thumb sucking vs pacifiers

I had four children, three took pacifiers and one sucked her thumb. Those who used pacifiers were taken away at about 6 months. I don't remember why but I was trained as a speech pathologist and had some concerns about...actually, I don't remember what the concerns were, suffice it to say, there were concerns, maybe something about the formation of the palate. Anyway, there was no problem giving it up at that time and I felt that was past the need to suck. They one who sucked here thumb did it until she was about three as I remember. Her teeth were starting to protrude at that point. I bribed her with a doll and a different outfit for several days if she wouldn't suck her thumb that day. When she really quit was when she watched her older sister have her braces adjusted. I didn't do it on purpose, just happened to be holding her when the dentist was talking to me about her sister's braces. But, I did tell her, when she expressed some anxiety for her sister, that sucking her thumb would cause her to need braces also.

So, from my experience, I would try to introduce a pacifier and if it is easy at the time, take it away at about 6 or 7 months. If you don't mind crawling under the bed at 2 AM to find the darn thing, or going back home when you have some other event, to retrieve it, than let them have it as long as you like. I think that it is less harmful than thumb sucking for sure.