When should your child stop using a pacifier? Experts respond

After countless sleepless nights, the mother of two children of Atlanta said she decided to ask for help from the “fairy of the pacifier”, which would come in the middle of the night to change her 18 -month -old daughter’s precious pacifier for a new sticker package. And it worked.

“I was shocked by the little noise my daughter made,” said Finney Harden.

When it comes to anxieties about how and when to intervene in the habit of using a pacifier or sucking the finger, Finney Harden is one of many mothers who have faced difficulties, according to a search published this Monday (19) and held by the CS Mott Children’s Hospital of the University of Michigan.

Of the 820 American parents surveyed, about half reported that their children wore a pacifier, and a room reported to suck their finger. Most parents said the behaviors were effective in soothing irritation and preparing for bedtime or nap.

“These are common techniques of self -force for children,” says Susan Woolford, a pediatrician at the research hospital and coditor. “But then parents wonder how to remove them without causing much turmoil to the child.”

Children usually abandon these habits on their own two to four years of age as they find new ways to deal with stressors in their environment, according to Woolford. However, some parents may want to intervene due to concerns about their children’s oral and emotional development.

Most parents surveyed agreed that the pacifier should be abandoned before the age of two, but parents of children who suck their finger shared less consensus, with one in six saying they regret not having passed out their child earlier.

What is the right time?

Discouraging the use of pacifier or the habit of sucking the finger is not a unique decision for everyone, according to Sarat Thikkurissy, pediatric dentist and spokesman for the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, which did not participate in the research.

Adverse health results often depend on the frequency, duration and intensity with which the child uses the suction reflection to self -conform.

In some scenarios, habits can cause upper front teeth to project forward, making it harder for the child to close the mouth, which can later lead to speech and breathing problems by the mouth, according to Thikkurissy, who is also a professor at the Department of Pediatrics at Cincinnati University. “The longer they are over four years, the less the changes are reversible.”

Pediatricians can also advise by the use of pacifier or suck the finger if this is leaving the child sick. In particular, sucking the finger has been associated with frequent ear infections, according to Dipsh Navsaria, pediatrician and president of the Early Childhood Council of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Still, the longer the child depends on the habit, the more difficult to break it later.

“Ideally, if it’s not a big challenge, trying to see the use of sucking my finger or pacifier stop at 18 months is a good thing, but I wouldn’t worry much if I was still happening at two years, perhaps even three,” says Navsaria, who is also a professor at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.

If a child is still using a pacifier or sucking a finger in public after the age of four, Navaria says he may consider whether chronic physical pain or a delay in development may be at stake, in which case the child may need more self -force behaviors.

Stressful environmental factors can also cause an old finger to return, said Annie Pezalla, Macalester College Psychology Assistant Professor in Minnesota, who studies child development.

“If you have had a very difficult day and go home wanting something that reminds your childhood, either baking cookies or wrapping yourself with a soft blanket in fetal position, this is a psychological phenomenon of regression,” says Pezalla. “We regressed to previous, sometimes more childish states, where we felt safe.”

Frequently, starting preschool or kindergarten may trigger the return of the habit of sucking their finger, but parents should be quiet as it is probably temporary as the child manages the stress of his new routine, she said. In more extreme cases, the early loss of parents, military detachment of one parent, witnessing domestic violence or other traumatic events can also make the habit return.

“When it comes to approaching (the habits), I start with: ‘Are there other problems happening?’ And number two, ‘what is the perspective of parents about what is happening here,” says Navsaria, adding that a primary care professional can help assess whether intervention is necessary.

Intervention strategies

Parents in the research listed a wide range of strategies to help end the use of pacifier and suction of their children’s thumb.

Common tactics for pacifier weaning included limiting use only for bedtime, hiding or “losing” the pacifier, and teaching the child that she was too old to use it through books or conversations-all that Finney Harden suspects that they helped her daughter.

Parents reported that the habits of sucking their finger were harder to end, most of them choosing to push the child’s hand from his mouth and simply remind her to stop.

“It is important for parents to talk to (their children) about the benefits of not using the pacifier or not sucking their finger and helping them develop other ways to calm down,” says Woolford, co-director of the research.

Substitute objects such as plush animals or blankets can offer the sensory comfort that a child needs, according to Pezalla. New self -almaria habits must be rewarded by parents.

“Punishing children for their efforts to find comfort will probably make the situation worse,” she said. “I think showing children as much compassion as possible, and perhaps even being more affectionate with them, it can lead the child to feel, ‘Oh, I don’t need it anymore. I’m safe, I’m protected.’

Overall, Pezalla, who is also a mother, warned against judging other parents for her choice of how to deal with the pacifier or suction of the thumb.

“I think more parents are using social networks in search of guidance on the right and wrong way of raising their children,” said Pezalla. “They are losing their sense of intuition to simply follow their child’s orientation and trust in their own parental instinct.”

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Was this content originally published when your child should stop using a pacifier? Experts respond on the CNN Brazil website.

Source: CNN Brasil

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