Pacifier - Midlothian,TX

M.,

When my daughter was 19 months I knew it was time we had to let it go. My dr. suggested by 15 months and it was already past the date. So we headed up to the mall took all her passy's and put them in a bag except her favorite. I threw away the bag. Then we went to Build a Bear and she picked out her favorite animal (ELMO) and she put the passy inside with the heart and finished off the animal. So we told her Elmo "ate" her passy. She cried for about 2 days and was fine after that.

E.

Take the passie/s and wrap up as a gift. Tell the little one that you are giving it to a child that needs it more than her. She will not understand this but... Then TOSS it/them in the trash!!! Good luck.

The passy fairy was good I'll have to tell my friend about that but I will tell her to throw them out...Ha Ha. Anyhow, when I wanted the passy to go away, my mother told to put the passy in something that my daughter did not like, ie..food, drink whatever did not appeal to her and then tell her that was the only one we had that if she didn't like that one then she was going to have to put it in the trash. It worked for me maybe it will work for you.

Between 2 1/2 and 3, we tried cutting the binki, she turned it around, we tried giving it to babies, she took it back, and we tried giving it to the animals (The mama cow needed it for her baby) Mean COW she said. None of which worked for my little angel.

Finally at three and a half, we told her that Toys R US had toys on sale and she could buy anything in the store she wanted, BUT she had to pay for it....with BINKI...We talked about it for about a week, and finally the big day came. We took pictures of her with her binki, we took the last binki with us to the store and waited forever as she picked out the perfect toy. A beautiful babydoll complete with her own blanket, stuffed toy, and of course her own binki.

When we took it up to the counter the cashier was very helpful, he took her binki as payment, thanked her for being a big girl, I took her aside and let Daddy finish up. That night, she wanted her binki and we said sorry, you paid for your new baby with your binki, Toys R Us took it to the bank, we cant get it back. She wasnt happy, but she had her new special baby she picked out. At almost 7, we walk down the baby isle at the store and she still glares at the binki, you know if she thought she could get away with it she would, but she keeps on walking :)

Now, any suggestions for how to get a three year old who never sucked her thumb until a month ago to stop?!?

My daughter was a "ho-ho"/pacifier lover. She never had a favorite blankie, or toy, but had her ho-ho. All her dr.'s and dentists said she would get rid of it when she was ready. Lots of people criticized me. She also just used it to sleep at night, or when she was really upset. We started a transition a month before her 4th birthday. I told her 4 year olds didn't have ho-hos. We talked about it for a long time. Her great grandmother died on her fourth birthday and when we went out of town to the funeral, I forgot to pack the ho ho, so she went without. She didn't miss it too much at all. She is a wonderful well, adjusted 7 1/2 year old today with perfect teeth. People may have thought they knew what was best for my child, but they weren't my child. I feel all children are different and have different needs. So don't let anyone rush you or your granddaughter. Oh, she recently found an old pacifier when we cleaned her room. She stuck it right in her mouth and sucked on it. We both laughed. Then she gave it to her baby doll. Once a pacifier lover, always a pacifier lover!

If it is ONLY at nap and bed time I wouldn't worry about it. at that age espically. If they had it in their mouth all day that is a different story, but if them soothes them to go to sleep , what's the harm.
I had a sister-in-law that for some reason sucked her thumb, and would do it after she fell asleep, and said it really embarrased her, as she was practacally grown,, & would wake up catching herself, So if your grandchild is falling asleep and then losing it out of their mouth I'd say it won't be a problem for long, and I don't regard it as a problem right now.

My son still had his at 3, but like your little one, only at naps and bedtime. Then we moved right around his birthday and I just couldn't put more stress on him by trying to take it away then. Sadly, some of the passys got "lost" in the move, so that took care of some. He had 2 left I think and then they just wore out. We had already discussed that we wouldn't be buying anymore of them, so when the wore out they were gone. I know the drs and everyone says to get them off of them, but I feel like if they do it on their own it's easier on them and us(potty training was the same way for us). My son doesn't have any lingering dental/bite issues and he's about to turn 5.
Don't worry too much about it if she's only using it at nap and bedtime. It's her comfort and don't we all need that from time to time? :)

My daughter is 2 and I am proud to say that we are paci free, yeah! It was a battle but not near as big of one as I thought, she was also a nap/bed time user.

We started cutting the paci every other day (when she was not around of course). We threw away all but two paci's and cut the other two just a small about at first. The first night she went to bed, picked it up and said, "Papi broken". I just said, "oh no" and moved on. Then every other day I would cut a little more, until the paci was only about 1/2 inch long. Then one day it disappeared, she never even said anything about it. I guess because it was broken it was no big loss for her. It took about 2-3 weeks to get it "broken" enough that she did not miss it, but I am glad to say we are paci free.

Good luck

my friend took all the pacifiers to build a bear workshop and had them stuffed in a bear that the child picked out- he can sleep with the bear instead- it worked well for them- good luck

The best idea I ever heard that was related to the child making the decision was to use the paci to buy something. Figure out a gift she would love - build a bear, new dress-up clothes, anything "big." She has to pay for the gift with the paci's.

HTH

I watch 'Jon an Kate Plus 8 on TLC (They have 2- 6y/olds and 4- 3y/olds).....any way....Kate had her sis-in-law bring her baby over and then Kate let the little ones have one last suck then they each put their passy in a bag and gave it to the baby because he 'really needed them.'
They made a big to do out of it and thanked the kids and all was well.

After that, just make sure they leave the house this time.

Hi M.,
First off , let me tell you my advice may be old fashioned, as I am a grand mother myself.
My daughter is YOUR age, and she turned out very well adjusted, even without directions stamped on her bottom. LOL :-)
When I was trying to get her to give up the night time bottle, I did not use pacies' ; I simply got a new stuffed animal(from the S & H green stamp store(a mouse with red velvet pants, and offered it to her, IF she would let me take the bottle away. That night she wanted the bottle, I put water in it, and handed it to her and took the Mouse. She protested, and I reminded her we made a trade, so the bottle or the new toy? Never another problem about that. Same deal for last overnight diapers.(cloth and washable :)
BTW, her children also were allowed to play with the "mouse "on special times, like if they were sick in bed,mouse would keep them company. She still has it, and became a grandma 2 weeks ago !
Basicaly , what I'm saying is talk to the children, explain what we are doing and why. Pacies' are for little babies, not Big kids , so we have to get rid of it. Maybe exchange it with a small cover or blanket. When it's too warm, it too will be forgotten.
I am out of touch with all the new generation of ideas and things children can have today. It's amazing how far advanced they are today as to my day.My baby things ( highchair,and stroller, walker, were chrome and sturdy not so much plastic.
I would never have thought the day would come to actually see sonogram pictures of the new babies.
And I watched the birth of my great grandchild 2 weeks ago from a telephone video, to my computer.
Whatever you decide, it will be fine because you have "love "and your grandchild will feel it, always.Thanks for allowing me to go back to wonderful memories.

I don't have any advice to you b/c i need help myself!! my daughter will be 4 in August and is still soooooooooooo addicted to her paci!!! i wish i would have just taken it away at 2yrs!!
good luck to you...i'll be reading your responses!

We've had friends go to Build-a-Bear and put the pacifier in that & have had lots of luck numerous times/friends. Its sewn up and then the toddler sleeps/naps, etc with the new bear (who has the pacifier) instead of needing the pacifier itself. Don't kick yourself for your stash being found... things happen. ;o) Good luck!

We took my daughter to the hospital to see the new babies. When we were there, we gave the little babies all of her pacifiers - b/c they were babies and needed them and she was a big girl and didn't need them anymore. Also - while we were gone to hospital, the pacifier fairy had visited our home and left some surprises for my daughter.
She asked about them occasionally, but we just reminded her what happened to them. She did pretty well with it.

Hi M.,

This probably sounds mean, but I 'cut' my daughter's pacifier. She was upset, but accepted it pretty well. I think my husband was more broken hearted than she was. She walked around with it for a few days and kept telling everyone it was 'broke' and then she was fine.

I was 42 when my daughter was 3, so I can relate to part of your life!

My daughter just turned 3 and at 2 1/2 her pacifer actually broke. She bit the nipple and it tore. She of course didn't like how it felt so she didn't want it. She didn't ask for a new one she just wanted me to fix it. I told her I couldn't and offered it back to her broken and there were lots of tears but she didn't want it anymore.
My peditrician told me that if I wanted to wait until she was 3 and she was only using it at bedtime/nap time that it was ok and then at 3 you can negotiate with her. EX.-I know you really want a new princess dress. If we get rid of our pacifer then we can get a new princess dress.
I've also heard of just letting them keep it if it is only at night and then when they go over on a sleepover and other kids see it and say that's for a baby then they will give it up on their own.

Hope one of those suggestions help.

T. Mackenzie

Dear M.:

I had a friend who advised cutting a little bit off of the tip of the paci every day, but before we could use her adivce we went on vacation and forgot the extra paci's. My son just had the one pacifier. We explained that they didn't have any paci's to buy where we were. If he lost his, we couldn't buy a new one. On the very first day, we stood on the balcony and we were playing "pizza shop" when his paci flew out of his mouth and off of the balcony. It landed on a building roof-top 2 stories below us. When he wanted it, we went to the balcony, looked out at it and waved. I expressed my sorrow for him and gave him extra hugs.

He said that he missed his paci, but did not cry. When we got home, he ran towards his pacifiers (we had them stashed all over the house), but I explained that it was time for him to quit and he had already made it 5 days without one! He had gotten through the hard part! He could do it. He solemnly nodded his head and occassionally talked wistfully about his beloved paci. I just always responded with sympathy and a hug. It is hard to lose an "old friend" - even if itis just a paci.

Good Luck
Jen

Take the bag o Paci's to the store and let her buy something she REALLY wants with them it works!! My three yr old little girl wanted hamsters so we bought them with her Paci's and she didn't get one again after that!! If they ask for one remind them you bought this with the paci's no more paci's and that works great! Good luck!

we took ours to the store to "pay" for a new toy. When we got to the checkout, we threw them in the trash. When he asked where they were I told hem "You threw them away. Remember?"

It worked for us and our son LOVED the pacifier.

Good luck!

My parents told me that they cut small pieces off of mine, a little more every so often. They told me it was the last one and was going in the trash when it completely "fell apart". It made it less and less satisfying to use, so my the time it was trash-bound, I didn't need it anymore. I of course don't remember any of this, so I don't know what kind of timeline it was - a piece every day, every few days, every week? I have heard of other parents doing something similar. Hope this idea helps!

Cutting the pacie did not work for our daughter, who was 4 when she finally gave it up. My husband came up with a great idea that worked like a charm, making it a choice Madison made rather than a miserable fight.

At the time she loved Scooby Doo, so Daddy got a picture of Scooby and on top stuck a piece of construction paper with little doors he'd cut for her to open (like an advent calendar). Each morning she woke up without having had a pacie the previous nightshe was allowed to open one door; when all doors were opened to reveal the Scooby picture behind it, Madison got a big prize.

She was completely finished with the pacie, never even asking for it, after opening just a few doors. It was so easy: no tears, no fights, no frustration for any of us.

Good luck!

I worked in pediatric denistry and the dr always said that the urge to suck is normal to the age of five. It may just be her comfort. I sucked my thumb til I was ten. I don't necessarily suggest that obviously. But I would not force it away from her. She'll get over it.

M.-

I actually took my 2 yr old to the maternity ward at Medical CIty in Dallas with the "binkis" in a cute little box. We had about 3 wonderful minutes of watching the babies and talking about how they needed "binkis". I tapped on the glass and one of the nurses came over and opened the door. I explained that we had a gift for the babies and she played right along. Once my little one realized what was going on she was not very happy and was really angry with those babies for about 3 days, but at least the "binkis" were out of the house. We survived!

I probably would not have taken them away, but our pediatric dentist told me that for her dental health I needed to. It was the best idea I could come up with.
Good luck.

-K.

Just have the passy fairy return again. It worked last time. Maybe even leave a special cookie for the fairy this time. She is older and can even get excited. Just don't have the fairy come to her room. That could scare her later.

Laughing, the passy fairy didn't make it to my house, buttttt, a puppy did, and peanut butter on a passy looks like puppy doo doo. Well the puppy went potty on the passy. It was thrown away cause you can't wash puppy poo off a passy of course..never to be seen again. My grandson stopped asking for it. My kids never really were interested in the passy thing but grandson was.

At 42 I gave birth to our youngest who is 2 1/2 and still has his pacifier. In fact our now 6+ year old had hers until 3 1/2. we did the pacifier fairy (PF) routine the night before she woke up screaming with her first earache. When we explained to our pediatrician what we had done just the night before she told us to "talk to the pacifier fairy and GET THEM BACK" The sucking help reduce the pain.

So - I suggest letting her have them for bed time. When you know you're both ready cut a small slit near the base, this will make it a "broken" pacifier and she can throw it away. eventually she will throw away her last one because it's broken and then you're done. She may hold on to the last one for awhile, but eventually it will go. And avoid taking her past the baby section in any store that might sell them - at least for a long while.

Hi M., Clip all the pacifiers down to stubs and tell your three-year-old they are broken. That worked for me!

I've heard of having the kids throw them out the window in a moving car - it's supposed to be very freeing? I'm thinking maybe you can have them donate them to other kids that need to give them to the paci fairy? Best of luck...

This has worked well for family and friends. Find a toy or object your child REALLY wants. Then tell your child that the store only accepts paci's as payment. Arrange ahead of time with a friendly clerk to pay for the item and have her hold the receipet, and then go through the line and let your child pay for it with the paci's. Tell him or her this only works one time and the paci's go bye bye.

if you have a dog, let him chew on it, clean it and give it to your 3 year old. He won't want it all chewed up! All I can say is Thank God for dogs for things like this! Good Luck! :)

I have heard...haven't had to try it on mine, that if you cut off the tip of the pacifier, your daughter will put it in her mouth, try it, and then throw it away because it is broken. Then just keep her distracted with something else. Hide her favorite toy or maybe a new stuffed animal in her room before nap time and then help her try to find it. She will be so distracted looking for that, she will probably forget about the passy for a while.

Find someone who's pregnant, and talk about the new baby needing pacifiers. Have your child help put all her pacis in a box, wrap the gift, and give them to the mama for the new baby.
Now that I've read other responses, I like the idea of going to the hospital or at least giving them to someone that you don't know, so your child won't resent the new baby/mama for having her pacis.

I think the answer varies by child. My daughter was very attached to her pacifier. We slowly took it away before she started pre-school. She had just turned three. It was for nighttime only at first. She really wanted a Barbie guitar that I found at a 75% off sale at Target (and planned to save for a birthday party present). We decided to use it to stop the night time paci. We told her that she had to go seven days without the pacifier, and marked a calendar for each day she slept without it. She got to make the checkmark which seemed very important to her. Every day, she would very excitedly tell us she slept without it. She'd call her grandmother and share the great news too. After seven days, we gave her the guitar. She barely plays with it now (she's almost 4), but she never asked for the pacifier again. I never thought I'd be able to wean her off the pacifier because she really threw fits whenever she didn't have it at nap/bedtime, but we were fortunate that it worked out with the toy. Good luck!!

i know exactly how you are feeling. my son, who is now almost 7 took a "noo-noo" until he was past 3. we have pics of him on the potty with his "noo-noo" in his mouth. he too only needed it when he was sleepy or didnt feel good. we were down to 1 and one day he bit a hole in it and he said it was yukky so we told him to go throw it in the trash and he did and never asked for it again. i now have an 11 month old who is exactly the same way and i'm not going to worry about it because i know she'll eventually give it up.

It will mess up her teeth. Just cut the whole nipple off. It will work if you follow through.

M., This worked great in our family. Tell your child that they are three now and very big and its time to let the passy go. Take the passy and tie it to the sting of a helium balloon. Let your child release it and everyone say bye bye passy. No more passy for big kids. It works great and its fun watching it take off into the sky. Good luck. J. C.

Hey M.,
My daughter is 2 and she is taking a passy. We only let her take it at the house and most the time only at nap time and night also. I have heard of a good idea that I may try when time comes if need be, take some balloons and tie the passies to the end and let the passys go to heaven. Let the child let the balloon go and then when she asks where her passys are later, you can remind her that you sent them to heaven. Good luck, I know the passy situations can be trying!
A.

OK, we recently successfully got rid of all of our Paci's just before my son turned 3. He also used it ONLY to fall asleep, nap and bedtime. Here's what I did; the bribing with a toy wouldn't work because there were no specific toys that he was excited enough to bribe him with; the cutting the paci wouldn't have worked I don't think because he just would have screamed and yelled for me to fix it or give him another, and anything about it being gross like it being dirty or having poop on it or anything like that, he could care less about- he would have thought that was even cooler or just not cared. So here's what I did. We talked for MONTHS (like 4months) that when he was 3 he was going to be a big boy and we had to put his paci's in the trash because big boys don't have a paci. We talked about it to the point that when someone asked him how old he was going to be, his answer would be "NO more paci" because he knew birthday meant throwing it away. About 2 months out from his birthday, I made him go to bed at night without it (that was when he was most likely to fall asleep on his own) so he got used to going to sleep sometimes by himself (he still got it at naptime, and he got it early in the morning when he woke up). We never actually made it to his 3rd birthday though because he would whine and throw a fit when he would wake up and not want to give the paci up after naps or in the mornings (we'd take the pac away at night, but he got it back early in the morning, like 5 or 6am when he would wake up and then go back to sleep). He would also go get the extra paci out of his backpack and try to sneak it. When he did this I would threaten "give it to me now or I'm taking it away and putting it in the trash". This worked, and he gave it to me most of the time, but there were a few times he would say, "OK, I want to put it in the trash", and so I let him. We did this over about a one month period until there was one pacifier left, then we told him when he was down to last one that was it, there were no more and once it was in the trash he had no more paci's. We also told him once he got rid of his paci we would have a party at Chuck E Cheese with his best friend and they could eat pizza and play games (he had been to a ChuckECheese B-day party previously and had a blast). That promise of a reward is what prompted him to get rid of his last pacifier about 1 1/2 weeks prior to his 3rd birthday. He cried about 20 minutes that first morning he woke up wanting it at 5am, but we kept reminding him how he put it in the trash, and that was the only day we really had a problem with it. So that's what I did with a child who was very addicted to it, and very stubborn and strong willed. The biggest thing was slowly removing it at strategic times so he knew how to fall asleep on his own, and talking about it WAY in advance. Good luck!

If it is just to go to sleep, ans she is not running around with it all day, what's the big deal? Just like the bottle, and pottie training, she will give it up when she is ready. Limit the passy's to two very special ones and put the rest away (this time put them in the trash!!!!) Good Luck

I did not really take a stand on the whole Passy issue till about Kindergarten. They were only for bed and Nap time. Ten one day it "got" a small hole in it I cut the ends off and let him have the plastic back. He still uses the back at bed time. I figure by the time he starts to sleep over at friends houses he will not use it any more. I always had the opinion that a passy was better that a thumb cause you can't get rid of a thumb. I am a mom of twin boys who are 9 and they are both well adjusted and self soothers at bed time. good luck!

We had a Passy "farewell ceremony". We explained to our 2 year son that he was too old for a Passy and as part of his passage into young boyhood, we needed to discard them. We gathered them up and let him assist in cutting the nipples off into the trash can, so they were no longer usable. Maybe we had it really good (thank you Lord), but it worked and we haven't looked back since. I wish you all the best!

When I took the paci from one of my four, I explained to him that he was now a big boy and that big boys didn't suck pacifiers. It was too a situation where he found a pacifier that I forgot to throw away. This time I mad him throw it away and say good bye to it. Never looked back after that.