pacifiers

jendonnelly10670 · March 2010

my son won't take a pacifier, instead he seems to like to suck on his hands. Should I try to force him to use a pacifier? In the long run I am thinking that it will be easier to break him of a pacifier habit than sucking his thumb. I know I sucked my thumb until I was almost 5.

tomandcourt · March 2010

Honestly, I'd stick with his hand. When DS goes through wakeful periods it's a total pain in the a** because he uses a pacifier and needs it to be soothed back to sleep but can't stick it back in his own mouth. So we have to get up and do it for him in the middle of the night, multiple times. At least the hand is always available and easy to find :-)

QueSrah · March 2010

From friends' experiences, breaking a kid of a paci habit doesn't sound any easier than breaking a kid of thumb sucking. And then you're adding work for yourself, trying to break him of one habit now and another down the road.

And ditto tomandcourt about the hassle of reinserting the paci at night. I much prefer when DD goes to sleep without it and only needs to look for her hands to soothe her than when she loses her paci and I need to go put it back in.

My parents tell me I was a pretty dedicated hand-sucker in utero (I was born with a scar on my hand from all the sucking) and as a baby, but I was never one of those kids that had to be broken of it. Your son could always end up an easy kid who drops sucking on his hand on his own.

jendonnelly10670 · March 2010

I think I am going to go with your suggestion. I hadn't thought of him trying to find the pacifier in the middle of the night.

LindseyJW · March 2010

in general, i think it's good to follow the signs and leads your child is giving you, rather than trying to force an issue. if he's not showing interest in the paci, i wouldn't force it.

mek10976 · March 2010

I sucked my thumb until I was about 10! So I'm definitely a bigger fan of the paci. The pedi felt the hand was better b/c a baby always has their hand availble for self soothing. The dentist said to use a paci b/c we could take it away and it would be easier to prevent orthodontic issues. I wouldn't force it, but maybe try and get your son interested.

MrsTiara · March 2010

Stay away from the pacifier! My son didn't take to it and DC insisted that we provide one for him. Fortunately, it still didn't stick and he never really needed it. I know more kids stuck on pacifiers way beyond when they should (2-3 yrs) than thumb-suckers. And yes, the fingers are always there!

HikerBride07 · March 2010

Most babies break themselves of thumb sucking on their own b/t age 2 and 4 before their permanent teeth come in and before it's a dental issue (this is information you will find from both AAP and ADA). You will always hear of exceptions to the "rule" though. IMO, it's always best to follow your child's cues and not force anything unless it is detrimental to their health or well being.

bh2720 · March 2010

I agree with pp, don't force the paci. We have friends whose little girl was only allowed to have her paci in her bedroom once she turned 3. They thought it was working well until they started wondering why she kept running into her room for a few moments at a time, then coming back out. After spying on her, they saw that she was in there "taking hits" off the paci. LOL....

Artslvr · March 2010

DD #1 sucks her thumb and DD #2 sucks her fingers. I'm glad they never took to pacis so we don't have the inconvenience of having to find one that is lost.

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