It is best to take it awaya as soon as possible because it cause the gums are still very soft and shapable and causes them to form in a narow "sucking" shape. Inturn cause the children to need braces. If that doesn't matter to you , then I don't see a prob with them. I have friends who have let their children have them until 2 1/2.


T~

It's same for them to have it until they're about 18 mths - 2 years old. Your doctor will know the right time for your child. If the child is about 2, the mam (pacifier brand) website is supposed to have a cute story about the binkie fairy or something like that. There was an article in parents magazine or babytalk about this lady who used it for her two daughters. It's a cute story, you should check it out sometime.

My cousin's baby used one and when her teeth were coming in they were coming in kinda like she had a gap right in the middle of her front teeth and all her teeth were sort of facing inward. It was as if they were taking the shape of the sooky (or where it would have been). She got really scared b/c her mother told her that would happen so she started to take it away little by little, since she was about 10-11months. Sometimes the baby was going to sleep without it (something whe would never do before) and one day she just threw then all away completely when she was one.

Yup, it is a really messes up their teeth.


T~

I forgot to mention that after she threw them away and didn't suck on them anymore her teeth straightened up

I chose the 1-3 month time range for lack of a "they should have never had it in the first place" option.

My mother told me that the nurses in the hospital put a pacifier in both my brother and my mouth shortly after we were born and that as soon as she got us to herself, she removed them and threw them away. My brother and I never had pacifiers. My parents believed in instilling a sense of self-discipline as early as possible.

My older half-sister did have a pacifier and had horrible teeth which actually necessitated in her having massive oral surgery (no one else in our family has ever had teeth that bad). Neither my brother or me ever had a pacifier and neither of us have ever needed anything but cleanings. No one can tell with certainty that it was the pacifier until she was three which caused such problems for my sister but it is a possibility. As a result of this, my sister also never let her children have a pacifier.

I intend on following the same principles if I ever have children myself. I never understood why a pacifier is needed in the first place. If your child is crying for a legitimate reason (hunger, pain, cold/heat, wet, fear etc), then you should comfort your child and remove the reason for the crying. If your child is crying just to cry, we were left to sit and cry until we finally learned that only legitimate crying gained attention and that we were really fine and nothing was wrong with us. I never have supported popping in a pacifier just to get them to shut up.

We gave our first baby a soother out of desperation -she had colic, absolutely nothing helped her, and she screamed for 2 hours every single evening without fail no mtter what we did.
To be honest it didn't really help. We continued to use it for a couple of months- uintil she started waking up during the night- every hour, when her sleep would get light becuase she would find that it was no longer in her mouth.
When she was 4 months old I had had enough, I moved her to her own room, took the soother away, and decided to do controlled crying for the night waking. She woke once that night, and slept through the next- it was my birthday, and what a gift !!!!! Although, when we woke in the morning, and realised we hadn't heard from her, we did have a bit of a panic in case she had died during the night or something, so it was a bit awful.
The soother never seemed to be a big sucess for us, so taking it away was no deal- however, I myself had one untill I was almost in school. I remember my mother was slowly taking it away, gradually breaking the habit, but I had an accident just after I turned 5 and broke my ankle - my motyher let me have it back in the hospital, and when dressings had o be changed etc- which put the giving up process back a couple of months. My teeth are perfect. No harm done- although I am a very oral person, I smoke whe i'm not regnant, and I bite my nails, suck pens etc.
My youngest sister had her soother until after she started school- mum had let her keep it a bit longer because we had emigrated from ireland to australia just around the time she turned 5- she'd suck it at night. No harm done there either. She was very attached to hers, and it was hard on her to give it up though. Her teeth are fine too.
I'd do it when it feels right- my friend forgot to put her 2 year old son's soother in his daycare bag a couple of weeks ago, and as a result, he doesn't use one any more- after he'd gone the whole day, and still had his afternoon nap without it, they just never gave it to him again. He didn't even seem to notice much- he asked for it, but they showed him it wasn't in the bag, and said all gone or whatever, and that was that.
Do it when it feels right, if you are sick of looking at it, and remembering to take it with you etc. Then just put it away, and see how it goes.
If you are thinking you'd like to be rid of it then it's probably almost time.
Try rocking him to sleep, or just patting him- although, beware, he may find his thumb as a substitute - my other sister did that, and that lasted 'till she was nearly 8- nothing could make her give it up, you can't take the thumb away, and she even got used to those horrible tasting medicines you paint on to make it unpleasant to thumb suck. She built up a tolerence even to straight chili !!!!!! I can't remember what finally made her stop.

Although, if youhave no problem with it, then let the child have it for as long as it suits you, and never mind what other people think. (they'll find something to shake their heads at anyway, trust me)
it's not like he'll be still sucking it on his honeymoon or anything!!!!!!!

Let the kid have it as long as he wants...Unless of course hes in college! My son was like 3 years old and the doctor told me that it was his security and to let him have it...It never ruined his teeth! Best of luck!

It does ruin teeth, that is why they have the special ortho approved suckers. As for everything else, I agree let them have it. If it makes a baby feel better why not? But the teeth thing is true. I sucked my thumb and had the same result as a sucker. Needed braces early. I have a very narrow shape. But, my mother also let me suck my thumb for a very long time.

Anyway, I say do what you feel is best for your baby.... :lol:

t~

Weel, like I said, I was still using mine occasionally after I turned 5, my sister kept hers 'till she was almost 6, and the sister that did give it up earlier became a thumb sucker.
The only one of us who had teeth problems was the thumb sucker, she had a big gap between the front two and my mother was told she'd need braces.
My parents couldn't aford it, so, they just launched a give up the thumb campaign. She stopped sucking, the gap closed all by itself within a year(and they were adult teeth)
all three of us have great teeth.

I think if your teeth are going to be wonky, they'll be wonky, and if they're going to be straight, they'll go straight. It's more to do with the size and shape of your mouth, and the size of the teeth that try to fit in.
It's mostly down to genetics.

I disagree a binky will not ruin a babys teeth...But thumb sucking will. My son had his binky at age 3 and I asked his doctor about it and he reassured me that it wouldent do any harm to his teeth and he was right. My son is 11 now and he is fine. My sisters daughter still sucks her thumb and her teeth are weird now. She will end up getting braces eventually.

I guess the ortho approved binkies were made just to be made then huh..... Thumb sucking messes teeth up really bad, i'm living proof. I wish my mother would have done something about it, then I wouldn't have had to spend $4000 getting then straight....... :lol: