I am all for giving babies pacifiers. They need that sucking. It makes me sick to see a 3 yr old walking around with a pacifier in his/her mouth!

I run a daycare and my rule is by the age of 3, your pacifier gets mailed off to the hospital for the new babies. We have a little ritual we go threw so they will give up their pacifiers.
One mother still gives her 3 1/2 yr old a pacifier. Not at my house! She walked in the door today with it in her mouth and started talking with it in her mouth!

What are your thoughts?

That's TERRIBLE! First off, it's like a security blanket and they're going to be VERY insecure in school. It's not healthy. Plus, it will affect their teeth and they won't grow in right from what I've heard..

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-Brittany Brydahl

I think pacifiers are not intended for babies who don't have teeth. I think I would prefer that one their teeth start coming in, they don't have a pacifier. Definitely by 3 years of age a child should be okay without a pacifier. It they pitch a fit, when a parent takes it away, maybe the parent just needs to be firm instead of giving in.

When both my girls were younger they both had them. The sucking action seemed to help them both sleep, it kind of soothed them if you like.

The trick is to get rid of them before the baby realises he/she is dependant on them.

Yeah I think pacifiers only needed for babies with baby teeths growing. But the problem is to some instead of pacifiers they're now thumbsucking.

This little girl has teeth problems all ready. The sad thing is her mom said to me " It hasn't affected her teeth at all yet." I was thinking -really, are you looking at the same set of teeth I am?

Thumb sucking is another problem, but they have some stuff you can put on the thumb to make it taste nasty to help stop the sucking.

My kids got rid of their pacifiers before they turned two. I don't really know what the proper age is to get rid of them, but I think it is best to help kids grow out of it as early as possible.

Pacifiers should only be used until 2 years old. Pacifiers are only used during teething. This means, after all the teeth have grown, stop using pacifiers.

It's really not good for their teeth if they are still using pacifiers after they have their teeth. I think it can cause the adult teeth to grow in wrong.

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-Brittany Brydahl

I agree to that. Using pacifiers for a long time, teeth will grow grow in wrong directions, and thats the time you need orthodontics to do repairs.

They are good for developing the roof of the mouth and they have been proved to prevent cot death so in those 2 circumstances I am all for them, also they are a comfort to a baby, however I would have to remove it when they are talking and just keep it for bedtimes when they reach the age of 2.