Is there such a thing?
I feel like DD whines for and wants her pacifier more than I was anticipating at this age. I would say she has it in her mouth about 60% of waking time. Maybe even more.
She babbles and has many different facial expressions, so I don't necessarily know if it is impeding her development in any way.
Does anyone else's baby use the pacifier a lot during the day? Is there such a thing as too much pacifier time?
Re: Overuse of pacifier?
The only times Kyler really has it is to go to sleep with (and will eventually spit it out overnight... yeah... there were 8 of them behind his crib this morning!) otherwise right when he gets done eating... he gets pretty upset when his bottle is empty, but his stomach is so tight, and I know he is full (plus we deal with reflux, so if he eats too much, he throws up most of the bottle).
The only other times we use it is if we are out somewhere and he starts to get cranky (which usually means he is getting sleepy)...
I don't think at this age, there is too much time with it... I would just recommend weaning her off of it at certain times when she really doesn't need it....
My niece (who is about 2) still has hers, and is at the point now that she talks with it while it is still in her mouth... my sister said she has tried to break her of it, but she will scream bloody murder til she gets it... I really don't want to be that kind of family where the kids are basically dependent on something like that...
We use it during the day since DS likes to suck his fingers and his thumb (I figure it will be easier to take the nuk away than his thumb). He doesn't use it to fall asleep at night an will only occasionally use it for naps, so I am not too concerned, once he starts walking I think that is when we will try to start weening him from it.
I wouldn't be overly concerned about it impeding her speech or affecting her teeth just yet.