Will Using A Pacifier Interfere With My Toddler's Speech Development?

Tami,
THANK YOU! Your site is brilliant! It is clearly one of the most infomative and helpful sites I have visited. Plenty of sites tell you a piece of the basics and some of what to look for, but your "blog" as you put it, gives so much information, I feel like I am learning all sides of speech delay, not just the benchmarks of the symptoms.

I have a son that is almost 2 1/2 (4 more days, yes, I still "clock it" hee hee) and says about 55 words (including animal sounds and vehicle sounds). I am relieved to know, that these are acceptable forms of communication with a late talker. I have to admit I have felt a twinge of guilt when I say "cow", and he says "moo" but not cow. His latest accomplishment is hearing a word out of context , like overhearing my daughter in the next room talk about a horse, and he will chime in "nay nay", or if we merely say the word puppy, he will bark. He is recognizing external language. (if that is a category).

Anyway, I am amazed at my son's accomplishments in a short period of time (5 words in March to probably 55 in May and becoming extremely sociable in that time frame as well). Reading your site is giving me even more ideas of how to communicate with my son, and get him communicating "back" and still keep if fun!

We have our evaluation tomorrow, and will begin S/T the following week. You have given me some "insider information" on what I should be looking for with our SLP, I really appreciate that.

Thank you Thank you!
Annette

Oh, by the way, in response to your post… we gave up the paci at 24 months/15 days (New Year's resolution, ha ha) He was fine, (he has a blankie) and he has been drinking from a straw since about 17 mos, but still uses sippies (varied top styles) and has never taken one to bed. He hasn't quite mastered the open top cup yet. I will work on that more, I do know it's importance. (I looooove the tupperware cups, I still use them too!) I have switched to Munchkin Big Kid cups with the similar spout as an open cup, I hope those help. He still ends up spilling too much from an open cup.

I guess I also wanted to mention, Jake's pedi said "…he isn't going to talk with that binky in his mouth…" well, he only got it when he was extremely upset (like waiting at the doc's office) or bed time. But I couldn't get it through to her, that it really wasn't keeping him from talking. Thanks for that article and taking away some of the guilt of the extended binky use. We moms have enough guilt to deal with, your information has helped put my mind at ease. :o)

Annette,
Thank YOU so much for your kind words about my site. I'm so glad that you have found it useful! It great to know that you son is doing so well and I'm sure you'll find that with some speech therapy his communication skills will just soar!

Thanks again,
Tami

Interesting topic. I have been concerned with speech problems with our four year old son. While he is starting to speak more clearly there are still times when myself and especially others have a hard time understanding him. He then gets easily frustrated and starts to yell if you don't understand him, cause he thinks you're not listening to him.
He is still using sippy cups more than I would prefer, but he is still in such a habit of walking around with what he is drinking and tends to spill or throw his cup down. We are working on getting him to use an open cup at the table, but sometimes forget.
My sister noticed he has more troubles with 'r's and th's, which I hear is common at this age…do you recommend we take him to a speech therapist just to be sure or wait and see how he does when he starts school?
Thanks for the great resource and info!

Patty, mamastimeout.com hosts last blog post..MamasTimeOut© Breastfeeding Resources

Hi Patty,

I would definitely try to get rid of the sippy cup by this age. Even a cup with a top and a straw is much better. And as far as his speech, you are right that r's and th's are later developing and common mispronunciations for a 4 year old. If there is other stuff going on with his speech to make it difficult to understand him I would take him in for a speech evaluation. She may even suggest to wait before starting therapy, but hearing it from her will make you feel more assured about the situation. And then again there may be some simple corrections that she can get him started with so that he can be better understood by the time he starts school. I would have him evaluated.

I hope this has helped and thanks for visiting my site!
Tami

(p.s. Patty, I would love to exchange blogroll links with you and also I just remembered that you sent me a comment about a week ago and invited me to maybe be a guest speaker on your show on http://mamastimeout.com. Send me an email at tami@speechtherapyweb.com and let's see how we can collaborate!)

Hi Tami,, just checking you out ,,
My boy is doing good with his Speech,, we changed to a new Speech Therapy Centre and he is doing well with his new therapist..
He is learning more .. and I like visiting you and reading some of your article..
Have a Great day…

JoyDs last blog post..Feeding the Birds

Interesting article.
Never used a pacifier for either of the boys and both had oral/sensory issues. I always wondered if it my insistence that they not use a pacifier the reason they have oral/sensory issues.

The middle one is in speech therapy using the straw prog and whistles.

They both self soothed in other ways. But I've always felt bad. Now with another little baby boy I was wondering if it's more genetic, like it was suggested to me, than lack of use of a pacifier.

Melitsas last blog post..Harvesting your kid’s garden

Pacifiers do affect oral motor, articulation/sound production, and dentition when used excessively; as does the sippy cup. The purpose of the pacifier is to "pacify" - to help the child soothe/calm, & regulate himself/herself. Can infants use pacifiers? Yes, but in moderation and should no longer be used past 12 - 18 months of age.

hey id like to talk with you about your blog. please email me - thanks.

It is not that the pacifier affects language development, it affects and effects articulation development and promotes poor swallowing patterns. The muscles used for sucking and the mouth posture used while sucking are not condusive to the proper placement of the tongue and lips for correctly producing verbal speech. The pacifier in the mouth promotes an atypical swallowing pattern and allows for the mouth to fall open during that time as well especially at night when the child is sleeping.

this is an amazing site. I just stumbled while searching around. My 19 month old was just diagnosed as having delayed speech. He uses a pacifier and was using bottles until this past Friday. We still give him the pacifier when he needs to take a nap or go to sleep. It was very difficult for him at first.
thanks again

Thank your for the information Marianne. It makes perfect sense. My son's mouth is open even when he is not using the pacifier. Hopefully this will correct itself

Cathy,
Yea!! Keep up the good work. It may correct itself. It is difficult for the kids to give up their bottles and especially their pacifiers. That's why it is important to decrease it's use, as you have done, early so it won't take as long for them to get past it. Does your child have ear infections? Does he seem to be a mouth breather even when there is no pacifier? I read where you said that his mouth is open even when the pacifier is not in his mouth. Does he make snoring sounds when he sleeps? These are a few signs that you child may be in need of a visit to an ENT via your pediatrician. Sometims children's nasal passages are small and adenoids are enlarged and possibly even tonsils are enlarged without showing any redness or giving your son any discomfort. These things also hamper proper speech development because if he can't breathe, he won't be able to talk well.
Thank you for responding to my comment and I'm glad that my information helped you!! I hope this current information will also be of help to you.

Cathy,
Yea!! Keep up the good work. It may correct itself. It is difficult for the kids to give up their bottles and especially their pacifiers. That's why it is important to decrease it's use, as you have done, early so it won't take as long for them to get past it. Does your child have ear infections? Does he seem to be a mouth breather even when there is no pacifier? I read where you said that his mouth is open even when the pacifier is not in his mouth. Does he make snoring sounds when he sleeps? These are a few signs that you child may be in need of a visit to an ENT via your pediatrician. Sometimes children's nasal passages are small and adenoids are enlarged and possibly even tonsils are enlarged without showing any redness or giving your son any discomfort. These things also hamper proper speech development because if he can't breathe, he won't be able to talk well.
Thank you for responding to my comment and I'm glad that my information helped you!! I hope this current information will also be of help to you.

Hi Marianne:

thank you so much for taking the time out and responding and providing me with the much appreciated information. My Son has an appointment with his pediatrician to get his hearing checked tomorrow. Great timing on your part for the new info as I will ask about a referral for an Ent dr. To answer come of your questions, he has never had an ear infection; sometimes he makes snoring sounds when he sleeps. I will keep you informed.

thanks again

My grandson who is 22 1/2 mo. uses a pacifier during the day. Only speech is dada, woof, woof. I think it is time to throw it away, but I am only the grandma. Any thoughts?

My daughter uses a pacifier. (she's 7 months old) It is clipped on her (so that I know where it is) throughout the day. She pops it in/out herself once and a while when she feels like it. She can fall asleep & stay asleep without it. She likes it, but it is a 'toy' for her. I'm not concerned about it affecting her speech. I used one when I was little and once I became a toddler, I was only allowed to suck it 'in the crib'. It didn't affect my ability to speak whatsoever! My niece, who is 3 and has never sucked a pacifier, can barely speak 30 words. So stop worrying everyone. If you have a happy & healthy child, let her/him be!

hi thanks for your exiting information

Delayed speech development is always a risk with the over usage of pacifiers. Not to mention, an open bite, an arched palate and inference with correct dental growth. They child has less chances to babble as a baby, and a huge disadvantage of speech development as a toddler. After a certain age, a pacifer is just a parents way to get out of soothing their child. I have seen many children in 11 years with speech disorders, and the vast majority used pacifiers over the age of 18 months. I have never met another SLP that advocated for the use of pacifiers after one year.

I agree with Pamela. I have worked with and still work with to many children ages ranging from newborn-5 years of age. I will back her up all the way on a pacifier interferring with a childs speech, a parents uses it to sooth the child so the parent doesn't have to deal whatever the problem is. A parent will definately tell you that the pacifier doesn't bother there childs teeth, speech, etc. jsut because they are in denial.

It's funny that this Laura person apparently thinks that pacifiers won't cause speech problems in a toddler but that sippy cups cause both speech and dental problems. It's pacifiers that cause both speech and dental problems, cuz how can a toddler learn how to talk while walking around with a pacifier in their mouth all the time and I've heard of pacifiers causing dental problems too, and I can see why they would. But I have NEVER heard of sippy cups causing either or, and unless they have them in their mouth all the time? (which I've never heard of a kid that has a sippy cup in their mouth all the time) or go to sleep with them in their mouth, I can guarantee you sippy cups will NOT cause dental or speech problems!

When our daughter was little we took her to doctors because she wasn´t sleeping to well. One of the first things we were told was to take the pacifier away from her.

We were told that it would make her jaw and teeth not develop properly and would this would make it more difficult with her speech.

Can´t remember what they said about the sleep but we took the pacifier away from her and eventually she slept better and was talking very well by the time she was 11 months.

Tom Stevens
Garden Tools Expert
Mantis tiller

My daughter used pacifiers and was even a little tough to break of using them. She stopped at two years of age. She's nine now and hasn't stopped talking since.

Thanks for you post Todd. I think it just depends on various factors whether it will effect speech development or not. My son used a pacifier until he was 3 and a half and it never effected his speech either.

Thanks for all the valuable information on your site! I have a 26 month old daughter. It has been a struggle with her dummy from day one. We now have it down to only giving her the dummy on occassional nap times. I am a bit concerned as she only has about 50 words that she can say and some of those are not very clear. She is trying but does seem reluctant to talk. Is this acceptable at her age or should I be looking into speech therapy? Oh she does have an older brother who does do a lot of her talking for her but am not sure if this would make a difference. Any advise would be appreciated. Thanks.

Is it common to have oral issues along with sensory issues? My 3 1/2 yr old son was recently diagnosed with apraxia (and still uses the paci for naps and bedtime). And I have suspected he might have sensory issues but not sure. How would I go about finding out?

Thanks!

I found a product online that helped my 2 year old break her pacifier habit. We decorated the mailing box and "mailed" it to the paci-fairy. My daughter got a stuffed animal from the paci-fairy as well as a "big kid" certificate and refridgerator magnet. She felt great about being a big kid and giving up the paci. 5 weeks now.

Here's the website if you are interested. http://www.helpukids.com/index.html

Hi there.

My little girl just turned 23 months today. She is a very active, very friendly little one. She also seems to talk a lot, but many of the words that she is using, are not “real” words, but rather her own made up versions. There are some recognizable words, and many times she can state her needs clearly, by using some of these words, or just pointing or gesturing to what it is that she wants.

So, in that way, I can understand what she wants, and her needs as well. I am just concerned that she is not developing at the rate she should, as there are some kids younger that her that are talking understandably already.

I also know that kids develop at their own rate, and she even started walking at 9 months, so I ‘m not that concerned.

Our household is bilingual, so I am not sure if that is playing a role in this. I try to speak only one language with her, but sometimes she hears conversations in the other language and has picked up some of those words, specifically the word eina! (ouch) to express pain or being hurt.

Should I be worried?

Thank you

PS. How will I know that you have responded to this on the site? Will I receive a notification?

Hi Kelly-Ann,

It's great that your daughter is trying to communicate. Is she using mostly made up words (like jargon) or is she using real words but she's not using the correct speech sounds? Sometimes it is difficult to decipher. Jargon is a normal stage of language development and it sounds like they are speaking in sentences with intonation patterns and everything, but when you listen closely, there are no real words.This stage of language development is typically gone by the age that your daughter is now.

If she is using real words but her speech sounds are just not sounding right, maybe you could model for her the correct way to make the sounds by over-exaggerating them and also having her look at you.

It's hard to know what is going on. Having a bilingual household could be contributing, but again it's hard to know without seeing her. I would give it another few months and if her speech doesn't improve much, you may want to have a speech/language evaluation. And if she doesn't need therapy, at least you'll get some suggestions for working with her at home. It doesn't sound like you need to do this yet though.

In the meantime, model for her the correct words and the correct speech sounds and hopefully that will help.

Good luck and I hope that helped a little.
Tami

hi
my son is almost 3 and all his milestones were late. he started baby lanuage now and says basics like mama dada nana and trys to make sebtences with his own lanuage. he has a very good understanding when we talk but battles to reply the way we do.
do u think he has a speech problem or is he just generally "late"

Hi Candy,

It is really hard to make a judgement call without seeing and evaluating your son. I'm sure you have seen my article on typical guidelines, but if not it's right here.
http://speechtherapyweb.com/language-development-typical-guidelines

I think if were you I would take him for a speech/language evaluation. Even if he is just "late", a speech therapist will be the best one to determine that after an evaluation. And she will also be able to give you tips and suggestions to do at home with him. You can have a look at this article to help you figure out where to go for an evaluation.

http://speechtherapyweb.com/speech-language-evaluation-process

Good luck to you.
Tami