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Our pediatrician and our pediatric dentist both, told me there was no harm in the kids using "binkies". We called them nuks. The dentist told me the constant sucking on them at bedtime was great for generating saliva to wash away any unbrushed milk residue. They weren't around when I was a kid, and I sucked my thumb. I still remember the horror of seeing my school health chart with those words written across it "Thumb Sucker"
My boys gave them up around the age of 3, all on their own. Not one of them needed braces, in fact, none of them has had so much as a cavity.
But, Grandma, I agree, you have to follow the wishes of the parents. Good luck!
MQ...A couple of my neices were "giants"! Both parents were incredibly tall people. Their children were way, way above average in size as toddlers. Their youngest looked 6 when she was 3. Her mother didn't want to deprive her of the binkie until "she was ready". Yes, she looked...ahem, special, being pushed around in a stroller, with a binkie sticking out of her mouth. Nothing looks more "normal" than a "6 yr old" in a stroller, with a binkie in her mouth.
I've got another scenario here, one that should make a person gag and shudder with horror.
Picture this...Child runs around with binkie, dropping it or setting it down here and there. Anyone with children, who doesn't follow them constantly, just in CASE said toddler drops their binkie, is NOT going to wash it every time. Does said family have pets? Does child play outside where racoons or other wildlife may pass through the yard? Is child picking up cat hair, animal feces from feet? Bird poo from passing birds? Roundworm larvae or eggs? I don't mean to be an alarmist, but there ARE occasions where those larvae enter a small child's blood stream and burrow holes in the child's brains and other vital organs. Yeah.... By all means, there's no harm in letting your child run around with a binkie!
LOL, were you aware that I am a "giant", too? I'm 6'1" and my ex-husband is 6'4" (and I have uncles who are 6'8") but our daughter is a midget--she only grew to be 5'6"! And she's currently living in China, where they think she is tall...
But eeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwwwww on the larvae burrowing holes in children's brains!!! Very effective, I will probably wake up in the night thinking of that.
are they or you showing her the thumb or two fingers to suck? In a pinch that might help. It's a hard time for everybody but nothing is more pathetic than a 3- 5 year old in the stroller with a pacifier. My own son would not take a binkie and I think he would have been a happier infant if he had one. He eventually found his 2 fingers and that worked for quite awhile. Good luck
Eh - I think seeing a 6-year-old sucking her thumb in kindergarten is a lot more pathetic than a 3-year-old sucking a pacifier in a stroller.
Then again, I was that 6-year-old. And I saw an 8-year-old doing the same thing at the store last week, and it made me want to reach out and give that poor kid a hug.
LOL, were you aware that I am a "giant", too? I'm 6'1" and my ex-husband is 6'4" (and I have uncles who are 6'8") but our daughter is a midget--she only grew to be 5'6"! And she's currently living in China, where they think she is tall...
But eeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwwwww on the larvae burrowing holes in children's brains!!! Very effective, I will probably wake up in the night thinking of that.
LOL... I am no small gal at 5'9" tall, but my sister is 5'11", her husband was 6' 7" and both of her daughters topped out at 6'2" tall. It's funny how genetics juggle around, isn't it? My father was 6'4", and most of his kids are fairly tall. My hubby came from parents who were 5'7" and 5'4". He is 6'1". Our shortest son is only 5'5", our youngest son? 6'2" at 15 yrs old and still growing! What's hilarious? He was the smallest baby at birth. It's a crapshoot MQ...seriously!
As for the binkie/larvae nightmares? It's terrifying!
I can understand having a binky, in a crib, to help a teething baby get to sleep. I have never understood why children, ages 3 plus, have binkies in their mouths all the time, at the store, the park, we had a rule, "no binkies outside". My daughter would put her binkie on the table, and we would leave the house.
I have never read about this, but I would think constant binkie use would be an issue in language delay, or even speech problems..anyone heard a child talk with a binkie? I just don't get it.
LOL... I am no small gal at 5'9" tall, but my sister is 5'11", her husband was 6' 7" and both of her daughters topped out at 6'2" tall. It's funny how genetics juggle around, isn't it? My father was 6'4", and most of his kids are fairly tall. My hubby came from parents who were 5'7" and 5'4". He is 6'1". Our shortest son is only 5'5", our youngest son? 6'2" at 15 yrs old and still growing! What's hilarious? He was the smallest baby at birth. It's a crapshoot MQ...seriously!
As for the binkie/larvae nightmares? It's terrifying!
Well, my ex's mother was only 5'2", so we figure that might be why my daughter is only 5'6". I'm kind of happy for her, though, because she won't have the terrible time I did trying to find clothing with pants and sleeves and waistlines long enough. She is still within the normal range.
For milennia, up until a few decades ago, babies survived without "binkies". Amazing, isn't it?
Yes, they did, but... pacifiers were actually invented quite a while ago and they were an alternative to giving babies a *sugar treat.* I am betting that pacifiers were better than the old sugar rags.
Pacifiers were a development of hard teething rings, but they were also a substitute for the softer sugar ****, sugar-teats or sugar-rags[3] which had been in use in 19th century America. A writer in 1873 described a "sugar-teat" made from "a small piece of old linen" with a "spoonful of rather sandy sugar in the centre of it", "gathered ... up into a little ball" with a thread tied tightly around it.[4] Rags with foodstuffs tied inside were also given to babies in many parts of Northern Europe and elsewhere. In some places a lump of meat or fat was tied in cloth, and sometimes the rag was moistened with brandy. German-speaking areas might use Lutschbeutel: cloth wrapped round sweetened bread, or maybe poppy-seeds. A Madonna and child painted by Dürer in 1506[5] shows one of these tied-cloth "pacifiers" in the baby's hand.[6]
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By all means, there's no harm in letting your child run around with a binkie! 
