OT- taking away the pacifier

[kgle]

Well what do you know...I let him have the paci for bed only (I am being VERY strict about keeping it out of sight during the day). He has gone to bed on time for 2 nights now! No issues at all.

His checkup is on the 1st so I will ask the pediatrician then.

Thanks for the advice guys

 

[shoney]

Wow, I just read page 2 of the posts. I didn't realize so many parents already had the same idea of cutting of the tip of the paci.
Goes to show you that it works!

By the way, to those that think you should take it away pacis, bottles etc early....thats a personal decision.
I sucked my thumb until I was nine! My mother tried everything to get me to stop. I eventually hid from her so she wouldn't see me.
When I had my own kids, I didn't want them to discover their thumbs so I was more than happy to give them a pacifier. Waaaay easier to get rid of than a thumb don't you think?

Hey I was 10 when I gave up my thumb! My kids weren't binky or thumb suckers...my 7 year old is sucking his blanket as I type.
I hated the fact that my parents tried to get me to stop sucking my thumb. I liked it! The way I look at it, he won't be sucking his blanket in college and if he does then he'll have to suffer the consequences. If this is the worst thing he does, then I will be one happy parent! When kids are ready, they will stop.

 

[tam626]

Well what do you know...I let him have the paci for bed only (I am being VERY strict about keeping it out of sight during the day). He has gone to bed on time for 2 nights now! No issues at all.

His checkup is on the 1st so I will ask the pediatrician then.

Thanks for the advice guys

I say sleep is more important right now. It can affect his health & behaviour to be sleep deprived. Worse comes to worse, he will need braces someday. My dd sucked her thumb from 4 months until she was about 5 & she needed braces. Could'nt stop her from that & she never would take a pacifier.

 

[alikat99]

Ummm, most thumb suckers I know only started when their passies were taken at 3 or 4. I don't think I know of a child older than 2 that sucks a thumb who didn't have a passie still at 2.

My oldest daughter! She found her thumb at age 6 months and hasn't given it up yet! And, she's 7. She NEVER took a pacifier, just her thumb. I have tried it all to get her to stop sucking her thumb, and nothing works. She does it when she's tired or bored. We remind her to stop, and she does, but if she's not paying attention, she puts it back in her mouth.

Now, I gave my youngest a pacifier and didn't take it away from her until she was 3. No thumb-sucking for her at all.

 

[WantToGoNow]

For him 9:30 is amazing considering before his surgery he wasn't going to bed until 2 or 3am. It also worked with my work schedule when I got off work at 8:00 and didn't get home until 9:00pm. I'm a single parent so I don't really have the luxury of having his father come get him to make bedtime earlier. 9:30 works for us (he goes down between 8:30 and 9pm). I didn't post this to be criticized on his bedtime.

There IS enforcement of bedtime. I believe I stated in my OP that about a month and a half ago he was very consistent and staying in bed when he was put there. He also switched into a toddler bed at the beginning of the year so it took a while to get used to that. These new problems started when we lost his pacifier. I am also concerned that he is still having apneas when he sleeps. Not sure where non enforcement came from.

I hate to disagree, but obviously there is no enforcement of bedtime. In your post, you said "he was up and lively at 11:30" - if his bedtime was 9:30 and he was still up at 11:30, bedtime was not being enforced.

My oldest dd was given her paci back at that age and still had it at age 4 - I had years of orthodontist payments for appliances and braces to fix the results of that. Good luck taking it back away because now he knows if he doesn't cooperate, you'll flex.

 

[lindsmom]

Ummm, most thumb suckers I know only started when their passies were taken at 3 or 4. I don't think I know of a child older than 2 that sucks a thumb who didn't have a passie still at 2.

I sucked my fingers until probably 9 or ten, I have one niece who just stopped (she's 14) and another niece who just graduated college and has some very incriminating pictures of herself sucking her fingers @ college. None of them were pacifier babies.

 

[Mickeypooh99]

Ummm, most thumb suckers I know only started when their passies were taken at 3 or 4. I don't think I know of a child older than 2 that sucks a thumb who didn't have a passie still at 2.

As someone who has over 12 years of experience working with young children, I have to disagree. I've known thumb suckers who started around a couple months, some who started before birth. They have all continued to suck thumbs well past the age of 2. I also have NEVER know an child who started thumb sucking after a pacifier was taken away. The kids seem to prefer one of the other, but not both.

 

[kate0305]

I also have NEVER know an child who started thumb sucking after a pacifier was taken away. The kids seem to prefer one of the other, but not both.

My DD will be 4 in May. On her 3rd birthday we told her the paci fairy came to get her pacis for new babies born on that day, but she would get a present for being so helpful to the new babies. It was pretty easy to get her to give them up when there was a ritual and she was really tired that night anyway.

However, within the past month she has started sucking her thumb. I don't know if it is because there is a new baby at her friend's house, or b/c her teacher is going to have a baby, or what. . .but it is so frustrating that she has started this out of nowhere. Last night when I checked on her she was asleep with her thumb in her mouth tightly-I had to pull hard to get it out.

I also had a narrow mouth and raised palate (think I saw this on the thread somewhere about someone needing oral surgery) and had to have my tonsils out and years of ortho, including some torture device that I had to crank to spread out my jaw. . .and I NEVER used a paci or sucked my thumb. I am nervous that it could be genetic and that with the genes and the sucking she is double whammy-ing herself.

Oh well, we are going to the dentist in 2 weeks- maybe they can talk her out of her thumb.

 

[chigirl]

The Supernanny had a family tie all the pacifiers to balloons and set them up in the air so the "pacifier fairies" could get them to give to kids...but it is illegal in Illinois to release balloons! But it was a cute episode..the nanny gave the kid a special present after she let her pacis go. We had a problem w/our DD who would not give up the bottle at 2 (both of my kids did not like pacifiers), but we went to see Santa when she was 25 months old, just a month after her birthday, and Santa told her he needed the bottles "for Rudolph's babies" and she'd have to leave the bottle she had with her and leave the rest out on Christmas Eve night (which was 4 nights away). She handed Santa the bottle and gave him a hug and said "Sorry I had the babies ba-bas!" it was priceless! That night, she put all her ba-bas in a box and put them under the tree and that was that.