for moms who use a pacifier, or have a strong opinion on why you should/shouldnt use them.....?

Question

My mom never used them with me and my siblings, and she seems disappointed in a way that I just assumed I would use them with my baby. She also was strict with us about taking the bottle away for good at our first birthday. I was just curious to know for moms who do you a binkie, when did you introduce it, and when did you take it away? did you feel it was beneficial to use one??

Answer 1

Beneficial.. YES.. i coudnt have gotten through the crying spells.. My son didn't discover his fingers untill 2 months, but still wouldnt use them for self-soothing.. The pacifier put him to sleep in seconds. I was also breastfeeding and didn't want to be a binkie with legs.

Now at 5 months i want to take it away, he only uses it for naps and bedtimes, but i think he wakes when it falls out..

So i think as long as you don't overuse the "power" of the binky, it should be okay. Use it at naptimes, bedtimes and fussy times.

Answer 2

First of all, I have three children, I used a pacifier (we call them dummies in australia) for my first and third, my second child refused to take one.
The things that are great about pacifiers:
- if you have a baby that really likes to suck for comfort they are easily to settle to sleep
- it means that they probably won't suck their thumb and it is easier to wean off a pacifier than a thumb since you can remove the pacifier but the thumb will always be there.
- you are less stressed because you don't have to listen to a crying baby
If you plan on breastfeeding the midwifes told me to avoid using a pacifier until a good feeding routine has been established to avoid confusing the baby. Also if you use a pacifier for too long the child can end up with buck teeth though this can happen with thumb sucking as well. I would suggest weaning off a dummy by 18 months, and also not using it too often, only when you really need to. I found that they were great to settle both my daughters to sleep. Even if your baby doesn't use a pacifier most babies find a comfort thing, for example a teddy or soft blanket.
Also in regards to your mother, when you are pregnant or a parent it seems that everyone wants to give you advice or tell you how it should be done. I found it best to listen to everyone' s opinions and then do what I felt was best for me and my children.

Answer 3

I know that the NICU recommends them for premies so they can practice learning to suck. When it comes to other babies the hospital will usually assume they are ok to give your baby unless you state otherwise. The gave my boys the binky even though I didn't want them to have it. For bottle fed babies it is a soothing thing for them to have especially if their comfort thing is sucking but if you are breastfeeding a binky can cause nipple confusion if used before 6 wks. I let my boys keep them until around 3 months but I tried not to use them unless they really really just couldn't sleep without it. My mom and dad were very strict about no binky and no thumb sucking. I do think that binky's should be gone by 3 months old and bottles by 12 months but premies are an exception to this because they may need that extra sucking practice. You have to follow what you feel is right just remember that when it comes to binkys,bottles and sippy cups they all can affect a childs teeth development.

Answer 4

I just gave my son a binkie to soothe him... I never had to take it away... at about 4 months he just stopped using them on his own... also with the bottle.. I took my son's away at 12 months because the doctor was insistent on it.. and the only thing he has done is replaced it with a sippie cup... my son is almost 2 and I still feel as though I should not have taken away his bottle. About the binkie being beneficial.... i think it is in a way.. babies love the soothing motion of sucking.. if my dauughter is screaming.. she will take a bottle even if she isnt hungry just to suck so I give her a binkie. this way she doesn't over eat

Answer 5

I probably shouldn't be answering this question for my son never would take a pacifier but I will give you my advice. Babies love to suck and often do this for comfort when they can't communicate, it can be taken out of context as they get older and do learn to communicate some parents still let them have their binky. But I wish my son had taken his pacifier before because now he sucks on the two middle fingers (not the thumb) and has a huge water blister now. I am going to have to possibly get him no bite or something to get him to stop it's heartbreaking having to bust the water blister on a sixteen month old and watch him get upset. So I wish he had taken it. A baby will suck if it wants to suck if not the pacifier then the fingers.

Answer 6

Just throw it away! My daughter LOVED her night time and nap time bottle of milk and eventually we had to just throw every single bottle in the house away. She whined, cried, and fought her sleep for 3 days but eventually she completely forgot about it and now falls asleep on her own. It will be rough for the first day or two. Since she's a little older you should take her to the store and let her pick out her very own "big girl" sippy cup. Tell her that since she's a big girl and has her new cup, she can't have her baby binki anymore and throw it away. A pacifier at the age of 2 won't cause any permanent dental damage but the longer you wait, the harder it gets!

Answer 7

I strongly believe in pacifiers!! The reason is I was a thumb sucker and you can not take a thumb away from a child. I can remember being 6 years old laying in bed crying because I didn't want to wake up again sucking my thumb. My daughter was a thumb sucker at birth but I would replace her thumb with a pacifier every time she would put it in her mouth and after a few weeks she sucked her pacifier instead. I let my kids keep their pacifiers until they were about 18 months. As far as the bottle goes I replaced it with a sippy cup when they started walking. My daughter had trouble drinking from a sippy and kept her bottle until she was about 15 months. As long as you don't put them in their bed with a bottle it won't hurt them to keep it a little longer. It is easier to take both away from most kids when they are younger because they are not attached but for some you have to wait until they are ready. I say as long as you don't pack it in their backpacks for pre-k you are not doing anything wrong!!

Answer 8

I never used them regularly with either of mine. SImply because they were not fussy babies at all and the worst thing to see is a three or four yo walking around with a pacifier or bottle in their mouth. I just hate that, so I did not get mine use to them. I also never fed them in their crib. I also did not give them bottles when I was putting them to sleep unless they were not feeling good or super fussy. I knew there would be times that I could not give them a bottle when they napped, so I didn't get them use to it.

Answer 9

pacifiers are a beautiful thing

like if my baby is really hungry or just crying because she is tired i put the pacifier in her mouth and she stops crying i dont use it all the time though because it could harm her new teeth that are coming in

i only use it if she is so hungry and her bottle is not ready for her yet it helps her to stop crying
then at night she fights her sleep she doesnt like to sleep at night so i give her her pacitier and hold her and she falls asleep within 10 mins.
i will take her paci away when she is 1 years old because it could harm her new teeth

Answer 10

My mother in law INSISTED we get a pacifier for our baby - just because they were 'a lifesaver' for her on her kids.

I was against them because kids get 'hooked' on them and I HATE seeing a 3 & 4 yr old running around with a pacifier!! I also think that all the oral stimulation a pacifier gives ends up making the kid want to eat more later in life. I have no proof of that - but thats just my opinion.