Some kids never take it, others, it is up to the parent to decide when the child no longer needs it. This is a theory that is flown by the seat of the pants. I had one daughter that needed it until she was 3 1/2. But my son never wanted it from day one...My two other children gave it up around 10-20 months old. It helps them with their digestive system and when taken away too early can cause "oral fixations" like sucking their thumb, (I believe that later in life they may be a constant gum chewer, nail biter or smoker. Maybe an old wives tale, but my kids are none of the above.

well some kids take it some dont, some stop soon and some use it till there about 5 to comfort them , my bro actually have a bunch of them till he was like 5 one in his hand one in his mouth one in his ear lol ya and if he lost one he would go nuts until they found it , it comforted him

I told a grouchy old man last week who informed my son he was "to big for that nasty thing" that he was wrong. The fact is my son will not be to big for his "binky" until I decide he is to big. I will not decide that until he proves to be over the need. He didnt start taking one until I weened him from the breast. Fact is...its up to the parents to decide for their child things like this. Its very inappropriate for other people to speak their opinons to a child that is not their own. In many cultures it is perfectally acceptable for a child to take a binky until they are school age. Its a lot cheaper than paying for therapy later! We often dont allow our babies and children to BE babies and children. Whats the rush????

birth sorry to the people who have already given there kids a pacifier but it is a bad bad bad bad habbit to start and completly un needed so for you it would be best to quit it now the best way is to first cut the very tip off then a little more and a littl more tell they can't hold it in there mouth then trash it

I would not know as my daughter never sucked on one, where as my oldest grandson sucked on his until he was 5. My second grandson was like his mom and never sucked on one.

It seems the answer to this is up to you judging from all the answers and I don't have kids myself but I have a helpful tip for when you decide to take it away. My Mom told me my brother had trouble letting go and one day driving down the street, my mom grabbed it out of his mouth and just threw it out the window. He didn't cry like he had before, and just accepted it being gone and never wanted it again...hope this helps

When the kid completely stops being bottle-fed, that's when to lose the binky..........

My granddaughter, almost 4, understood for weeks in advance that Santa would take her dummies away at Christmas. Prior to this she was very attached, and woe betide us all if she couldn't find one when she wanted it. Since Christmas she has rarely mentioned the subject.

Neither of my kids really used one, but I think it just looks ridiculous when I see a 4 or 5 year old with one in their mouth. My children used one just to go to sleep, but then they spit it out on their own once they went to sleep. At about 2 or 3 months they didn't want the thing, so I threw them away. I think by atleast the age 2 it should be gotten rid of. Both of my nephews use(d) one (one nephew is just 4 months and still uses it, but other nephew is 18 months and hasn't used it since he turned 1). It is a parent's decision, but the "old wives tale" of sucking the thumb, etc. is over-rated. Of all the kids I've know that used them and parents took them away, maybe 1 started sucking their thumb. It's a comfort thing. Instead give them a teddy bear or blanket. I would much rather see a 5 year old carrying a blanket than sucking on a pacifier. My son has a favorite blanket, but only needs/wants it when he gets sleepy. Sucking on a pacifier for too long is not good for their teeth. Same as sucking a thumb. Try to get their attention on something else. But I would never presume to tell someone how to raise their child. If it works for you then fine. But personally, I think the age 2 is when the paci should conviently get "lost".

I believe when the teeth start growing in about 2 it should be taking away.

I don't talk from any experience but I've heard its bad for their teeth. Therefore I would say at teething.

Well, I'm a bit predjudiced on this subject. If I could go back and do it all over again, I would never have introduced my daughter to a pacifier from day one. They become addicted to them like cigarettes, and do you really want to drive out to the 24 hour drug store at 3 AM because your child is screaming and you can't find a single pacifier anywhere in the house even though there are probably around 27 hidden under the furniture? That said, my daughter used one until she was probably around 4 or so and everyone and their brother gave me several varying degrees of ominous warnings about the permanent damage I was doing to her teeth and the emotional scarring she would carry for life as a result of this dependency. My daughter today is almost a teenager, has no emotional issues and her dentist says she has the most perfect set of teeth he's ever seen. She's never even had a cavity and will never require any orthodontics. So none of the dire predictions ever came true. The only suggestion I would make would be to not ever start them on the things in the first place, but if they have already been using them then I see no sense in worrying about how long. They're not going to be sucking on a paccy in high school.

I think that it's the parents choice when to break their children from the binky. My son is 17 months and he loves his binky. Now that he is getting older I know he needs to be broke. He is emotionally attached, and cries for it and he will not give up. During the day I try to find all of them and hide them, if he doesn't see them then we are ok until he is tried or cranky. He is also teething and he needs comfort. By the age of 2 hopefully we will say bye-bye to the binky.... amanda lynn

i have had 5 children 2 of which didnt have a dummy (pacifier)unfortunately they both sucked their thumbs & believe me its much harder to stop thumb sucking than weaning them off a dummy, 2 of my children were off it at about 2 1/2 years old, my eldest was stuck to his like glue so at 3 yrs old i told him it was all broke (i tore the teat) & we didnt have another one, after a few hours of mentioning it he himself threw it in the bin, he was fine after that as he knew there wasnt another to replace it.

That is a decision for the parents to make. But the longer a child takes a pacifier, the harder it is to "wean" them from it.

Ultimately it is up to the parent. In my opinion, when the use of the pacifier starts to interfere with other activities, the parents might want to talk about giving it up. I teach gymnastics and I have one five-year-old boy who comes up to me and says, "Miss Brittany, hold my binky while I jump on the trampoline." From my personal experience with this, it interferes with his lesson because he is more worried about where his binky is going than about his task. But, like I said, the parent should decide.

None of my four children took a pacifier after they were 5 or 6 months old so I never had to worry about taking one from them. I personally hate to see a child over 1 year old walking around with a pacifier in his or her mouth or one that is attached to their shirt. Last summer I saw a six year old boy with a pacifier in his mouth and he was clutching 5 (yes FIVE) other pacifiers in his hands. His mother is a dentist and his father is an attorney and each are quick to go into detail about their messy and very public divorce. I had nothing but sympathy for the young boy. When the pacifier becomes a distraction, i.e. the child stops to look for it or worries about where it is, I think it would be best to start weaning him or her of this dependency. New mothers get all types of advise on the use of pacifiers. I always hated it when someone, (usually my mother-in-law) started a sentence with "Don't you think it's time to ..."

Teeth time. My daughter never used one, except for the short time she was hospitalized at 2 months old. It's been reported that pacifiers can hold sugars and bacteria against the gums and teeth when they begin to form and promote decay. It's also been stated that the teeth will grow inwards if a child sucks a pacifier too long. I think it's ultimately the parent's decision, but all aspects should be considered to make fair judgment.

My daughter just turned two and she still uses a nuk" my family members say I need to wean her of of it but when I did for about 3 weeks I found that it wasn't so hard. Although as a mother I saw how much it affected her and it hasn't caused any harm to her mouth actually she has a beautiful set of teeth and pretty lips so what did me and father decide: we gave it back to her she doesn't have in all the time she just uses it in spurts, so hey~ when she gets tired of it... she's smart' she'll let it go.

my son will be 2 soon, and hes still addicted to his passy. They do make new ones that conform to the shape and size of the kids teeth, and his dentist said that his use of the passy hasnt effected they growth of his teeth. My step-dad is constantly throwing his passys away, tring to stop his using them, but im not ready to have him screaming constantly. Its like a crack addict not getting their crack with my son. He NEEDS that passy for now. So i think you should get with your dentist, and see what s/he says about your kids teeth, then make a decision based on that.

Its up to their parents. My son was 6 months old but our poodle helped him get over his ninny(nuk). Everytime Dinky( our poodle) would go check on my son he learned to launch the pacifer at him, so Dinky would get mad & hide them. After that I never gave it back to him. He didn't need it & I would rather hear what my son has to say then encourage him to stick the paci in his mouth to shut up & suck on it. But thats just my opinion. I do think it looks silly when a child over the age of 3 or 4 sucks on one & usually causes overbites & teething problems.

On my baby's first birthday party my cousin took my baby's nuk and she's been off of it since then and she will be 4 in December.

One year old but I think it's best not to start this bad habit in the first place. If the baby screams a lot, by all means try a pacifier but don't let them suck it all the time. I think it is really ridiculous to let bigger kids have a dummy, especially in public. It makes them look stupid and annoys other people. That's why I don't blame the old man for being grumpy because it annoys the heck out of me when I see kids like 4 or 5 still with a dummy. Don't the parents realise how stupid they look? I also think this thing about the thumb-sucking is very much exaggerated too. One of my absolute pet hates with pacifiers is when a child drops theirs on the ground and the parent "sterilises" it by putting it in their mouth. Not only does the parent run the risk of getting a disease - because who knows what people have stepped on and left bits of on the floor - dog poo? vomit? etc. but then the baby is getting all the parents' germs too. For goodness sakes, carry a spare or two so if one drops you can put it away to sterilise at home. I also think those people who tie a pacifier round their baby or child's neck are acting so irresponsibly because it's very easy for a child to get strangled that way.