How to Take the Bubba Away

Well, on one hand, it's not hurting her, so it's not an emergency that you take it away. But I do understand the desire to end this habit. Remember though, it's comforting for her and has no negative associations, so of course she's not going to want to give it up. Two ideas:
1. Change up her routine for a couple of days so she's not able to come home and ask for it. Take her out for ice cream or have a friend of hers come over, so there isn't the opportunity. Then after a couple days, say, "you know, you haven't had the bubba for a few days now, and you've been fine, so they're all gone because I realized you're big enough to skip it now." She'll probably pitch a fit, but at least you can keep going back to the "but you did it yesterday" excuse.
2. Give her an end date when she can't have it any more, and stick to it. My daughter sucks her thumb, and we've been telling her for about 6 months that when she turns 5 she's going to have to stop sucking her thumb. Sometimes she'll say "it's really hard to not suck my thumb" and I'll just validate those feelings and remind her that I'm sure she'll be able to do it when she's five. I think that it's still not going to be the easiest thing, but at least she'll be prepared.
Good luck, I know habits can be hard to break for everyone!

Give her another kind of lovey to cuddle with at bedtime, waking in the morning and/or watching TV after school. Perhaps a cozy blanket in her favorite color or a new stuffed animal. Also, limit when she can have the bubba--maybe only when she's in her bed. After a few weeks, take away the bubba. Should be easier because she's already been transitioning away from it.

When I took away my daughter's when she was close to 3yo, I told her that there were some new babies who needed it. She helped me wrap it up like a gift and put it in a big envelope. She decorated the envelope with stickers and crayons. Very cute. Then we put it in the mailbox. When it came time for bed that night, she asked me for it, so I reminded her that we had mailed it to the new babies. She insisted that it was still in the mailbox despite my telling her that the mailman took it away. Her response? "The mailman doesn't come on Sunday." I swear to G-d.

Anyway, it was a pretty easy transition after a day or two. We were both shocked and thought for sure there would be an absolute meltdown. In fact, we hadn't done it earlier for fear that her meltdown would disturb our twin toddlers. Hope this helps.

Just remembered a story about how someone else did it. They were at the beach and threw popcorn so a bunch of seagulls would come. During the commotion, they snatched the binky and told the child that the seagulls took it away. Honestly. I can't make this stuff up.

Make it an event that she is included in. Put it outside the door and tell her that the bubba fairy will come and take them away and give them to others that need them and she will leave her a prize in place of the bubba. Then just leave a teddy bear at the door or something like that.
Good luck.

We went through this several months ago with my four year old and my almost three year old daughters. We talked about the "binki fairy" for a week before she came. When she did come in the middle of the night she ate the binki's (they came up with her eating them rather than her just taking them away for some odd reason) Then she left money under mommy's pillow so we could go to Target and get a brand new toy. Both girls got a doll -- and those dolls are EXTREMELY important to them. Now whenever they see a stray binki around or my one year old sticks one in her mouth they have decided that the binki fairy will "eat" their special dolls.

If i had known it was going to be that easy i would have taken they away a long time ago!

Hmmm - my question is, are you referring to a pacifier? Because my daughter has a security blanket (the teddy bear head attached to a small blanket) that she calls her "Bubba". She's 2 and a half and sucks her thumb.

My son had a pacifier and I just took it away on his 1st birthday - he never missed it. But when I took him to the orthodontist in the fall, she noticed my daughter sucking her thumb - and told me not to worry about thumb sucking or pacifiers being gone until the age of 5 when it starts doing permanent damage. So that may help you too.

When I was a nanny - I watched a 5 year old and 3 year old twins - and they loved their pacifiers - one day the mom took kids outside and they all hung their pacifiers in the tree and told them they needed to leave them for the baby birds, that they were old enough to give them up and so it was time to pass them on. After they went to bed, she took them down (leaving the string hanging there) and the kids woke up and the pacifiers were gone and they were so excited that little birdies had their pacifiers. A weird way to do it, but it worked.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do!!
L.

I'm sure that I will be in the minority here, but I really don't see an issue with a child taking a pacifier at night.

You said your daughter can go all day without and only wants it at night to fall asleep. What's the problem with that?

My son is 3 and a half and does the exact same thing. Can go all day without it, but wants it at night to fall asleep. Once he's out like a light, he spits it out and is fine.

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We recently did a similar thing that Angela K. mentions. We told our daughter that she wasn't a baby anymore and that there were other babies who needed the binkies, so we got a pretty gift bag and she put them in the bag herself and we told her the mailman would take it. Then we gave her a brand new stuffed toy for her bed that we told her she could have because she was such a good friend to give up her binkies to a new baby. She was ok at the time, but did ask for them for about a week. However, no real big meltdowns, surprisingly. I think like other readers have said, involving the child is very helpful.

On the other hand, it was a bit heartbreaking to hear her say - the binkies went bye bye, but they'll come back! (You know, like we say when we drop her off at daycare or something). Hard to tell a child that somethings never do come back.

But, now she doesn't ask for them anymore. Funnier still, whenever she sees a picture of a baby she doesn't know, she says: "That baby has my binkies!". Not in an upset way, just very matter of fact. THe nightmare that we expected did not happen.

THe best news is that her teeth have really changed for the better since giving up the binkies - I hadn't realized how much the pacifier was moving her teeth around. Our dentist had told us that 3 years old was the desired cut off time for the binky in regards to their affect on teeth.

Hope that helps!