Why do parents give kids bottles and pacifiers until they are 4?

[Answered by Tracy Wood on Quora.com]

My daughter was 3.5 and I told her, this is the last pacifier, when this one is broken, you do not get a new one. And of course, the inevitable happened.

She couldn't sleep, crying her eyes out, she was inconsolable and so sad in and out, it broke my heart. But I said, I wouldn't buy a new pacifier. So I called my mom and told her what happened and asked her to buy a new one for her.

You really should have been there to see her little face when grandma gave her a new one, indescribably happy.

She knew that this was really the last one, and she treated it like a treasure. She kept it in her hand while falling asleep, gave it a little kiss or a lick, and it was handled with the best care ever.

A few months later, she became 4 and I made a nice bowl to put it in on the bedside table.

The last pacifier was never actually used.

Some kids don't want it at all, some will find trust in it a long time, but I never have seen a teenager with a pacifier, so eventually they all stop using one in their own time.