pacifier | laderamom

Now, first off, let me say that I fully realize that I loved this article solely because it makes me feel better about my two-year-old still sucking his pacifier. This morning, I saw this article on Yahoo News about children who use pacifiers. The article states if you clean your child’s pacifier by sucking on it and returning it to the child, you are building up their immune systems. At 18 months, those children were less likely to have asthma or eczema.

I have been told my our pediatrician to try to wean Mayhem off the pacifier. That was about 8 months ago. Since then, it seems that he has been MORE attached to the pacifier than he was previously. I, of course, blame myself for allowing him to have the pacifier when he was sick throughout most of the winter in order to comfort him. Now, when I tell him, “Leave it in the crib.” I get a scrunched up face, a ‘no’, or blatant disregard. When Daddy tells him to put it in the crib, of course he puts it right in there.

With my first child, I would have found this article disgusting. Little J wasn’t very interested in pacifiers, and still prefers sucking his thumb. That is an entirely separate article, and topic! I know that soon, I will have to get Mayhem completely off the pacifier- but for now, I’ll just enjoy the fact that there is a BENEFIT to pacifiers!

Did your children use pacifiers? Does this article surprise you?

We went to the pediatrician for our 18-month check up on Friday, and he suggested that we get rid of Mayhem’s pacifier by age 2. I swear, when the doctor said that- he scrunched up his face in disgust, as though he knew EXACTLY what the doctor was saying. The doctor suggested that I leave the pacifier in the crib, and the first time I tried that- Mayhem looked at me like I was crazy! It will be a process. I know I don’t want him going to pre-school with a pacifier, but I wasn’t thinking about taking the pacifier away from him at a certain age. J was, and still is, a thumb-sucker- so this is a first for me.

For now, I’m going to try to give him the pacifier only when he goes to bed, then gradually get rid of them. He LOVES his blanket, so hopefully he can get used to just being attached to that. I know he is dealing with some teeth right now, so once that is over I will focus more on the transition.

My husband was happy to hear the pediatrician’s suggestion, because he feels that Mayhem will be able to start talking more without the pacifier on his mouth. It is hard to talk without having it fall out! Have you gone through this process? Do you have any tips to share?

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