Bottles & Pacifiers:

The Suck Stops Here

Using bottles and pacifiers does wonders for our crying babies (and subsequently our eardrums), but when it's time to say goodbye, many parents find these habits hard to break. We spoke to pediatrician Dr. Carol Cahill and dentist Dr. Anureet Sohi-Thadwall to find out why it's important to kick those suckers to the curb.

Infants are born with the urge to suck so they can nurse, and some children who can not self soothe may suck for comfort, but parents should not rely on bottles and pacifiers throughout childhood. Infants who have a bottle propped in their mouth at bedtime don't know when they're hungry since they have a constant food source. Dr. Cahill suggests going straight from breastfeeding to using a cup. "Nine months old is not too early to drink from a sippy cup," she says. If your child is already on the bottle, Cahill suggests weaning them before they turn 2 years old. "Put what they like to drink into the cup and only put water in their bottle. They're going to throw the bottle and pick the cup," says Cahill. After infancy a child only needs four ounces of milk with each meal as a calcium supplement. Toddlers who feed primarily on milk tend to become overweight and anemic. Cutting out bottles will cause them to eat more table food. Dr. Sohi also warns that children who sleep with a milk or juice bottle are bathing their teeth in lactose and other sugars causing bacteria and tooth decay, so bottles at bedtime should be avoided completely.

When it comes to pacifiers, parents should resist using them past infancy. Constant sucking will cause a deepening of the child's palette and deform the alignment of their teeth. In short, pacifiers = braces. They should be eliminated by age 2. Dr. Sohi says that kids who suck their thumbs run the same risk. "It's very normal, but after age 4, I would be concerned. As permanent teeth start to come in, it can damage them and keep them from coming in the right position." Sohi suggests finding out why the child is sucking in the first place since it's usually a sign of insecurity and a want for comfort. If they're aggressively sucking in their sleep, try putting socks on their hands, coating their thumb in bad tasting medicine, or bandaging their thumb before bed.

For weaning, Dr. Cahill suggests snipping off the top of the pacifier bit by bit. Eventually, the pacifier will be a small nub and the child will complain that it's broken. That is when parents should instruct them to throw it in the garbage. Children as young as eighteen months have a far better memory than we assume. Your child will remember throwing it out and know it's gone. Another great suggestion is having your child bring all their pacifiers to the toy store. Let them pick out a toy and "pay" for it with their pacifiers. When they ask for a pacifier later on, simply remind them that they exchanged their pacifiers for a brand new toy.

In the end, it's often the parents who have a harder time saying bye-bye to bottles and pacifiers because they've become a source of relief. But with a little creativity and a strong commitment, getting your kids off of bottles and pacifiers can be done more quickly and easily than you think.