Getting Rid of the Pacifier - Mayfield, KY

My sister used to slowly cut the tip of the nipples off. By doing that they would not get the satisfaction of the sucking and eventually would not have anything to suck on.
Good Luck.
Jen

If he ever starts to lay the pacifier down and not come back to it pick it up and hide it maybe he will forget about it. This worked with my daughter she would leave them all over the place. I took them she never asked for it again. She was about 2 years old.

Weaning is a process...and it can take a while.

By the time my daughter was turning 2 years old, I had been able to cut down binky time to naps and bedtime, then only bedtime. When she was 2, I started telling her that she was a big girl and didn't need it any longer. Pacifiers are comforting (hence the name) and each kid will react differently during weaning. If you can cut down the frequency, eventually you can cut it off altogher. You never saw a bride or groom walking down the aisle with a binky in their mouth....all in good time.

Hide the pacifier. Make a big production out of looking for it and not finding it. Is it in your bed? No it is not in your bed. Is it in the toy box? No it is not in the toy box. Look everywhere. Make a big production out of looking for it. Children understand the concept of lost. Well I guess your pacie is lost. Let's get you a drink of water instead of the pacie until we can find it. It may be trauma drama for a couple of days, but it will soon be forgotten.

Don't know if this is the best/easiest, etc, but it worked like a charm for us.

We told our son the 'paci fairy' needed to take all his paci's to new babies and would leave him a gift. We talked about it for about a week, then one night, gathered them all up and put them in front of the fireplace. The next morning, there was a toy train there that I knew would be a hit. We played up the 'big boy' angle. For a few times, at sleep time, he whined for it, but I reminded him they had all gone to the little babies since he was a big boy now. In a few days, he didn't ask for them anymore.

Anyway, this method worked for us! Good luck!

I read the 'lose it' and the 'cold turkey' post. Those are valit methods. Different approaches work for different parents/kids, and here are a few more options. You might even want to use a combination of tactics. Just be firmly consistent. Don't re-introduce any paci's that have already been eliminated nor let anyone get him a new one, etc!

option a) Narrow your supply down to 1 or 2 pacifiers (in the best shape or his favorites). Either just throw the rest away with no fanfare, or tell him that the new babies at the hospital needed them.

option b) You can also cut a little off the tip, and keep cutting it down a little every day or so til it's all gone.

option c) Only let him have one when HE specifically requests it and don't make a big deal out of trying to keep it FROM him. If something makes a child feel safe and secure and you're trying to take it AWAY, s/he only feels MORE insecure and needs it worse. Let him have it when he needs it and that's that. He'll eventually not need it any more. Our youngest of 4 was an avid thumb-sucker. I just told her how it was making her teeth stick out and that other kids would make fun of her. When she started pre-school at age 4, she quickly 'broke' herself of the habit. (It wasn't like I could throw away her thumb or give it to someone else! LOL)

i cut the ends off of ours and when i gave them to DS he just said paci's broke and gave them back. he was around the same age

I am a mother of three and luckily only my oldest took a paci. We also had a terrible time getting rid of his and he was a little older when we finally got rid of it, but he put it down one day, and I hid it where he would not find it(just in case I had to give it back), then when he asked for it, I told him there was another little boy that needed it and I gave it to him. He never asked for it again. Your little one may be too small to understand that concept, but just in case you have it a little longer, it just might work! Good Luck!

Simply quit buying them. I am sure they get lost. If you see one laying around, throw it away. One night you'll finally won't be able to find one, it'll be a hard night but stick it out. Just make them not visible and he'll forget.

Hi E.:
There is no completely non-traumatic way to do it. He will protest and resist to some degree or another. My daughter was the exact same age when we decided to "de-binkie" her. I did it because I noticed her top teeth not coming in properly because of her using her pacifier. And she only got it at nap and bedtime and so we did it cold turkey. Without her knowing, I took them out of the drawer she knew they were in, and her diaper bag and hid them. The first night (on a Friday, for the weekend), I just didn't give it to her. If she would ask for it (by pointing at the drawer), I just told her they went bye-bye. Honestly it took about 2 weeks until she had adjusted and stopped asking, and calmed down without it.

Just give him something else to chew on since he is teething. It is hard, but it has to be done sometime and you may as well get it over with. :)

BTW: Her teeth have come in much better now and she doesn't even think about it anymore even though her baby sister uses one still. She will even bring me the binkie for the baby without a fuss.

Good Luck!

I like the supernanny trick of the pacifier fairy. You ask your child to donate the paci to other little boys and girls who need it and in return the paci fairy will leave him a special gift.

I second the post before me... I cut the tip off the paci and it worked great. I was very nervous thinking he'd be so upset but my son kept laughing b/c it was popping out of his mouth. I still let him hang on to it for a few nights (he was only using it for bedtime) because I felt bad tearing it away from him completely, but he didn't seem to mind much at all. And soon he forgot about it completely. Good luck!

I thought it was less traumatic on my child to just throw them away and tell her she is too big for her paci. I distracted her as much as possible and the crying only lasted a few days and then she was fine. I think going back and fourth on the issue with your child only prolonges the inevitable. Now as far as "blankey" goes my guess is she will be sleeping with that until she is 50 or blankey self distructs.

With our son, we helped him become dissatisfied with the paci instead of just trying to wean him off of it. We nipped a hole in the bulb so he couldn't get the usual suction. We gave that about a week (he had several pacis), and then nipped more, so that the things were basically useless. He would take a couple of sucks, and pitch it. We laughed when we realized that he had tucked a spare behind his bumper pad, and we hadn't nipped that one. He treated it like gold, and we had to sneak in there and nip it, too, without him realizing we were responsible for all his pacies 'breaking down'. The whole transition took about 2 weeks.

I think the most not traumatic way is to just do it very slowly. My son loves his passy...always has. At 18 months, we stopped letting him play/walk around with it during the day. The only time he could have it then was at bedtime, naptime, or what we called "calm times". But like I said, if he was up playing or being active, I wanted it out so he could practice talking. When he turned 2, we reduced the passy use to only car rides, bedtime, and naptime...as soon as he got out of the car or woke up, the passy immediately got taken away.

My son is 26 months now, and we have stopped giving it to him in the car unless he's just extremely worked up and he only gets it for his naps about half of the time now. We will continue on this track and at 2.5, he will only get it at bedtime. When he turns 3, his passy will be taken completely.

Some people have issues with older toddlers and pacifers. As you can tell, I'm not one of those people, but I do think there has to come a point where the child shouldn't need it anymore...my opinion is that time is 3 years old.

Your statement "We try to only let him have it now during car rides and nap time"...my advise is to strictly limit it to those times. My son quickly learned and adjusted to the fact that there were only certain times he got it. He will still ask for his passy right after dinner, and I tell him "no, not until we are putting on your PJs and heading to bed". He knows I'm serious and gives up til beditme.

Good luck and don't let it stress you out! :-)

We are right where you are so I don't really have advice. In fact, I'm looking forward to the other responses. We've decided that because it is soooo helpful in the teething department we are going to let it continue til they are all in. So not too much longer now. I think we have 7 more total, 3 of which are coming in now all at once. Good luck to you guys.

Hmmmm, which do you consider more traumatic, having him cry for awhile in the car and at nap time, which by the way increases his lung capacity and strengthens his lungs, or risk him biting the tip off and choking on it???? I know it sounds cruel, but believe me the only one that truly suffers is mom cuz you have to listen to him cry! I did it with all three of my children and yes, it broke my heart, but it was the very best thing for them. Throw them all away! Get them out of the house and don't bring them back in! Same thing with his bottles, if he still has them. Even when I had another little one, I had to make sure the oldest never saw the bottle or it was WWIII all over again! Good luck and sorry if this sounds too crass...also, would think twice about cutting the tips....even a small "chip" bitten off can cause serious problems if swallowed.

ah paci... my daughter had hers until she was almost 3! what we finally did was tell her we wernt going to keep up with them and as they disappeared we just didnt replace them. it actually worked really well. that last paci was around for a week or so but it fell out when when she was sleeping and i just snagged it. good luck. and stick to it or it wont work!

maybe try a teether. They really do need something to chew on to help with the pain. maybe you could try a frozen wet washcloth or frozen bagels. I also found these mesh feeders at Target. they look like pacifiers but instead of a rubber nipple, they have a tiny mesh bag. You can put fruit or veggies or someting in there and they get the taste and the nutrients without the small peices that they could choke on. Frozen fruit would help with the teething.

they also make these great teethers shaped liek octopi, fish and all sorts of things that are bright colors and have a liquid filled portion that can be refridgerated or frozen to helpwih teething

Good luck!!!!

We just took the paci away from my son a little over a month ago... the best thing for us was to take a 3 day weekend. Then, I planned full days of family events (he has like 6 sets of grandparents, so we went on a car trip to see all of them over the full 3 day weekend)Basically I wore him out but in a fun filled way. When it was time for a nap he just fell asleep. When it was time for bed he just went to sleep. When we finally got home after those days I guess it was out of his habit already. We never had a problem with him falling asleep or needing it again. :)

Just a thought... since you work 4 and are off 3 it may be something to think about. Plan aa bunch of great events: Day at the park, go to the Zoo, visit the family that live nearby... just make it fun filled and full...

I agree with the post before this. Once it has been taken away dont even think about giving it back. Also, get rid of all of them (with exception of the one in use) before you start this. Once you take it away he may go looking for them...

Change paci types to one with a more breathable plate. Pediatricians recommend paci's until age two. It helps relieve stress and prevents thumb sucking. We took our sons away at 2 and a half after the 2 year molars were cut. My kids only use a paci at night or when they are really fussy. We've never experienced dental or medical issues from them.

My daughter turns two very soon and we just switched her to the new teething paci. It has a flat ridged mouth piece that is good for chewing. They are a new product at Walmart. I expect we'll take it away after her molars come in as well.

When we took his paci away he cried like he was going to die for about 20 minutes. After that he never mentioned it again. He was just ready.