Questions About Pacifier Usage.

My son was the same way..as long as it doesn't bother you I wouldn't worry about it. One day he just threw it away...or you could always do what my friend did and have him put them under his pillow for the binky fairy..lol..it worked for her!! GL

The answer to that question is varied. Some poeple take the pacifier sooner, others later. We didn't take our sons binkie until his 3rd birthday. Kids go through the oral phase well after their second birthday so they continue to do the sucking. It is my opnion that if you take the binkie you are leaving him open to start sucking on his thumb or fingers and those you cannot take away. My daughter is a finger sucker still at age 6...we can't take them away so there is really no way to get ther to stop. Good Luck.

K.,

I agree-let him enjoy a little while longer. My son is 27 months, and uses his ONLY at bedtime. Like another poster said, he more than likely will start sucking his thumb, and you cant control that. However, at some point, you WILL be able to control the usage of the pacifier. I think one is too soon to get rid of it. From what I have been told, they normally give it up when they are ready with very little problems. Good Luck!!

C.

Hi K.!
My daughter is 26 months & I swear she will be taking her binkies down the aisle when she marries!!! If he's only using it at night, maybe try skipping a night once in a while. You may have a lot of rocking him to sleep nights. I know with my experience the older the child is the harder to take it away. Good luck!!!

Let him enjoy it a while longer.

My son used his binky until he was 2 1/2. Now hes a thumb sucker. I would start to slowly take it away at night. He took his all day everyday like it was no end. You want to start now and in no time he will forget about it. If he has a special blanky or toy that he likes to lie down with also, try just that. My son now has an overbite from the thumb sucking and pacifier. His isn't as worse as it could be, but its bad enough. So I would start to wean him now. Try taking it every couple of nights, or at naps and go from there. It will be torture at first, but trust me he will get over it.

My daughter had the same pacifier usage as your son. Our dentist said that there is not problems caused by a pacifer at that age and it was such a tool to get our daughter to sleep. Now, my daughter used a silky and binkie for bed and that allowed her to put herself to sleep, which I think is very important. I had trouble getting her to this point but it just takes a few days of a lot of effort. He might cry but you just have to be consitant. I would just not talk to her but go in and rub her back. We also started a schedule that we are still doing to this day. Changing into jammies, brushing teeth, then reading. Unfortunately, it's not the easiest transition and I wanted to give up alot. My husband was key in this transition for the times I wanted to give up.

We took my son's pacifier away at 7 months - I didn't really want him to have one in the first place - and it only took him 1 day of crying through naps (he was already refusing the paci at bedtime so I figured it would be a good time to take it away).

He doesn't suck on his fingers or anything either, so I guess we lucked out. He's really weaned himself from everything tho, including breastfeeding, so he may just be "one of those kids". lol I say the longer you let them have it, the more attached they become - especially in the "power struggle" twos and threes. just my opinion - you have to do what's right for him.

can't help you on the getting to sleep easily thing - takes my son 45min-1 hour to fall asleep on his own. GRRR. still working on that one. good luck.

Sucking is a very strong, normal developmental need in infants, babies, toddlers, preschoolers, and beyond. This makes sense biologically, as human babies (looking at us as just another warm-blooded, furry mammal) are born needing to suck in order to bring in the mother's milk, maintain/increase supply, and survive into childhood. So, biologically speaking, sucking is very beneficial to the survival of our species! Did you know that studies have shown:
"The minimum predicted age for a natural age of weaning [from the breast] in humans is 2.5 years, with a maximum of 7.0 years." (from http://www.kathydettwyler.org/detwean.html )

So sucking? Extremely normal, natural, evolutionarily quite smart. I'm *not* advocating pacifier use for 7 yrs of course, and you already know of the dental problems that can arise w/ long term use (likely preschool age and older, though most important would be to watch your child's dental development for any problems). ;) Interestingly enough, breastfeeding well into toddlerhood and beyond has actually been shown to be *beneficial* to optimal dental and jaw (thus, speech) development.

Anyway, there is no single right answer here - it's always best to follow your child's signs, and you know him best! It sounds to me like his current pacifier use is *so minimal* (for sleep only) that I personally wouldn't be in a rush to encourage weaning from it. If I were in your shoes, I'd probably continue the pacifier use on a month-to-month basis, with *extremely gradual* weaning in mind, allowing for things like illness, major developmental leaps, etc. so that an accompanying increase in pacifier use would not feel alarming (keeping the bigger picture in mind, 2 steps forward and 1 back, as is often the case w/ my own kids).

Hope that makes sense... Congrats on making it through that first year of motherhood - isn't it a wild and wonderful ride? :)