for comments about oral fixations...)
 
Of my 6 kids, only two liked the pacifier. DD9 quit the pacifier around 16 months. DS1.5 is still using a pacifier at nap/bedtime. Planning on getting rid of it soon....once everyone is healthy and sleeping again b/c I know it will be a little struggle.
 
georgie still uses one :9:

pacifier.jpg
 
dgmarie said:
when they stop nursing. Seriously find sad parents who let their kid walk around with the thing till their like 3-4 years old. Kid won't give it up? Cut a bit of the tip off and it won't work anymore.
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Speaking from experience it still does work. We took the whole thing off and she freaked out. She can bite a whole in them and will then stick it on her finger. Both my girls speak much clearer than my sisters kids who are both thumb suckers. Even when my girls had/have them in they still speak clearer. We do tell her she has to take it out because we don't understand her even if we do.
 
mrsred1 said:
I'd say at about 120 months or so? :lol:
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That reminds me of the boy on the movie Grown-ups who was nursing at 4 and his dad said he was 48 months :lol:

DD2, we cut off cold turkey shortly after she was 1. It actually went better than I expected.

DD1 is a thumbsucker...she is such a thumbsucker and was nursed 100% and rarely ever had a bottle of expressed milk. Our dentist said at least she sucks it so far back she isnt pushing her teeth, but she said try to break her by 4/5. I dont know how we are going to do it.

I think that when kids are fully talking and asking for it, it is time to think about getting rid of it, but I try not to judge because I do have a thumbsucker :)
 
mrs.melton08 said:
DD1 is a thumbsucker...she is such a thumbsucker and was nursed 100% and rarely ever had a bottle of expressed milk. Our dentist said at least she sucks it so far back she isnt pushing her teeth, but she said try to break her by 4/5. I dont know how we are going to do it.

I think that when kids are fully talking and asking for it, it is time to think about getting rid of it, but I try not to judge because I do have a thumbsucker :)
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eiramnoaj said:
duct tape




:giggles:
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:shesaid:
 
I find the ideas of "when to stop" interesting since they are so variable:

WHO recommends breastfeeding till 2 and I personally know several children who BF till ages 3&4.

My son teethed very early (first 2 arrived together at 3mo 3 days!) and had most teeth by 14 mo.

When they speak is also very variable. Mine spoke first word at 4 mo. sentences at 9 mo. Some friends have children who didn't speak at all till nearly 2. If we had used them, and his development had been the same, my son could have asked for a pacifier at 6/7 months. ....Which is also when he started sippy cups. We never did bottles.

No wonder this is such a hard thing to figure out for parents!
 
2 of mine had a pacifier until age of 2. They used it only at naptime...not in public (after one year old). At age 2, we took the pacifier away..cold turkey. I nursed all 3 of my kids for a year...but pumped. NEVER did i put them to bed with a bottle.
HOWEVER #3 came along and didn't want the pacifier, she was a thumb sucker. It was WAY easier to take the pacifier away than the thumb.

I hate seeing anyone older than 2 with one...but who really cares? As long as they don't have it at school.
 
OH, and bottles were GONE at age one. We used sippy cups. Only used bottles for breast milk.
 
dgmarie said:
when they stop nursing. Seriously find sad parents who let their kid walk around with the thing till their like 3-4 years old. Kid won't give it up? Cut a bit of the tip off and it won't work anymore.
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I don't have any kids, but I do have lots of nieces and nephews.

My oldest niece (8) still had one at 3 years old. Her face was always chapped, and she wouldn't talk much.

My next old niece (7) still had one at 2 or 2.5.

My 3 year old niece had one until about 1 year old, maybe younger, probably younger. She didn't show a lot of interest in it, but her mom (my SIL) was always pushing it on her. Every time she would come over, I would take it away, and she would be fine without it. Just like with sippy cups too. At Christmas she gave up her sippy cups. I told her I was going to give the ones I had here to Santa Claus. I wrote this note that said she wanted some little kid to have it since she is a big girl now. And I also wrote back - left handed, in cursive! - how he was glad to have it and knew the perfect person to give it to, blah, blah, blah. And she was fine with it.

Yes, I made the decision to take these things away from her, not her parents. I am the one that spends 10+ hours a day/5 days a week (and sometimes weekends too) with her while her parents work, so I see how she is a bit better than they do. If it was the other way around, I would want my brother to do what he thought was right. He respects any decisions I make regarding his kids, because he knows how I am, and I pretty much raised him.
 
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