Puts Soother Competely In Mouth....advice?

Hello! I have a little guy (15 months) who has started putting his soother completely in his mouth; as in, you cannot see any of the soother out of his mouth. This concerns me (choke hazard). My soother policy is that they may have it only at naptime but without it as a result, his nap times have been torture this week (I have completely taken it away, as I am concerned). Am I being too paranoid at it being a choke hazard? I did talk to parents about it but they seem unconcerned about it (he comes with one each morning and is allowed soother at all times at home).

While they do make the soothers with air holes on the outer part for this reason I would also find this greatly concerning. Especially during nap while he isn't being watched.

Is he doing this during nap or just while awake and playing?

Do you want to completely rid him of the soother? If so now is your chance to just continue without. If you don't want to get rid of the soothers now (to help with sleep) then I would allow him to have it during awake times and every time it sticks it in his mouth (fully in) firmly say "no that's dangerous" and take it away. Give it back a few minutes later. Remove it over and over and he will eventually stop putting it in and start using it properly. My guess is he's just using it that way for something new to do. If he is allowed to do this at home it will be harder to retrain him at your place but he'll learn soon enough.

Safest and likely fastest thing to do is just not allow soother at all in your daycare. He'll learn to sleep without it. But this will be a long many naps for you :-(

Oh, another alternative would be to go out and buy the biggest soothers you can find for him to use at nap lol. There have to be some that can't fit in his mouth (I am thinking of the big green round ones that I see).

Personally, I would just be done with the soother at daycare. Any dck I have had with soothers abandoned them here long before giving them up at home!! You're already partway through that transition if you've kept it away this week!!

As already said, an alternative would be to just buy your own soother for him to use for nap. One of those giant ones with teeth on them should do ha ha!

I also say.....be done with the so others :). Don't turn back now!! Good luck!

Soothers come in different sizes for different ages. I would tell the parents that he cannot have one at daycare unless they give him one that is too large for him to put in his mouth. You are right to be concerned, if he were to choke on it, how would you know? Its alright for the parents to be nonchalant about it...but if something were to happen, it would be your fault. Completely eliminating it might be tricky if he still has it at home, so getting a larger one might be your only option right now.

Thanks everyone! Yes, I am going take your advice and keep the soother away. if I find in time that he just will not settle at nap time I will approach parents for a larger soother.

I actually have in my policy no soothers past 16 months old. I have 2 two year olds that have been off their soother now since last summer here. Both families still allow them at home for bedtime. It's harder to break the habit the longer it's a habit.

I say just keep going with no soother.

I sent a child off to JK this year age 4 that still has a two hour nap every afternoon with a soother and a stuffed bunny that he screams for if he doesn't have. The soother was in his mouth all day lest he scream and I just got tired of it but made him take it out of his mouth if he wanted to talk to me. Feeling sorry for his teacher in the full day jk school program. I tried, I really did but gave up because the child would whine to parents about how sad he was at daycare because I took it away. So not risking losing the child and the parents and child will learn soon enough they should have listened to me over 2 years ago.

In the case of swallowing only other option I could see is using a piece of ribbon like the clip on holders but sew the soother to the ribbon instead of snapping so it stays put but for sure child needs a different size.

Considering my experience above I totally support the get them off the soother at your house as soon as you can even if it means a week of restless naps, etc. The child will be better off and safer down the road.

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Originally Posted by playfelt

In the case of swallowing only other option I could see is using a piece of ribbon like the clip on holders but sew the soother to the ribbon instead of snapping so it stays put but for sure child needs a different size.

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I had one little guy a long time ago who would wake in the middle of nap and throw his soother across the room. He was about 13-15 months at the time. He would then cry for the rest of nap without the soother. He could unclip the clips, so... I took a soother clip and sewed it to the soother. He couldn't take it off, so he couldn't throw it. When he was older, I would tell him this story about how I used to have to go on my hands and knees looking around under the other beds in the dark for his soother when he was a baby. He got a kick out of it.

But I digress. With regards to the soother in the OP, having it on a clip might prevent choking on the whole thing, but what if the child bites off part of it while the whole thing is in his mouth? He wouldn't be able to prevent it from going down his throat because the "big" part is in the way.

And, I know I'm a pessimist sometimes, but even if there was no choking or distress but the child did still swallow part of it, the parents will blame the dcp. It's her fault because it happened at her daycare. Maybe take this oportunity to teach the child to suck his thumb. Can't choke on a thumb!

I hope your joking about the thumb part!! I have a family whose 6 year old still sucks her thumb! It is so gross.

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Originally Posted by mickyc

I hope your joking about the thumb part!! I have a family whose 6 year old still sucks her thumb! It is so gross.

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Yes, kind of, sort of joking. I knew it would get someone's attention. I completely agree that it's gross but personally, if I had the choice, I would prefer the thumb to a soother. Whenever I have a child here that has one, they get boiled frequently here cuz I find the ones that come from home are so usually full of scummy stuff. That to me is so much grosser than a slobery thumb. Hands can be washed a lot easier. Oh, and to be clear, I am talking about thumb sucking for sleeping. Not that I prefer a 6yo walking around sucking her thumb.

A mom of a thumb sucker once told me she wished she had tried harder to get him to take a soother like his older brother had done. She said it's easier to take the soother away than it is to take the thumb away....she had a valid point lol

I don't really care one way or the other if a child has a soother (a baby/toddler I should say, not a 6 yo lol) but if he can put it in his mouth than I agree with those who said to ask for a larger one as he's outgrown the current one and it's now a safety concern

When my daughter was tiny young and started sucking her thumb I panicked and force the soother upon her. She took to it. It is just so much easier to take the soother away. The thumb will always be there, hence the many 4,5,6+ years old that still suck it. With a soother I was in control of when the habit was broken.

That said I washed them regularly and by the time she was 10months old she only had it in bed and in the car. When We were ready to get rid of them I just cut an x in the end of them all with a knife. She would put it in, call it broken and put it down. After about 2 days she had zero interest in them and I threw them all out.

That's how my mom got me off the soother too...cut the ends! Lol