Hellobee Boards

My ped and dentist both said that there’s no harm until 3yo. I was surprised but dentist said as long as it’s sleep time only and not all night (like just to fall asleep and maybe pop back in once over night) it isn’t a problem till closer to 3. Actually she might have even said 4 was ok. But DEF wasn’t earlier than 3.

For that reason, we waited till he was 3. At 3 they can really understand and you can explain things/reason. They respond well to rewards.
I was so scared since mine is a great sleeper but it barely made a difference.

My 2nd is 11 months. We took it away at 4 months when we sleep trained. We figured he was going to cry anyway and he wasn’t as attached as my first was. I have to say it’s really nice not having to worry about it later.

I think if you don’t do it super early, later is better. In between lets say 6mo and maybe 2.5yo they are dependent on it AND dont understand why you took it away.

We dropped the sleep pacifier just after LO turned three. We had seen the dentist for the first time right after her birthday, and she recommended it, so that was the kick in the pants that we needed. I was dreading it, and kept wishing we had done it sooner (especially before we moved her out of the crib at 2y9m), but it was much easier than I expected. As others have mentioned, she was old enough to understand when we talked about it in the days leading up to it, could interact with the books we read about it, and was just able to be much more of a participant in the process. LO picked out a "no binks" present, and was actually the one to initiate the first night of sleeping without a pacifier (which she made it through with her pacifiers within easy reach, amazing the hell out of me).

@annem1990: Congratilarions! Yeah with a baby on the way this transition can wait!!!!! We took DS to build a bear (I think I got that idea on here!) and he put one symbolic paci into a bear. Now he sleeps with that every night. Like PP said, one bad week and it was done!

Another vote for keep it with no guilt. As long as it lives in the bed and doesn't get used during wake time, keep it until three when you can explain it. We talked it up for a bit then traded it for a new stuffed animal. Bedtime took a few minutes longer for a bit, bit we were able to keep that nap until kindergarten. A pediatric dentist told me that if you remove it when a kid still wants to suck then they are more likely to turn to sucking their thumb anyway, and that's worse for your teeth because of palate pressure and bacteria.

I have a 2yr 9mo old that still uses a paci at night and is VERY attached to it. I haven't been in a rush to get rid of it at all, but I'm finally starting to feel like it might be time soon... But at this point I'm scared that she'll stop napping if we get rid of it! I'll let her keep it forever if it means she'll keep napping.

@annem1990: Our pediatrician always told us to work on removing it before or by the 1st birthday to minimize damage to teeth as well as speech. so thats always been our goal and we start weaning from it around 10 months. I also think it gets harder to take it away from them once they are older.