6 Month Old with a Pacifier

Some kids need to suck and if they don't have a binky they will suck their fingers. I would let her have it as long as she wants. Even if she's 3 or 4. Thumbs/fingers are much harder to take away than a binky and they do a lot more damage to her mouth and jaw bones.

Let her have it, it's soothing and she is so young.

I personally think babies need the sucking. My three boys had pacifiers and it helped them to be more satisfied babies.

All my boys got of the paci later on, and there were no problems.

No need to take it away now. My son gave his up on his own at about that age.. really.. he just quit bothering. He even took his cousin's (4 months older than him and REALLY attached to hers) OUT of her MOUTH and looked at it and looked at her like: "WHY do you have that thing in your mouth?" She just reached over and took it back and popped it back in her mouth. End of story. lol He didn't WANT it, he just seemed to not understand why SHE would.

My daughter on the other hand, LOVED hers. She slept with several and would wake from her little toddler bed and come down the hall dragging her microfleece blanket with a paci in her mouth, one in her hand, and her stuffed dog in her other arm, with her hair all tousled. CUTEST thing EVER. (Pictures on Christmas morning, lol). When she turned 2, literally ON her birthday, we gathered them all up and she traded them at a store for some little toys that were put into a big gallon ziploc bag, and she brought them home. She asked me (not that night) the next night (when we were rocking for her bedtime story) where her paci was. I reminded her she traded them for the toys and she said "oh." Picked up one of the toys (a little tiny Dora the Explorer) and held it in her hand while we read the story. She never asked about them again.

She did find one that we missed under her bed about 8 months later. She came down the hall with it and showed it to me. Put it in her mouth and had it for a bit. I found it about 30 minutes later left on a bench by the front door. I just picked it up, stuck it in on the top shelf of a cabinet where she would never see it, and that was that.

There is no rush. Maybe your daughter will give it up on her own next week. Maybe she'll trade for it at 2 yrs old. Maybe you'll have to "buy" it from her at 3. But it is perfectly okay for her to have it right now. As she gets older (after age one at least) you can forget to bring them places and only offer them at bedtime. It won't be the end of the world. I made a habit of having my daughter take her paci out of her mouth to talk to me. I "couldn't understand what she was saying with that in her mouth" and she would take it out and talk to me. She did NOT go around with it in her mouth ALL. THE. TiME. She liked to talk too much, lol.
There really is nothing for you to "do" right now. Let her enjoy it. It soothes her and she will give it up eventually.

I have never understood the rush to take away something that is soothing baby and helping him/her to sleep.

I would leave it. My first son kept his, for sleeping only, til 2 1/2, when he gave it up willingly. My nine month-old uses a pacifer now, again, night and naps only.

I say if it ain't broke don't fix it.

Leave her be for now. My doctor said to think about getting rid of the paci at 6 months, otherwise it would be harder later. So I started trying to phase it out and things were going well but then the teething started. My DD is usually a pretty happy, adaptable kiddo but during teething times, she is obviously in a lot of pain and needs to chew on something. I don't want to give her tylenol every 4 hours for days on end.

After talking to some friends and reading old posts on here, I decided that it was much better for her to keep paci and chew it to alleviate the teething pain and deal with taking it away later. She doesn't want any of those teething rings or crackers, just paci. I have decided to leave it be for now and try again about 18 months,

BTW, I just had her 12 month appointment and the DR said who cares about taking away the paci, she is only 1!?!?!?! So again, I think you are fine letting her have it.

Let her have it... My oldest was done with it at 18 months, and my 14 month old uses his at nap and bedtime.

keep the pasi!!! you can take the paci away you cant cut off her thumb she needs it to sooth her i wish i wouldnt have listened to everyone and taken my daughters away. she was 3 but only using it at bed time and people were giving me hell over it. well she found he thumb shes 8 now and still sucks it so gross! dont do it its not worth it

Looking back (he is now 21), I wish I had let him keep it because although i am aware of the fact that they are all different, he remembers having to give it up at 2 years old a truamatic event. I am not sure of the dental implications though and they are certainly to be considered. Some moms nurse their babies into toddlerhood. There is nothing better for a 2 yr. tantrum than a little calming and comforting on the breast, so why can't bottle or other babies enjoy the same soothing from their paci? Maybe the terrible twos are terrible because the "world" says they can't sooth themselves. "They have to be independant" I disagree because my breastfed babies and the babies that I let do developmental things in their own time are much less clingy than the one who I forced before his time. I could be wrong.

Our pediatrician told us that at 6 months they start to form a habit and by a year old they are attached. We had planned to take away the pacifier at a year old if our children were addicted. Our kids were not too much into the pacifier at 6 months old so we just took it away at that time in order to avoid the tears later. I would recommend taking it away at a year, that is also a good time to transition the baby to learning how to soothe herself and sleep on her own. You may have some nights that are hard on you and some tears but it usually only take 2-3 nights and they are fine. Good luck!

My first two kids needed their pacis. My sleep requirements needed them to have their pacis! We got rid of the pacis around 2-2.5 yrs old, no big deal. Their teeth are fine, they are great sleepers, and we were all much happier for those first couple of years instead of fighting over a pacifier! You're the mom, so you get to decide when she doesn't need it anymore. It's already a habit, so do you want to break it now, when she doesn't understand why you're taking away a source of comfort? Or do you want to wait until she's older and you can explain why she doesn't need it anymore and help ease the transition better?

I would let her keep it. Six months old do not have a whole lot of control over their bodies and if sucking a pacifier is comforting why not give it to her.

I went looking for info on the chemical changes in a baby's brain thumbsucking produces. I found a great article that is quite comprehensive about both thumbsucking and pacifier use (the author uses the term "dummy" and I laughed b/c I remember some moms calling them that years ago lol). I'm not usually a blog reader, but I like the way this author presents her material
http://www.pikanini.co.za/blog/category/Thumb-Sucking.aspx