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At what age do you think that a child should stop taking a pacifier?

My LO is 10 months old and she absolutely loves her pacifier. She is my third child and this is all new to me, because my boys never were interested in them. I don't know if I need to start taking her pacifier away now or if I need to wait, but I don't want to wait too long. I would appreciate any suggestions or thoughts.

Well for my first I took his passy away and his bottle and his formula all after his first birthday, it was rough but he got over it. Now with my second I took everything but his passy away after his first b-day and he is 13 months and still loves his passy. I know that I need to take it away but he will prob be my last and I think that I am personally not ready to take it away bcs when I do then I guess I will realize that he is not a baby no more I am not going to let him have it any more after he is 2 though so I will start taking it away from him when he is about 18 months, I dont want to rush things. I dont think any baby should have a passy after they are 2 but that is my opinion, I still see kids sucking on passy's when they are 4 and that bothers me.

I have friend who 20 month old LO is currently seeing a person to help her with her speech. She said that by 20 to 24 months they should be off of the passy. The way she said to do it was to start gradually by taking it away in the mornings first and then at nap time and so on and so forth. When they ask for it simply say that you do not know where it is. The longer they are using a passy the harder it will be to get them off of it later on. Plus the more chance you have of damaging their teeth. I hope this helps. Our DR also has said the same thing. I hope this helps.
My LO does not really have an interest in his passy...he seems to think it is something to play with. We just started him on a sippy cup....he loves it....our plan is to get him off of the bottle shortly before or after his first birthday.

I don't see why it matters.
Why put a kid through that kind of stress, just so WE'RE not embarrassed? It's their way to manage their feelings - and it's all that's left for many toddlers (because their bottle are also gone at that age, as well as cribs & such) at an age when many stressful things are happening (potty training, for instance).

That said - my sister had her kids "give" their pacies to babies who needed them (If you've got some good friends with actual babies, you can recruit them to accept the "gift").
She said it worked great. They only cried themselves to sleep for a month or so...(j/k ).

My kid kept his passy for a while, and he has great teeth (I think FM can vouch for that?). But how many kids these days DON'T need braces, anyway?

And as far as speech is concerned - my LO speaks more clearly than I do!

Same thing over here. Our boys were never interested, but Alyssa likes hers! She would take it all the time if we let her. It stays in her bed and unless she isn't feeling well, thats the only place she can have it. Well I do have one on hand when we go places. But for the most part, she only has it at naps and bedtime.
I agree 2 years will be our cutoff, but if it doesn't go well, I think it'll be fine for her to keep using it to sleep until 3. Of course thats the plan now, I'm sure it'll change. When she hits 2 I prolly be ready to throw it out the window! lol Those kids I always see at the drs office with paci's at like 4 drive me crazy!!!!!!!!!!!

HollyAnn, I am doing the same thing right now!!!Sunday night was suppose to be Alyssa's last nite nite bottle, well she still got one last night. And she doesn't even go to sleep with it anymore! I just can't bring myself to do it!!
I'll have to take this one slow!!

Hi, my son took a pacifier until he was 22 months old. He was addicted to his. He was never without it. I knew it was time to give it up though so one night while at the kitchen table we talked about babies and how there are some little babies that are sad because the did not have any pacifiers. I told him that when you become a big boy, you give the new little babies your pacifiers. I asked him if he wanted to be a big boy and give his pacifier to a new baby. To me surprise he said ok. That night we gathered up the pacifier and put them away. I was skeptical when it was bedtime. He asked for it and I reminded him that he gave them to the babies. Then he just laid down and went to sleep. That easy! I couldn't believe it. The next day he asked for it a few times but when I was able to tell him what happened to them he was ok. He never cried over them. I think it was harder on me to give it up then it was on him.

I'm one of those people who don't see pacis or thumb sucking as a big deal at all.

My 4 year old still sucks her thumb - but I'm fairly confident she'll stop on her own before college.

My 18 month old loves her paci. I do make her take it out of her mouth to speak though. If she is asking me for milk or something, I just say "I can't hear you with your paci in, please take it out to talk to me." And that works fine, and will help her not have any speech issues.

I agree, most kids wind up in braces anyway, and I think the ability to self soothe and have something comforting during stressful times is well worth a couple thousand bucks for braces that we probably would have had to shell out anyway.

Just my $.02 though.

FWIW, I do plan to start limiting my littlest one (the paci baby) to naptime and nighttime only after her second bday, but I probably won't take those sleeptimes away for quite some time after.

I think most of the experts say a child should stop using the pacifier by age 2. Although, I have read that some even say by age one.

I personally think that if the child ever starts to show a reduced interest in the paci, even if they are still very little you should take it away then instead of waiting till they are older. I think it probably causes less stress for the child that way. We missed an opportunity like that with Will and now he is in love with his paci again... oh well.

Maybe you should start limiting the paci to sleep time and times when she is really fussy, instead of letting her have it all the time (if that's what you're doing). Then she may start to become less attached to it and it might be easier when you do decide she is ready to part with it permanently.

About bottles- I breastfed till Will was a little over 9 months. At that point I didn't want to get him started on the bottle, since I would just have to take it away in a few months anyway. He has formula 4 times a day right now. So, we give him his formula in a sippy cup with each meal. But, for his 4th FF I give him a bottle (before bed). Maybe I should go ahead and take that away too. He does so well with his cup the rest of the day, but I'm so used to him nursing to sleep that I just keep giving him the bottle. He doesn't even need the bottle to go to sleep. He's still awake when he finishes it, the I rock him to sleep.

Thanks ladies for all your input and advice No matter what age I take her pacifier away I am going to have a hard time dealing with it, because this is our last LO.

Jack never took one.
The hospital gave us one that was as big as his head and we have funny pics of him as a baby with it in his mouth.
I got a few at my shower and tried to give them to him but he was just never into it.
Good luck!!
Oh, and I'm just going to move this topic over into Babies & Toddlers...fyi...

My kids never liked pacifiers. My 3 yr old daughter has recently started sucking her thumb every so often. I think its something she has picked up from daycare because I catch her hiding when she does it. I do hope thumbs are not a gateway drug. :P

Wow, I'm so glad now that my daughter doesn't use a passy. She has never really been interested in them either.