When I was at the pediatrician to look at Elle's heat rash she mentioned off hand that I should stop giving Elle the binkey during the day. (This is the pediatrician I DONT usally see, the vitamin incident pediatrician)
She said that the suck reflex is gone at 3 months and that the binkey is just a habit now. She said I should still give it to her at night up to 1 year because it helps prevent SIDS.
One friend of mine said, "good, take that thing out of her mouth" Another said, "don't worry about that, she will give it up on her own, don't take her soother away now". Round one of the binkey debate begins...am I a bad mom for letting her have it or a bad mom for giving it to her?
Do what you think is best!! :o) Whatever feels natural/right... Luckily Olivia never wanted one so we never had to deal with that. Her self soother was putting a lock of hair between her thumb and pointer finger and rubbing her thumb over the hair over and over. She still does it on occasion when she is tired... I have a friend who is a dad and his daughters both sucked their binkey's past the age of 4 in fact I think one gave it up at 5.. Yikes. And that is not good for lots of reasons (teeth issues, speech issues, delayed speech etc). However, it seems unnatural to take away your infant's self soother when she is learning to do just that - self soothe. Anyhow, just my opinion. :o) You will do what is best for Elle because thats just what us moms do!
ReplyDeleteStrange. I've never heard that from our pediatrician. Madeleine used her binky until her 1st birthday, then it was gone for good. She did fine and replaced it with "Kitty", her stuffed cheetah, who still goes everywhere with her. Kids need a method of self-pacifying, so I'm not so sure I agree with the ped. On the other hand, I'm not a supporter of it being in the kid's mouth 24/7. We mainly use Baby George's for nap time and bed time, and he likes to chew on it at other random times. :)
ReplyDeleteLike Brianne said, you just have to go with your motherly instinct. Ultimately, you know what's best for her, not the substitute ped. You're with her all the time and know what makes her happy, upset, etc.