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DS just turned 24 months and uses his binky for sleeping at home and also in the car on rides longer than 20ish min. He doesn’t use one for naps at daycare bc of their rules, so I know he can sleep without it. I think that just because he can, doesn’t mean he should have to. DH wants to get rid of it but I don’t really mind him having it since it really seems to comfort him. Also because when he doesn’t have it, he sucks on his fingers, which I can’t stand and think will be way harder to “break”. He had a dentist appt last week and he wasn’t worried at all about it. He said the limited time he uses it should not impact his speech or teeth. He said he should be rid of it completely by 4. He just doesn’t seem ready to give it up yet and I’m ok with that.

@justjules: This isn't exactly answering your question, but we were in a similar position about a month ago. O was only using them for sleep and I had no plans on taking them away. But then one night we realized all of hers were chewed enough to be unsafe (teething), so we told her we were boxing them up and shipping them to a baby who needed them. We went cold turkey and after about 3 nights of not great sleep, she went back to normal and hasn't asked for them since. It was so much easier than I expected. She was 23 months.

My son had his pacifier until he was 3 years 8 months, I know because it was right around the time he dropped his afternoon nap!

Teeth aren't the issue, it's the palette. Pretty much using a pacifier past 1 year of age can cause the palette to become arched. My understanding is that alone isn't an issue, but combined with overbites and underbites, it can mean orthodontia in the future.

My DS1 sounds a bit like yours - he only used his paci in the crib, and it was pretty much just to relax (he didn't try to find it after losing it in the night.) Right before he turned 2 in July, we moved him to a big boy bed and after the first couple nights of getting acclimated, we'd only give him the paci if he specifically asked for it. Otherwise, just the typical bedtime routine with books, songs and cuddles. He asked for it maybe two nights that first week and hasn't mentioned it since.

We were wayyyy lax with DD1's Wubbanub. She used it all the time, whenever she wanted it, until she was about 27 months old. We have so many pictures of her with the thing hanging from her mouth. When she bit through the last one that was it--no more Wub, and she only asked for it like twice and had no issues sleeping. After she dropped it I remember thinking how nice it was to see her face! I sort of wish she had it longer because she was hospitalized, we moved, and I had DD2 and the Wub had been such a source of comfort. She has really high oral needs too--she's 4 and still chews in everything.

DD2 has her pacifier much less often but that is her choice. We try not to let her have it unless she's in her crib, in the car, in the stroller with the goal of napping, or right before/after sleeping (so in the morning while still waking up, or before naps), and we never offer it to her. She will usually drop it if I ask her to, and I often use getting to do something fun as a bribe ("No Wubs on the playground!"). Whereas DD1 got her Wub at the grocery store, DD2 leaves hers in the car easily. Unlike DD1, DD2 doesn't have high oral needs and only sticks inappropriate things (as in not food or drink) in her mouth if her sister does. If DD2 has her Wub, she gets super sleepy so she really can't function with it. We will probably try dropping it around 2-2 1/2 but potty training is a bigger priority so it depends on how that goes.

I cut the paci off DS’s 2 wubbanub elephants around 20 months, yet he still sleeps with both of them and sometimes carries them around the house. That’s one option is you’re worried.

Some time around 1.5 we started only letting DS have the paci in the car or in the crib. Or when he had a major tantrum . Then around maybe 2 we stopped using it in the car. Daycare got him to stop napping with it too, and he only used it at night. After that they started falling apart or getting holes and they'd get thrown out. By 2.5 the last one got a hole and DH had DS throw it out and that was it. He asked for a couple times and we reminded him that he threw it out, and he was pretty ok with it.

I think he was ready to be done and we'd done it really gradually so it worked well. I really wanted him to be DONE with pacis before LO2 arrived (2 years 9 months) so it worked out well. I didn't want him trying to steal the baby's pacis, lol.

DD is now 15m and probably pretty soon we'll stop letting her have them as much.