At what age do you think a child should be weaned from their "binky"?

Whenever they get off of milk as standard fare.

My girls did not care for a pacifier even though we offered it to both of them. But they each had one friend who would not give up the pacifier and the blankie. One of those little girls was in 2nd grade when she no longer had the blankie. Her mom started cutting it in half each Friday until there was nothing left. They were both finished with the pacifier before they went to first grade, but one of them had it still in Kindergarten. She had to have a whole lot of surgery in her mouth and jaw when she was junior high age. It would be hard to take away those security items. I was lucky and didn’t have to worry about it.

No later than one and a half. Give them a tippy cup and praise them about what a big boy or big girl they are. Our kiddos never had them, but the grands all did. There’s a reason they are called “pacifiers”. ; )

Five or ten? You’re kidding right? I remember my Sis had a friend when I was maybe five and she was four, and her friend was about the same age. Always had a pacifier in her mouth. Some people…

My daughter never used one and my sister never used one.

I’d say it’s sa good habit to get rid of it sooner rather than later, so as early as possible, but if you don’t start with it, they don’t get used to it or want it.

I babysat a two year old who used one. I never let him use it when he was my responsibility.

He lived and is now happily married.

@Jonsblond I doubt you ruined his life by not giving him his paccie. I’m sure that little girl I mentioned above is probably a well adjusted granny by now. Even though me and my Sis always thought it was goofy that she always had a pacifier in her mouth. Of course we couldn’t voice it like that at the time, but that was our general outlook. No harm done though either way I suppose. Just strange.

I wonder if children who use pacifiers have some things in common as adults? Eat more, smoke more, drink more? Or, no correlation at all.

I’m pretty sure my family doesn’t use them. I don’t remember my sister having one, and I remember being very young and a mom put one in her baby’s mouth and I asked my mom what it was. They weren’t extremely common among the families around me.

I wonder if some children are more likely to need one, or if it’s simply parents make the baby accustomed to it.

It’s odd to me to see older than age three.

~Grade 6 as long as they get it back when they are 65.

Nobody should be going for a job interview with a binky in their mouths.

I am in the camp of “Worry about your own children”. Other kids and parents choices are their business

@jca2 Unless it is one of those NSFW jobs.

@Dutchess_III Oh. I thought “binky” was blanky. I have a favorite pillow that has to be in my arms to sleep properly, and have two favorite blankets. I can’t ever remember far back enough to remember my soother, but I did chew on the plastic Atari joystick.

I stopped chewing on my Atari controller when I discovered chewing gum.

I admit I find it a bit odd to see a child past the age of 2 with one, but I’m also not good at guessing at children’s ages, so maybe they’re just an older looking 2. I remember watching a YouTube video where a guy had a little biography of himself and showed a picture of him at 3–4 with a pacifier and commenting that he was “way too old for one” (guess his parents made a weird choice). I wouldn’t seriously condemn someone for doing that, but we all make judgments.

@JLeslie I’m sure Freud would have something to say about that. He believed children who weren’t breastfed enough would develop smoking and drinking habits as adults.

@Demosthenes Yes, good point about Freud.

Probably before their teeth start coming in. I don’t have much judgement about comfort items or oral sensory-seeking past a certain age. But a pacifier will really mess up your teeth when they’re coming in.

I agree with @raum in that onece teeth appear, stop the soother/binky.

One way to get the child off of a binky/soother is to never replace the old one with a new one and then they themselves will throw it out.

Something is certainly wrong with parents that encourage this well past the time that it shouln’t be used.

@raum Sucking of the fingers will totally mess up the teeth, too. Having a child learn an instrument, like a trumpet, will help correct crooked teeth.

@kritiper I’ve never heard of an instrument correcting teeth. How interesting.

@kritiper: The instrument won’t correct crooked teeth. It may stop the teeth from becoming more crooked, but it’s not an alternative to braces.

@jca2 An instrument won’t correct teeth like braces will, but it lieu of money to pay for braces, it’s better than nothing.
@raum My father was a music/band teacher. He knew. Playing in a band helped my crooked teeth issue to a great extent.

I say between 2 and 3 years. Might be best not to get them used to them to begin with though.

I agree @nightwolf5. Why even start them on it in the first place?

@Dutchess_III Yes, that’s kinda how I see it. I think most use them to keep the child from fussing and such when they don’t need a bottle. However, it becomes very hard to ween them from them far after. I have two nephews. 3 and 6. I never remember them using one.

It’s like it teaches them to have something associated with food in their mouths at all times.