Paci at 18/19 months - lose it now or wait?

Sep5Bride · August 2014

DD still sleeps with a pacifier, and she is very attached to it. We try to limit it to naps and bedtime, and she's usually fine with that as long as it's kept out of sight. Now DH and I are struggling to decide if we should ditch it completely now, which I know will lead to lots of crying and some difficult nights, or wait a little longer until she's old enough to be part of the decision (eg. send it to the Paci Fairy, that kind of thing). She has 18 teeth and they don't seem to be affected by the paci use. Is it a problem to just wait? I hesitate to just take it away when it's such a comfort for her if there's no real reason to. What do you think?

DCKate · August 2014

Meh, I would wait. No need to cause sleep issues now.

ohiodoxiemama08 · August 2014

My DD's paci usage sounds very similar to yours @Sep5Bride !

She only uses the paci at night and bedtime, but she does try to grab it at other occasions (we don't let her unless she's having a rough teething day).

I agree with @DCKate. I'm not real worried about breaking it from her right now. Really no need for me to mess up her sleep when it's been going pretty good! I'm planning on ditching it closer to 2, and hopefully she will understand better and think it's the "big girl" thing to do (one can dream it will work that way anyways).

I saw a little girl at the fair the other day that looked about 4 that had a paci in her mouth. I try super hard not to judge other mamas for the parenting decisions but it definitely seemed odd. My husband's cousin's daughter is 3.5 and she still uses hers I believe, and has a rash around her mouth from it. That's where I would draw the line for sure.

Good luck with whatever path you can choose!

court115 · August 2014

DS sort of rejected his paci early on but my nephew, who is 11 months older than DS, was pretty attached to his for naps and bedtime. My SIL let him have it until he was a little older than 2 and then started to break his habit when he started showing signs of being ready. She started with no paci at naps then moved to no paci at bedtime. I think it took less than a week for him to give it up. I wouldn't be too worried about it now. Your LO is still a little one!

ReeceFamily · August 2014

DD still drinks from a bottle (whole milk before and after daycare, and water at night) mostly for comfort. She is capable of drinking from a straw or sippy cup, she just prefers her bottle vastly. If she wakes up in the middle of the night and wants some water, she wants it from a bottle. So, it's basically the same as a paci for her, except that it's only in her mouth for a few minutes, not all night. I've decided not to worry too much about it yet - I'm assuming that I'll take her to the dentist one of these days and they'll ask about it and look at me like I'm a horrible mother....and at that point I'll feel some pressure to make the change.

In the meanwhile, I'm letting her have her comfort!

spainy17 · August 2014

With all of the potential sleep crap right now I would wait.

DD never took a paci but the last thing I would want to do now is rock the sleep boat. And hell, I would bet that most of our kids end up with braces nowadays anyway so you are probably fine anyway. Just don't wait till the little bug goes to kindergarten or something.

OhBaby+2013 · August 2014

Same thing here. DS gets his at night, long car rides and naps on the weekend. He doesn't have one at daycare at all so I no he can nap without it. My plan is to try on an upcoming long weekend as I would like him to be done with it before the baby comes. But we shall see.

ConstanceGoodspeed · August 2014

DS only uses his to sleep, and I'm not even trying to get rid of it until 2.

this decaf life · August 2014

I've tried taking it away twice but from everything I've read it really doesn't matter at this age. We're going on vacation later this month so it'll be easier to travel and get her to bed with the paci but I'm planning to take it by the time she's 2.

Kyleedawn08 · August 2014

We have thought about ditching before 2, but with a newborn coming right after his birthday, it probably won't happen. I don't think he has the capacity yet to understand that the baby is a baby and that's why he get a paci & why he doesn't get one as well... We will rethink now when he is older and can help with the decision.

JJsMum · August 2014

So, I have to admit, DS#1 only lost his paci (night time and naps) a couple of months ago. He's 3.5. DS#2 still gets his for naps and night time. I'd love to get rid of it earlier for DS#2, but at this point there is so much change going on in our house that I think it would be disastrous. We just moved DS#2 into DS#1's room. We then totally changed his old room around with new paint and furniture placement. Plus we've only got 2 months until we have a new baby in the house. I figure I'll give him until his 2nd birthday before we take away the paci. Our dentist didn't say anything about needing to take away DS#1's paci until his appt back in Feb (he's an early Dec baby), so I certainly wouldn't worry about rocking the boat with it at 1.5.

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Paci at 18/19 months - lose it now or wait?

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