Our 5-month old girl really, REALLY likes sucking on a pacifier. We are trying not to encourage habitual use, but sometimes that hunk of plastic satsifies her like (almost) nothing else.
Does anyone know or think they know if an early pacifier habit can lead to a later habit of cigarette-smoking or overeating?
Naw, I really doubt it. I also hear that the kids will need braces if they suck on pacifiers, but that’s a myth. Your baby teeth and what you do with them have nothing to do with your permanent teeth (or so my pediatrician told me).
As a parent, you have to go with what works, and save the worries for down the road. If a pacifier calms the little one, use it, and don’t worry about what might happen years from now.
I used to be worried that I was setting up some sort of blankie psychosis, but forget it. He loves it, and like my MIL says- he won’t be carrying that blanket, bottle or pacifier when he graduates from high school, so don’t worry about it!
PS- your little one will probably give it up on her own later, so don’t worry about limiting use. My son took his out one day at around 9 months, and that was that. He may show an interest in them again when the new baby is born, but then we’ll try the “you’re the BIG brother” Jedi Mind Trick.
Umm…allow me to be the first to way: What?? Is this the latest scare or something? Where did you get this notion?
If anything, I’ve read that ciagrette smoking is linked to a denial of satisfying the oral urges - so by those standards, giving baby a binky might help! 
Sorry no cite, one of my psych professors mentioned it in class one day.
Seriously, if it keeps the kid happy and isn’t interfering with eating at this age or talking later, let it go. I’ve got one kid that loved his pacifier until he was 9 months old,(and it was the only thing that kept him happy in the car) and one that would never take it. Whatever floats your boat.
I have a 17 month old daughter. She still uses the pacifier at night and when she’s stressed. It’s like sucking her thumb. A comfort thing that she has 100% control over. Remember your infant has very little control over her life. a pacifier, if she likes them, gives her some control.
There have been no documented long term affects that I’m aware of. I’m just an informed parent and not an expert.
No. She’ll be fine. Some kids have strong sucking needs, and a pacifier helps them satisfy that. It’s soothing and comforting. I know a massage therapist who believes the world’s problems would be solved if we all could still have pacifiers.
I know some people say that “flesh” is better (sucking her own thumb, for example) but down the road, you can take away a pacifier (if needed) whereas you can’t remove the thumb from reach. The pacifier habit is much, much easier to break if it happens to last too long.
Cranky Jr was a pacifier addict. Surprisingly, though, it was not that hard to break him of it once he got to the age where we felt sorta sheepish about him having it in his mouth (This was sometime after a year, for us, but YMMV).
Both of my kids used pacifiers, and both gave them up voluntarily before they turned a year old. Neither of them are thumb-suckers, although my daughter gave her pacifier up when she decided she liked her fingers better. But she gave up finger-sucking too, just a couple of months after gving up the pacifier.
Neither of them are overeaters. They’re active, happy, healthy, and bright. I really wouldn’t worry too much about it, leroy.
My 11 month old is smoking a pack a day and weighs nearly 100 pounds. NEVER GIVE A KID A PACIFIER!
O.K., I’m completely joking. She is 11 monthes old and still uses her pacifier. Last month we tried to break her of the habit, but found it was more trouble than it was worth. We’re hoping she grows out of it soon.
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*Originally posted by Beelzebubba *
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I got this notion from somewhere between my ears. I just had some spare time and started worrying about my daughter.
Thanks for all the reassuring posts. 
My son gave up his when he weaned at 10 months.
My daughter was almost 3 when we forcibly removed it. Her doctor said to let her give it up on her own, but the dentist said that 3 years was when her palate would start to become oddly shaped if she continued.
FWIW she is wearing braces anyway…
I’ve also read that kids who are relatively older and still sucking on pacifiers give 'em up really quickly at pre-school. guess that peer pressure starts out early.
I have read studies that suggest children who use pacifiers are sometimes less intelligent or slower to learn than those that don’t. BUT this is probably more to do with them being given pacifiers 24-hours-a-day by indifferent parents who don’t want to bother talk to them and stimulate them. You sound like interested, wonderful parents so I am sure your child will be fine.
Our kids never really were into pacifiers. They were all breast fed which may have had something to do with it.
The thing that gets me are the 3 to 5 year old kids who still use a pacifier. I’m sorry, but I think they just look dumb at that age.
My 11 month old used one for about 2 weeks. A friend’s 2 year old has a whole set of them… he’s got his going out pacie, his watching tv pacie, his playing pacie, his smoking pacie…
My kid used 'em, and she pretty much gave them up on her own, tho I can’t remember at what age. Anyway, she’s a HS sophomore now, all Honors and advanced classes, 4.3-something average, healthy, non-drinking, non-smoking, occasional smart-mouth… I don’t think her passy did her any damage, and it certainly saved us - she was a bit of a screamer for a few early months.
My kids wouldn’t take a pacifier so I never had to deal with them. My 4 year old daughter did (and occassionally still does) suck her thumb. The only time she does it is when she’s watching t.v. and from what the dentist told me she needs more stimulation than just watching t.v. If she can color or something while she’s watching t.v. she won’t suck her thumb because there’s something else for her to do with her hand. My son just recently started sucking on his fingers but only when he’s upset and crying.
I have to say that while I don’t really like kids having pacifiers I understand the need for them. Some kids just need the extra sucking and a pacifier is a great way to satisfy that need. I don’t like to see kids over 2 with them because that’s just too old to be walking around with a binky in their mouth IMO. My ex-husband’s neice carried a blanket, sucked on a pacifier and drank out of a baby bottle until she was 4 1/2 years old!! Now she has buck teeth and an ugly smile and is going to need some major dental work done to correct it. Her parents tried to take the pacifier (and the blanket and the bottle) away from her but she would pitch a fit and scream so they would give them back to her just to shut her up.
I haven’t heard of a connection between pacifiers and overeating or smoking. I don’t think one would have anything to do with the other but I’m no expert. The only bad thing I’ve heard about pacifiers (and thumbsucking) is causing buck teeth.
I haven’t heard of one either, but I wouldn’t be surprised if one exists. I smoke and eat for oral gratification (get your minds out of the gutter). Now, I don’t know why this is. Maybe I wasn’t breastfed enough, maybe too much. Maybe I didn’t have a pacifier enough, or maybe too much. I would bet there is a connection of some sort, but I don’t know what it would be. I’d be willing to bet that prematurely depriving a child of a pacifier would contribute to an oral fixation later in life that could manifest itself in the form of overeating or smoking, but I have absolutely no evidence to back up my guess.
Both my kids were breastfed and the first would take a binky or leave it. I fear it will take a crowbar to pry the thing from child number two (he is 22 months old). I had to practically force him to take the thing in the first place (he never wanted to let go of the breast otherwise and I could never put him down), and now we are trying to wean him from it. We keep it put up except for naptime and bedtime–and he has had a few naps without it. Wish me luck–got a baby due in March and I really don’t want to have to keep up with TWO binkies!!! 
Anyway, I worried about it affecting his ability to learn to talk–and also to speak plainly, but all my fears were groundless. He not only has learned to speak, but his articulation is better than most babies I’ve heard–this really surprised me. So I don’t think that pacifiers are a bad thing for babies, and except for the frantic “binky hunts,” I think they are GREAT for parents as well!
My son will be three in six weeks and still uses it at home although he is sufficiently embarrassed by it to give it up when he leaves the house. His front teeth are a little crooked and one of his little friends has a similar problem. It’s clearly from the binky (you can tell from the placement of the crooked teeth), but I am not too concerned. These teeth are not permanent and we have dental insurance. I have never heard that binkies cause oral fixation problems later on.