Opinions on pacifiers?

you are 100% right. there should be an age limit on pacifiers. it can stop a child from speaking properly or even being able to handle a situation (they don't know how to cope without a crutch)

No offense, but Amber 18- that is BS! I get very annoyed when people say " babies only cry when they need something" meaning food , clean diaper,attention. I ( and probably many other mothers) can well attest to the fact that the "something" the baby might be needing is to SUCK on something. It is proven that some babies need to suck. If you can't have (or don't want) a baby sucking on your boob 24/7 then a pacifier is necessary. I do agree that there should be limits though. I was just very lucky that my son weaned himself off around 1 when he started talking. I don't know what I would have done if I HAD to wean him.

I think they are good to have when you have a baby/ young child. But at the age of 2 it should not be in her mouth constantly. She should be talking some and eating and all that without it. My son had used a pacifer but he only really used it if he was tired/scared. It was more like a security blanket. He didn't have a stuffed animal or a toy that he carried around it was his binky. I think you should try to wean her from it, not just take it cold turkey. Or have her parents tell her she cant have it with you only when she is at home?

I think there are good and bad things about them.

Concerning your opinions on their use on babies past 6 months- you're wrong there. Small children have a natural inherent need to suckle on something and if mom's breast isn't there for something they'll need to have that satisfied elsewhere.

Unfortunately, mom's breast usually isn't there in our culture, so pacifiers have become the norm. Dirty, usually, an impediment to speaking clearly, yes, but they do have a purpose.

Once a child is trained to pull a pacifier in and out of her mouth, she's too old to have one. It's meant to sooth a cranky infant, not to be security for a toddler. Sick!

Yes, I do agree I think that 2 yrs old is a little old for a child to have a paci. It will eventually ruin there teeth.

We used something called the "binky fairy" to get our first born to give hers up. We didn't know, when we gave it to her, how attached she would get to it. I looked up ways to get her to give it up and that's what we came across. We told her for about a week that the binky fairy would be coming to take her binky to binky land because she didn't need it anymore. Then, at the end of the week we took it and threw it away (the easiest way not to resort back to it) and left her a present in it's place. She didn't cry, but asked for it for about 3 days.. we would just keep telling her that she didn't need it and it was in binky land. It worked! Good luck with helping her.

i agree. a pacifier is for an infant. My friend let her son have one up until 3 years old. its disgusting!

My daughter used one, but she gave it up on her own around 7 or 8 months... she just wouldn't take it anymore. I agree that kids over a certain age shouldn't have them, but I don't think it's really that bad until the child is around twoish.

We don't use pacifiers at all... if a baby cries that means he/she needs something... even if that is just extra love and attention.

Especially at 1 year and younger, sometimes babies just need comfort and our job as parents is to give it to them. So there is no need for a pacifier...