Advice on Getting Rid of the Pacifier

I had 2 kids that took the pacifier. I just basically started phasing it out a little at a time. Try just giving it to her at naptime and bedtime. And keep them hidden unless she asks for it. I got both of mine off by doing that.

Two suggestions
1. I began to cut off the tip, very ngradually, so that it just began to disappear. The first day my son said, "Binky broken." After it got to almost nothing, he didn't like it.

2. A friend of mine told her son that the "Binky Fairy" was going to come and get the binky and leave a present in exchange. Personally, I might not want to tell that lie, but how different is it from the tooth fairy?

I started by only letting my daughter have it a naps and then bed time then I started cutting the end of it off a little each week until it was to small to stay in her mouth. We started discussing that since it was broken she should throw it away. She continued to take it to bed for a few more nights finally one night she agreed to throw it away. She asked about it a couple of times after that and I reminded her that since it was broken we had to throw it away. She was fine after that.

I am not sure if this will work, but it might. I do not believe in passifers, so my daughter did not have one. BUt find something she really wants, a new doll, stuffed toy and the conditin to have that toy is to give up the pacifier. Once you trade one for the other, get rid of it when sh e is not looking because that will cause a whole new set of problems. The easiet way to break them of the pacifier is to NEVER give them one in the first place.

A. B

K.,

I have read to snip the tip of the binky and then there is no suction and your daughter will most likely lose interest. However, i haven't tried it with my 16 month old daughter just yet. She too is trying to talk around it and if i tell her to take it out she will, now if she would just forget about it i'd be in great shape! I was waiting for this weekend to try out cutting the tip on hers. Let me know if it works for you.

J.
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Not me (my kids wouldn't take paci) but one of my friends, cut the paci end off of it and when her little girl found it all she kept saying was paci broke. That was the end of it or her. Kinda sad....kinda funny... Good Luck!!!!

One trick I've heard is to slightly cut off the end of the pacifer, so it's not soft and rounded anymore. Gradually continue cutting away. The trick is that the pacifier will no longer be comfortable and they'll give it up on their own.
I've never tried, as all four of mine refused pacifiers, but thought I'd share what I've heard.... Good luck!!

We just took my 3 year olds pacifier away and thought it was going to be this horrible event, but it was actually very easy. We told her the "mimi fairies" came and took it, but left her a gift, some little doll fairies. She threw a fit only once and then just occassionally asked about it and after about 4 days never mentioned it again. We took the fairy idea from Super Nanny because she always made it look so easy for all ages of kids...Good Luck and do it now, don't wait as long as we did :)

Poke a tiny hole in it without telling her! She won't be able to suck it anymore. My son got so frustrated he threw it and wanted nothing more to do with it. The first couple nights and naptimes he was unsure what to do with his mouth (he chewed on his blanket) but after about 3 days we were back to normal. Good luck

I would begin by telling her that she can only have it during nap or bedtime - that should help at least diminish the time in her mouth. I'm sure there will be tears, etc... at first but she should get used to it fast - and then you can go from there. I used a "Paci Fairy" - telling my son that the Fairy was going to come get his paci to take to other babies/children to use (although my son only used it at bedtime). Then the night we decided I took it out of his room and put a gift from the "fairy". It worked pretty well - he was sad for about 2 days.

Good luck!

Sounds like a control issue to me-not sure who is in that place as you both are vying for the title. Remember you are the Mom and she is unfortunately in the middle child position and that leaves another predicament. Watch out for what will come next because she is the middle child there will always be something to challange you and her alike! Go for it with your plan but remember keep your watch up.

so...........you have 2 girls and are expecting a son in June

She is going to fight and be mad anytime any age, so do it now and get it over with, Now remember like the bottle she will put you through heck for a few nights and days. BUT if you back down and give in you have to go through this all over again. So if you start out to do it follow through for your own sanity. It is like watching an addict craving and that to shall pass. It is security and I would offer her a babydoll or stuffed animal to sleep with. I told My children they were big boy or girl and their is a baby that can use it now. put it in a plastic baggy and then get rid of it or you will be tempted to give it back.... Good luck,

You are smart to do this now. Our daughter had hers until age 4 and we discovered when she was 8 that she had a tongue thrust as a result. She had to go through therapy to get rid of it. (She had learned to swallow with the pacifier in her mouth. . . so mouth open and tongue pressed against her bottom front teeth. It was pushing her bottom teeth out and almost eliminating the normal overbite.) We reasoned with her for a period of time, she threw them away herself, and then of course they were gone when she went to the trash to retrieve them. We did better with our son. He took his only when sleeping, but it was always out of his mouth when he woke up. So one day, it just "magically" disappeared. You've gotten lots of good advice. Good Luck.

I am going to weigh in on this....With my daughter (child #4) who was a binky-baby (only 1 out of 6) we just helped it "disappear"...We would look everywhere for it for several days (with her directing us where to look). I also like the idea of the mom who said that it would "taste bad" when he got old enough and put thumb-sucking stuff on it...I don't agree with cutting parts off the binky. I would be too afraid that the child would then chew more peices off of it and choke...

Hi K.,

I am a home child care provider and mom of 4 and all my younger daycare kids have pacifiers. The only time they have them is at nap time her at my house anyway. Now at their homes that is a different story. At this point my 16 month old still has the binky, she has some teeth to cut and that is the only thing that seems to save us. So i'm not gonna take it away yet. She only has it twice a day at this point so our only option one day is to loose it, lol.

At this point for you I would see if you could just get her to go 10 minutes without and then work up from there. I'm not to big into the whole cry it out method and give me and the child a migrain. You could also try leaving it in her bed or on her dresser at night.

Start by snipping just the very tip off of the pacifier. It won't feel the same and chances are she will start spitting it out on her own. If after a couple days that doesn't work, continue to cut a little more off each day until it's just so short it won't stay in her mouth. Another idea is to tie the binky to her crib when she wakes up and tell her the binky is for bedtime/naptime only. Since she won't want to stay in bed, she will likely leave it there. You can break her of the sleeping usage a little later on.

We took away my oldest daughter's pacifier when she turned one and had no problems. My youngest daughter, however, was a completely different story. We tried to take it away but found that she couldn't sleep at night, she was inconsolable during the day, etc. So we gave it back. When she turned two, we reached a compromise. She had to leave the pacifier in her room. If she needed "binky" time during the day, she would just go upstarirs for awhile. Then at night she could have it and it helped her sleep. Our dentist told us that her teeth would not suffer as long as she gave up the binky when her adult teeth began to form. So we decided the tooth fairy would take her binky when she lost her first. This strategy worked out really well for us.

First congratulations on expecting. I have three boys 13, 7, & 18 months. What has worked for me as far as the talking with a pacifier is to tell my son I can't understand him with the pacifier in his mouth and he ususally will take it out and repeat what he said. Also we keep them in a box by his bed and he only has them at night now. It took a few days of crying but he knows he can not leave his room until he puts it away. Then he gets a high five and I say "Good Job". If you want to go cold turkey, with my older son we cut a small hole in the pacifier so it wasn't as fun and after complaining alittle he just stopped using it. That also worked with my nephew. The big thing is lots of praise about how big they are getting because they don't need it any more.

With my oldest we just stopped using it when he was 7 month, before he became addicted. At that point it is the parents that are addicted to the pacififer. LOL If you keep that in mind and fin other ways to sooth your second it may save you the trouble with your second. But I know that is easier said then done. Good luck.

I tried and tried to get my daughter off her binky and it just wouldn't work. I had heard about cutting the tips off so they lose their suction but knew she would be so upset at me. I ended up cutting off all of the tips and then blaming it on our dog. The first one she tried, she took out of her mouth and threw across the room. I told her that the dog must have done it. She said "bad doggy" but didn't take her anger out on the dog for some reason. Every time she would find one, she would bring it to me and say "doggy did it again". I was suprised because it really worked. Much to our enjoyment, she started talking more and more and really became clear. Good luck!

Wait until she is ready!!! You may struggle for a long time and to tell you the truth it is not worth it. My daughter was 5, although she does have sensory integration dysfunction, I thought that she would never give it up and one day she did. We had tried toys,suckers, cutting holes into it and crying it out(for a week) and nothing worked until she was ready. Most doctors say at 3 to take it away, but until she is ready to self soothe don't even try she may take to her thumb and then you can't take that away!!

Hi K.!

I had a super addicted binky baby some time ago. She is 14 almost 15 now! She just kicked it last year!!!!

JUST KIDDING! Lol. She was done with it by the time she was walking good.

Anyway, the thing that worked for us was total cold turkey. BAM! They are gone. I just told her she was a big girl and the binkies went to babies who needed them and that they were all gone. I am not going to lie...it was a rough time at first but once we made it through the first few days we were home free!

I am not sure if there is any "magic" way to wean them or get rid of them. I have heard some people say that they went to only giving them one at bedtime but my thoughts with that was I didn't personally want to have to then struggle again with then getting rid of them.

I hope you find your miracle and that the process isn't too stressful! :)

I babysat a little girl who was going on 5 years old and still felt the need for the binki, tho I feel that it was mostly habit as her parents used it as a pacifier to keep her quiet and out of their hair. But as I watched this girl I noticed that it was far past time to rid her of the habit because her teeth were being affected by the binki and had actually formed around the shape, causing speech problems... but what I realized was if you can keep the child busy and entertained, out of sight out of mind... I would take the binki and hide it on top of the entertainment center during meal times and she wouldnt say a thing about it until her mom got home and popped it back in her mouth. At that age, its all about distraction.

You need to try and set a few guidlines, such as only using the pacifier at home, and then only when the child is in bed. This worked well with our son who is now almost 21 years old. He used the pacifier until he was 3 years old. He only used it at night for a long time and then by 3 got rid of it. He had speech problems, but they did not stem from the pacifier.

Cut the tip off, a little at a time over several days and she won't like it. My daughter was 15 months when we weaned her of the binky and it worked like a charm.

i had a friend with the same problem and she cut all the binkies so they could still use them but they weren't the same and they eventually lost interest (like up the middle)

Hi K., I'm 48 with 2 boys ages 24 and 21. Our oldest was 2 or 2 1/2 before we got rid of his. We tried lots of stuff! We used the bitter stuff you can buy for nail biting ... that didn't work. We had him use his binky to purchase a toy at Toys R Us ... that worked until he found one in his toy box he had lost. We did get him down to only getting it at naptime or bedtime. Then we finally broke through one day when he woke up from his nap and couldn't find it! We just said, oh well, you're such a big boy you don't need it anyway. And that was that. If none of that works, I'd suggest talking to your pediatrician. They usually have some pretty good ideas. Mine always said not to worry. Most of them don't have one by the time they go to preschool because they get occupied with other things. Don't worry too much, it's just a thing that makes them feel secure. Good luck!

Buy a dog! I had a similar problem with my now 6 yo. Everytime I thought I had the binkies she would come out with one from somewhere. She had stashes all over the house! We bought a puppy and to our suprise the dog loved to chew the binkies! She sought out all the hidden binkies and chewed them all in a matter of 2 days. The first night was not as bad as I thougyht it might be, so hang in there.

My boys never took to the pacifiers (good and bad!) but I know friends who have cut a tiny slit in the tip of it and another one who dipped it in vinegar (w/out child seeing her do it). My cousin had her kids put them in the mailbox for the pacifier fairy to take them to other kids who needed them but they were quite a bit older than yours. Hope this helps!

First of all, keep them out of reach and out of sight, so that you have to give them to her. If she finds one sitting out, she is likely to pick it up and put it in her mouth, whether she needed it or not.
When she wakes up from morning or nap, before getting her out of her crib, tell her that it is morning and she doesn't need her pacifier now because you are going to eat breakfast/drink milk. Take it and put it away before getting her out of bed. It's also nice to sing a song or play a game to take it away (for example to the tune of the farmer in the dell "the binky is for bed, the binky is for bed, it's time to put the binky away, cause the binky is for bed") as this makes it easier and even fun to give it up. You can also praise her for putting it in it's sleepy place. Then, when you start to notice she is getting tired or cranky, you can give it back to her for naps and bedtime, but PLAYTIME IS PACIFIER FREE. If she is happy and playing she shouldn't need it. I also gave my son a toothbrush to chew on if he needed something in his mouth, but because it takes a hand to hold, he didn't keep it for long and went on playing.
After she is down to just naps and bedtime, (maybe car rides if they are difficult), then cut out naps and just go for bedtime. When you want to be rid of it completely, then you have to throw them away!!!! Otherwise, the temptation for both of you will be to get them back out. I have read somewhere that there is a stage around a year, where the child could live without it, (my son went through it), but the key is to notice and let her ask for it, not just give it to her out of habit. Also, I would advise with your new son to keep his playtime free of the pacifier as well. This will help for consistency with rules and to help him get rid of it later. His pacifier will also make getting rid of hers harder, unless she understands the concept of big girl/baby. My two are 17 months apart, and even though my son had given up his pacifier at 11 months, he still would take hers out of his mouth and play with it or suck on it.
You might also try to see if you can sneak in after she is asleep and take it away, so that she doesn't have it all night long and will get used to sleeping without it. And then you also don't have to take it away in the morning!
You should probably also expect a regression simply due to the new baby, so I wouldn't suggest cutting it completely off within a month before or after the baby is born, it will be a nice crutch to help her adjust.

Hi K....I had a binky boy and he LOVED that thing to death. What I did was to take a straight pin and poke one hole in his binky and let him have it....they can't get a good suction on it and he got frustrated in a day or two and threw it in his toy box. I would see him try to suck on it a few times later and he would end up tossing it back into the box and moving on. He pitched a fit when I took it away, but when it was his decision he did fine. You might try that...I remember cleaning out his toy box a year later and he told me to throw it away....;^) So I did...no more binky and no tears either. God bless...M.

i know with my daughter she had the binky longer than needed for the simple fact that we were afraid how she would behave without it. we knew she was very attached and didnt know how she would respond. my stepfather gave us his idea of cutting the nipple on the binky. we cut just a little piece out of the end of it and tried to give it to her. she put it in her mouth, pulled it out and said it was broken. we asked her to throw it away and she did. the first few nights were rough but after that, she really didn't miss it. it doesn't work for every kid, but it's worth a shot. good luck to you! :)

K.,

I have always heard that the best way to do it is just for it to just disappear one day. I tried that with my daughter when she was between 1.5-2. It took a few days for her to accept, but I just told her over and over that it was just gone.........it was sort of cute how we would go around the house and look for it, and then when we did not find I would just shrug my shoulders and say, "well I guess it is gone bye bye!" You might want to substitute a blanket or small stuffed animal for that "security feeling" until she gets used to not having her binky anymore. Rocking helps too! Good luck!

P.S. Even though it might be a rough couple of days, everyone in the house has to be willing to stick to "the binky is gone" and get rid of all of them that you have out of the diaper bags, drawers, and the rest of the house.

D.

I would try to gradually take it away. I started to limit the time she got to use it. We had it down to night time only. Then one day I told her thats it and threw it away. She never asked for it back. My sister did the same. She told her daughter thats it and threw it away. So far she is doing fine with out it. I think some kids need some thing dramatic to help them change this behavior.

What worked for me was the rule that pacifiers had to stay in the crib. So they could only use it at nap and bedtime, which is when I felt they probably really did need it to self-soothe. Then when we moved to big boy beds (my 1st at age 2, my 2nd at 2 1/2) the pacifiers didn't move to the big boy bed. They were so excited about being big boys they didn't miss their pacifiers. They asked the first night or so and I just reminded them that there are no pacifiers in big boy beds!

We told our son that when he is too old for a pacifier, it would start to taste bad. After telling him that for about a week we put the stuff from the drugstore that is intended for thumbsuckers and put it on his pacifier. When he woke up and put it in his mouth he said, I am too big for my binky now and threw it in the trash can. It was a very positive experience!!

I've always liked the idea of cutting a tiny bit off the tip every few days, until it gets shorter and shorter...then they won't like the way it feels.

Cut off the tips of them and hopefully she will not want them anymore. This worked for my daughter and my nephew.

K. - with my daughter, who is 9 now, we cut the tips off. At first it didn't bother her, then I cut it pretty much in half. She didn't like it after that. Good luck!

I talked about it with my child for about 2 weeks. Let them know it IS going to happen. I also poked holes in the end of all her pacifiers to break the suction and make it less enjoyable. My one rule for her anyway was DO NOT talk to me with that thing in your mouth. She listened to that pretty well. I took hers away at 2 years old. You have to stick to your guns, once it's bye bye never give it back or you'll have bigger problems! We did it over a weekend so the sitter really didn't have to deal with it. It was the most drama filled weekend EVER:-) She cried for everything and "I want my binky" I heard 100 times a day but after about a week she was over it. Now I had my 2nd child 2 months later and luckily she didn't take the binkey right away. She does now and every once in a while my oldest will swipe it and hide with it! Good luck, it tough getting rid of the binky but stick with it and hang in there:-)

I have heard cutting the tips off. We have a 21 month old that only gets the pacifier at daycare because she has been known to bite so it helps to delay the biting. We just went cold turkey at home and hid them all. In fact she had been without it for 2 weeks straight because she didn't go to daycare for 2 weeks due to illness and vacation and when she went back to daycare the first thing she asked for was her pacifier. Oh well I guess it is better than her biting someone at daycare.

Hey K.,

I've never tried this (both of my kids refused the paci) but one lady told me she would just snip a little hole in it. That way it will lose suction and not work right for them anymore. They get frustrated and give up on their own. Just don't give in to buying a new one! :)

Kind Regards,

Amanda

I just found this on some researching I did....

I have two sons who were both addicted to their pacifiers, ages three and two. We tried for a year to take their pacifiers away, but nothing worked until I thought about the Tooth Fairy. The Pacifier Fairy came to visit one night. We told the boys she was coming and what she was going to do. They were really excited. That night while they were asleep, she came into their rooms, took their pacifiers, and left them each $5.00 to get a toy at the store. To my surprise, this worked!Mommy and daddy weren't the bad guys and the boys were perfectly fine with it; no crying and no fits. We went to the store and they picked out what they wanted. That was five months ago and they've asked for them once!

I have heard to cut the ends off, but then the pediatrician warned about this being a choke hazzard.

Try using it only at bedtime as first step. Once that is okay, let your angel know it is time to toss it. There is much success in having her throw it away. That way, she remembers it better and knows where it went.

Beat of luck to you.

It sounds like if she is stubborn about not taking it out when you ask her to that she needs to be weaned from the pacifier. I think the key is just consistency. You might try weaning her a step at a time. No taking it outside of the house and then no using it except during the night and then the night weaning is the hardest. Tell everyone in the hosue when she can have it and when she can't and have everyone stick to it. I gave into my daughter's pleas and my husband did not, so I was the one who prolonged the weaing process. We didn't get her weaned til after 2 yrs old. Going cold turkey is an option if you're stong enough to outlast a cranky toddler or if she lost the last one and you don't want to buy anymore. Good luck.

I love the 'lose it' idea. It seems like she would eventually give up looking for it.

with my 2 sons, I tried this trick on both of them around 9 months old. I slowly cut the nipple of the pacificer. The first time just a little bit, then wait a couple days and cut a little more. They do not get the suction power of it anymore or harder to keep it in their months. It worked for me, good luck!

we actually started snipping the end of the pacifier off a little at a time. Our son said it was broken and would try to keep it in his mouth but the shorter it got he couldn't and eventually didnt want it anymore. Hope this works for you.

I haven't had experience with this, however, I have worked in childcare for over 10 years and have heard many moms have success with this method. Start with one binky at a time. Cut a small slit in the end of the binky so that it will not create that suction. When you dd complains about it then tell her it must be "broken" and you will have to throw it away. If it doesn't phase her, then cut a larger hole in it. Do this gradually with all of her binkies until they are gone! Also, lots of praise and maybe a new "big girl" toy for being such a big girl that she doesn't need a binky anymore. Talk about all the ways she is a big girl and not a baby and the difference between her and a baby (ie: she gets to eat pizza, drink from a cup, etc.)
Hope this helps!
A.

My eldest daughter gave her "binky" up one day by herself when she was about 2. She just said "All done" and handed it over to her Dad. (he put it up in case she wanted it but she didn't ever ask for it again) SO, I'm not sure what to tell you about actively trying to get one away from a child. Sometimes they just have to be ready. It sounds like the other Moms have had great ideas.

Feel lucky that you don't have a thumb sucker like a few of my other kids, you can't get those thumbs away from them so easily. LOL

it sounds barbaric, but as they get lost, (because they do...over and over again!) just stop buying them! My oldest had nothing to do with binky's past 4 months or so. My youngest was an addict! If it wasn't the binky, she had a washcloth in her mouth. She also had a very hard time teathing.

But anyway, it went on so long that she was 4 before we finally just stopped the madness. I swear, I had to wean her father off of her having the binky as much as her! Just give her things she can suck and chew on as alternatives, and hug yourself and daddy, too! It is challenging and you can feel like a monster, but she will be fine in the end. Good luck!

Hi K.,

My daughter was 15 months when we decided to get rid of the binky too. At this point though we were down to only unsing it at naps and bedtime. My mom had always told me to go by the "sign" in the almanac; so we looked the dates up tried it on the first night. We had three rough nights of her trying to go to sleep with out it but after that no problem. I was really dreading it but it wasn't near as bad as I thought. We also broke her from the bottle using the sign and its made a believer out of me. Good luck!

Everything that I have read and asked my doctore about says that it is better to let them give it up themselves. My daughter at 3 still uses one at night. I explained to her that I couldn't understand her when she has it in her mouth and everytime she would talk to me with it in her mouth, I told her I can't understand her and she needed to take it out to talk. If she was asking for something, I just kept telling her I can't understand. She then started to pull it out when she talked.