Paci question

jessc0616

ok, so two weeks ago I decided to take the pacifiers from my daughter. She does alright without them but I've been thinking of giving them back because she is constantly sucking her fingers or things she never used to put j. Her mouth. I'm worried about consistency because my husband and I are on the same page and no consistency ruins our progress. But she is only one so what's the harm in her pacis? I'm so confused!

maelily15

It depends on the pacifier and on your child. The chemical makeup of each product is different and can affect her teeth in different ways. Overall, most pediatricians suggest to stop giving pacifiers after a year because it's detrimental to their teeth. Same reason they suggest switching off the bottle and to stop feeding them milk or formula to put baby to sleep after a year. My oldest niece wasn't weaned off her paci until she was 2.5 years old (she ended up with cavities, btw). It becomes harder to wean them off the older they get because they become more reliant on it as a coping mechanism for harder challenges (weaning off bottle, switching to toddler bed, potty training). I do agree that you and DH should agree on this. It'll make weaning her off slightly easier. My DD never would take a pacifier. She does put a lot of things in her mouth, but that's completely normal at this stage. Putting her fingers in her mouth is fine, we even encourage our daughter to because she understands better what her teeth are for. Good luck! I know it's hard. We're struggling through not giving her a sippy cup when she goes down to sleep. It's so much part of her routine and I know how hard that is to change. 

jessc0616

Thank you for the feedback! We decided no more paci since we're two weeks without it now. Next up is getting rid of bottles.