Breaking the Binky!

Cutting the tip off worked for us, and my daughter was an addict. She just didn't like the way they felt after that.

A., I completely understand your situation. We cut out pacifiers a few months ago. My twins used them only at night and naps as well. We did cold turkey and it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. After a few nights of waking up here and there, they figured out there was no more pacifier. I also made a big deal out of the fact that they were for babies. We saw babies with them and talked about it and how they weren't babies any more. I really played that up. My daughter had the hardest time but once she realized she wasn't getting it, she figured out she had to put herself to sleep. I let them pick a book or special toy/stuffed animal to take with them as well. I have a friend who cut the pacifier in half and her son didn't want it since it didn't work correctly. But with another child with a 'working' paci, not sure how that would work.

Good luck and please let me know if you have any other questions!
J.

My son and daughter both kept their binky until they were 3 1/2 years old. My friends gave me a hard time about it, but I felt that they needed that added security blanket. The danger of forcing away the binky when the child simply isn't ready, is that they'll go over to sucking their thumb. That is much harder to break and it's also much worse for the teeth and the thumb. So, my advice is relax. At some point when my kids were older, we truly couldn't find the binky one night and they fell asleep without it. We couldn't find it for several days and it was fine. When they did show up, we threw them away fast before the kids could see them and that was the end of it. When the time is right, it's not a struggle. I know that many will disagree, but I'm very sensitive to different levels of security that different children need. Having a binky isn't the worst thing and they won't still have it when they go off to college! So, my advice would be to enjoy your children and relax about the binky. It'll work itself out in time. H.

We took ours to the zoo and gave them to the baby monkeys who needed them. i told my 2.5 yr old son that the zoo had called and asked if we had any. I found someone working near the cage and gave the box of binkies to them. They looked a little confused, and I a little crazy, but...it worked like a charm. Later when we found some binkies under the couch my son put them aside to bring to the zoo. good luck.

Well, I could never get my kids to take a pacifier...but I have heard of people cutting off a little at a time until there was nothing left to suck on.

My youngest was a binky addict and I dreaded the day I would have to take them from her. Then our dentist said she had to stop because it was affecting her teeth. So... I cut the tip off of all her binkies. That way she could still suck on them but they stopped being satisfying. She stopped asking for them within a week! It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. Since you have 2 kids with binkies, I don't know if you will need to do this with both of them at once, or if you can get away with just doing this with your older son. Good luck.

Ditto Heidi... and to add to that a little, the sucking reflex has shown to release endorphins in the baby's brain, that's why they "pacify".

Hi A. - Here's our story that I sent to another mom with a similar situation recently...hope it helps! We did not have the added difficulty of a younger sibling in the home at the time so you might have to think of something even more creative that I did. : ) Good luck!

Sorry in advance - this story might be a little long, but our method worked very well for us. When our son was about 27 months I think, HE gave his binkie to the garbage man. He was very into garbage trucks and when he'd hear it coming each week we'd have to run outside and watch. His teeth were starting to become affected by the binkie so we knew it was time to let it go but I don't believe in just taking it away or destroying it and the child has no say in how or when. I planted the seed of maybe giving his bink to the garbage man and he got excited about it. We lived in an apartment at the time and so there were dumpsters that the garbage truck would hook up to and take way up high to dump into the truck and my son thought that was just the most amazing thing to watch. After talking and planning for the big event for about week and asking him what he was going to do on garbage day, he was ready! He proudly carried his binkie ouside and we waited for the garbage man. (I gathered up the million other binks from around the house and in the cars, etc. and hid them away out of sight.) When the garbage truck came he threw his binkie in the dumpster himself and then we watched the truck dump it in. The garbage man even got out of his truck to talk to my son and told him what a good thing he did and what a big boy he was now. He was so proud of himself! That night at bedtime he asked for his binkie without thinking and when I smiled at him and asked him where his binkie was, he gave me a knowing smile back and told me it was in the garbage truck. That was the end of it...no crying, no thumb sucking, no more asking for it. We praised him often for giving it to the garbage man and to this day he's proud of what he did (he's 5 1/2) although I'm not sure if he actually remembers the event or if he's just heard the story so many times. He does like to sleep with his blankie still and that is fine. What is your son really into? Most little boys this age are totally excited about something like fire trucks, trains, etc. You could take a trip to the fire station and give it to the fire fighters to take on a call to give to some other little boy who needs it, or go to the train station and give it to an engineer to take with him on the train. Get creative! And don't be shy about asking others to get involved to help you carry out the adventure...usually people enjoy taking a moment out of their day to get involved in the life of a child. In your situation with the new baby, I might wait a few months if you think that is best. Each child is different and the timing and method you use depends on your situation, but bottom line is let your son take ownership of getting rid of it so he will be proud that HE has done it rather than feeling like it was something done to him. Our new little brother is almost 11 months and hasn't wanted anything to do with a binkie from day one. Although I guess that's a blessing I'm almost a little disappointed that we won't have the binkie adventure with him. Good luck and have fun making memories out of the process!

Hi. Well, I can be too blunt sometimes, so forgive me, but it sounds like this is your problem. You had it and then caved in. So, whatever tactic you try next, you just have to be committed to it. Mind you, I'm not perfect - I'm trying to commit to breaking my daughter's sippy cup habit. So, take a deep breath and dive into the battle. Good luck!