My previous 4 year old charge had teeth that literally stuck straight out from her constant sucking on a pacifier.

Anonymous wrote:Get them on board now. My newly 3 year old charge is still using pacis for her nap and bed time. It's such a pain in the ass and she's way too old for it.

The 3.5 yr old I work with used a pacifier (not just for sleeping) until almost 2.75. We got her off of it pretty easily. All was good for about 6 months, then she started sucking her thumb. She does it ALL the time now, like if you don't say anything to her it could be in her mouth for hours straight. I have been working with her to stop doing it, by praising her when she does not and showing other ways for her to comfort herself without the thumb, but I only have her for 6 hours one day and 3 on another (where she is usually napping most of it). The mom never tries to get her to stop. The mom also still gives her milk from a baby bottle a few times a day. I have been working on using sippy cups made for older children, and open plastic cups for water and she does just fine. But she is so into the habit of the bottle and the mom refuses to do the switch herself, saying she does it for the comforting factor. I could understand that for certain occasions, but not 3-4 times a day. She now throws tantrums when she doesn't get a bottle or if the right kind of cup is not used for water.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's there kid, there choice. Don't worry about it. Alot of kids use them until there 5

She's not your kid. Not your business. If the parents don't care then it's not really worth the trouble.
No kid ever takes a paci to college. It's something so minor in the scheme of life.

My freshman roommate was a constant thumb sucker.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The pediatrician needs to butt out, this is not a medical issue. Many kids drop the paci closer to 2.

It is absolutely the pediatrician's place to advise the parents on pacifier use, just as they give advice and information about eating habits, communication/behavior milestones, sleep patterns and just about any other question parents could come to them with. You either don't have children or are super defensive about the way you think things should be done. Shame.

Not the PP you quoted but you're the one who seems super defensive. PP is entitled to her opinion. Get over it.

Probably a nosy pediatrician lol

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The pediatrician needs to butt out, this is not a medical issue. Many kids drop the paci closer to 2.

It is absolutely the pediatrician's place to advise the parents on pacifier use, just as they give advice and information about eating habits, communication/behavior milestones, sleep patterns and just about any other question parents could come to them with. You either don't have children or are super defensive about the way you think things should be done. Shame.

Not the PP you quoted but you're the one who seems super defensive. PP is entitled to her opinion. Get over it.

Anonymous wrote:It's there kid, there choice. Don't worry about it. Alot of kids use them until there 5

She's not your kid. Not your business. If the parents don't care then it's not really worth the trouble.
No kid ever takes a paci to college. It's something so minor in the scheme of life.

It's there kid, there choice. Don't worry about it. Alot of kids use them until there 5

You could always start breaking the pacifiers.

Get them on board now. My newly 3 year old charge is still using pacis for her nap and bed time. It's such a pain in the ass and she's way too old for it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The pediatrician needs to butt out, this is not a medical issue. Many kids drop the paci closer to 2.

It is absolutely the pediatrician's place to advise the parents on pacifier use, just as they give advice and information about eating habits, communication/behavior milestones, sleep patterns and just about any other question parents could come to them with. You either don't have children or are super defensive about the way you think things should be done. Shame.

NP here. My ped has never given us any advice on pacifiers and DS is almost 1. Maybe if there were other issues like he had feeding trouble or trouble making sounds and ped thought it could be related to excessive pacifier use I could kind of get it. I could almost understand a ped saying something at the 1 year appointment, but I'm not understanding the issue at the 9 month appointment. Now if OP's charge was 3....

Anyways, DS pretty much dropped the pacifier on his own around 10 months, although he'll pop it in at night if his gums are hurting from teething.

Anonymous wrote:I've been in similar situations and let me just tell you, save yourself the headache and give her the pacifier. Unless MB/DB are on the same page as you (as in never giving them to her either) it is not going to make one bit of difference what you do. It's highly unlikely that she will be able to differentiate between "if I cry mom/dad will give me my pacifier" and "if I cry, nanny won't give me my pacifier". She just knows that sometimes crying gets her a pacifier and sometimes it doesn't, so she will keep on crying on the off chance that this is one of those times she gets it.

Wait until you are all in it together, you will be way less frustrated.

OP here. Thanks for the advice.

My charge has been going down just fine, relatively speaking, without the pacifier for the last couple months during her daytime naps. That's not the problem. The problem is when DB goes in, innocent as his intentions may be, upsets her more, and then gives her the pacifier after the fact. It only happens every now and then, but it still bugs me.

I'll just wait and see how the next visit to the pediatrician goes. I completely get what you're saying though.

Anonymous wrote:The pediatrician needs to butt out, this is not a medical issue. Many kids drop the paci closer to 2.

It is absolutely the pediatrician's place to advise the parents on pacifier use, just as they give advice and information about eating habits, communication/behavior milestones, sleep patterns and just about any other question parents could come to them with. You either don't have children or are super defensive about the way you think things should be done. Shame.

The pediatrician needs to butt out, this is not a medical issue. Many kids drop the paci closer to 2.

I've been in similar situations and let me just tell you, save yourself the headache and give her the pacifier. Unless MB/DB are on the same page as you (as in never giving them to her either) it is not going to make one bit of difference what you do. It's highly unlikely that she will be able to differentiate between "if I cry mom/dad will give me my pacifier" and "if I cry, nanny won't give me my pacifier". She just knows that sometimes crying gets her a pacifier and sometimes it doesn't, so she will keep on crying on the off chance that this is one of those times she gets it.

Wait until you are all in it together, you will be way less frustrated.

So at my charge's 9 month check-up, the pediatrician informed us (myself, MB, and DB) that we should wean her off the pacifier. She stated her reasons, and basically summed up that it'd be easier to do it now before she became dependent on it for sleeping (we only used it for naps and bedtime). We all agreed to do so. After a couple of days, MB and DB caved and the pacifier became the norm again for her daily naps and bedtime. I just went along with it.

A few months later at her 12 month check-up, the pediatrician urged us again to stop using the pacifiers. I've seen some of those babies/toddlers who are attached to their pacis, and it can be a nightmare when they don't have it when they "need"/want it.

At any rate, MB and DB tried for maybe 1 or 2 days before going back to the good ol' paci for bedtime and her AM nap (if they put her down before I arrive). Meanwhile, I pretty much cut her off for the 3, now down to 2, naps that I put her down for. Sure she sometimes cries and fusses, but she did that with the pacifier at times too.

Now the nature of DB's work allows him breaks during the day, so he's often here for a couple of hours in the afternoon, and it's usually around her second nap. If I put her down before he gets a chance to see her (e.g. he's in his room, or he's just getting in), and she's still fussing/crying, then he'll sometimes go in to see her. Of course she gets worked up, and will be twice as upset when he leaves the room, so he just gives her a pacifier to take the easy way out.

Now he has every right to go in and see his baby when he wants. I'm not knocking him for that. It's just that I get annoyed when he gives her the pacifier because I'm trying to do my part to wean her off it... at least for the naps I put her down for. Even if her fussing and crying is at it's worst (and today it was just typical), she'll calm down/fall asleep eventually without it within 5-15 minutes. He just kills my nap time routine when he goes in, upsets her more, and then gives her the pacifier to feel less guilty about it. -_-

Anyway, I'm not planning on saying anything. It's just a minor annoyance. The pediatrician can deal the MB and DB when we see her in a couple of weeks.