should baby have pacifer or no??????????

I was hesitant to give our son a pacifier as there are so many little ones (and not so little ones!) that wander the world sucking on the things all day long and I think it's a little excessive.

I finally gave in and we now use one for naps, bedtime, or long car rides where he will fall asleep. When he wakes up or gets out of his car seat he literally hands the "sucky" to me and goes about his day. When he turns 2 the sucky is going to be thrown away so that he's not dependent on it when he starts school or something like so many other kids I have seen.

My children never used pacifier. My older daughter sucked her thumb instead for a long time, since she was 3, but suddenly stopped and my younger daughter never had that problem. I don't like pacifiers but I'd say that it's just because my girls are real angels and there was never problem with sleep. I also think it's horrible when a three-year-old sucking all the time...

My brother and his wife was having a hard time with passies with their first child. But the way that they made her want to give it away was to give it to the cows! THey have cows living down the road from them and they would take walks down there so my neice could see the cows, and she wanted to give them her passie! So that helped!

i would say yes to the pacifier until they are 3 b/c my daughter Reed now has buck teeth b/c we refused to give her something she could suck on...and (surprise, surprise) her thumb was the only other option so that's what she sucked on.

when my brother was little, he had buck teeth until he was 8 from chewing on his blanket, thumb, anything he could get his mouth around and was made fun of at schools a lot.....i know this b/c i was teased and called "the young buck's sis" about fifty million times....


SO...yes to the pacifier...but not for too long and not so they become dependent on it. either way you go, there are both pros and cons but i would say going with a pacifier may save your child from braces and buck teeth so its totally the way to go.

good luck whatever you choose!!! -Brooke

I used a pacifier for my baby to help him improve his sucking strength and instinct. He was a little small when he was born because he came a bit early and this really helped him with his eating as well.
He is now one and we leave it in his crib so he is not walking around with it. I was afraid it would prevent him from wanting to speak if he had it all day. He also gets it in the car for long trips only.
Also, you can sterilize a pacifier and take it away... you can't do this w/a thumb.