If you read us on your phone, you may not know that we feature links from other sites on the right with little photos. Those only appear on the desktop version of our site. Late last week I linked a post over at Lainey Gossip that featured a look inside Kate Hudson’s daughter Rani’s room. Kate posted a photo where she’s holding Rani and I was distracted by the interior design. She has busy floral wallpaper, which seems to be popular with celebrities now, Reese Witherspoon also has retro wallpaper in her kitchen. It looks very late 70s/early 80s to me, and that was about all I noticed. Maria at Lainey Gossip noted that Kate looks like her Almost Famous character, Penny Lane, here and she does! I think that’s due to the sunglasses and hippie style. Little Rani, who turns three next month, has a pacifier in her mouth in that photo. A lot of people took Kate to task in the comments for that, claiming it was bad for Rani’s teeth. Until I read this story I didn’t even notice the binky because I’m not out to judge other moms. Yahoo has more on that, along with some advice from experts on when toddlers should be weaned off pacifiers.
“I totally adore you from the day you were born… please take the pacifier away from your precious daughter…. Her teeth are being compromised… ” one wrote.
“Take the pacifier away, that child’s mouth is already jacked up,” another commenter said. “A pacifier and a cage,” someone else commented, seemingly referencing Rani’s crib in the background. “Time to grow little girl, you are 3,” they added.
While Hudson hasn’t publicly commented on the criticism, it’s understandable to wonder how old is considered too old for a pacifier.
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) warns that there can be consequences if children use pacifiers beyond age 2. “If your child sucks strongly on a pacifier or his thumb or fingers beyond 2 to 4 years of age, this behavior may affect the shape of his mouth or how his teeth are lining up,” the organization says online. “If your child stops sucking on a pacifier or his thumb or fingers before his permanent front teeth come in, there’s a good chance his bite will correct itself. However, if the bite does not correct itself and the upper adult teeth are sticking out, orthodontic treatment may be needed to realign the teeth and help prevent broken front teeth.”
There are benefits to using pacifiers for babies, though — the AAP says that they can help reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). “I actually love them, for a limited period of time,” Dr. Gina Posner, a pediatrician at MemorialCare Orange Coast Medical Center in Fountain Valley, Calif., tells Yahoo Life.
But, she says, it’s important to wean children before they’re too old. “If you use them past a certain age, they can alter your jaw structure,” Posner says. “I have also seen kids have speech delay if they have them in their mouth all the time.”
Dr. Danelle Fisher, chair of pediatrics at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, Calif., tells Yahoo Life that she recommends that her patients stop using pacifiers by 12 to 18 months. “Pacifiers can be useful for non-nutritive sucking in infants, but after about 6 months of age, the babies lose that need,” she says. After that, pacifiers are “great for a comfort object but prolonged use can cause pressure on the jaw and lead to more orthodontic problems in childhood.”
if you want to wean your child off of their pacifier, the AAP recommends praising or rewarding your child when they don’t use the pacifier, using star charts, daily rewards and gentle reminders to keep your child from sucking. If your child tends to use the pacifier out of boredom, the AAP suggests keeping their hands busy or distracting them to minimize use.
I scrolled through the comments and, along with criticizing the pacifier, people were saying things like “why is she still in a cot?” Celebrities should just turn their comments off on Instagram. It seems impossible to predict what people are going to nitpick, although I’ve gotten somewhat skilled at it after 15 years of doing this job. Instagram doesn’t have a feature like Twitter yet, where you can only accept comments from people you follow, but it should. Kate is handling this the right way, by ignoring it and living her charmed boho 70s life. All kids are different. Some will want pacifiers for a long time and some won’t even be interested in them. As the experts are saying maybe children should be weaned from binkies by this age, but we don’t know the circumstances. As long as the child is not in danger, people should mind their business.
This is a sponcon but it looks like Kate reading the comments on her last post and laughing.
How cute!
