When should thumbsucking, pacifiers, and/or sippy cups be discontinued?
A. Non-nutritive suckling habits, such as finger sucking, pacifiers, or baby blankets, should be discouraged and/or discontinued by age two years. These external forces can have detrimental effects upon the positioning of the developing primary teeth and jaws thereby requiring early intervention of bite problems. Beakered cups or sippy cups should be discontinued by two years with encouragement to transition to a regular cup or glass. All too often beakered cups contain sugared liquids which promote decay formation due to the swallowing dynamics inherent with beakered containers.
