The Dreaded Binky!

I choose option #3. (Don't worry about, she wont go to college with it.)

Binky or not, all my kids had to get braces, and one had a palate expander.
Cutting the tip off is worth a try. It worked for my binky fiend.

I'd let her have it as long as she needs it. Really, it's not as big of a deal as everyone says. She will eventually give it up or start sucking her thumb. We don't see thumbsuckers near as much as we used to because parents use a binky instead. It's so much easier for kids to give that up than an appendage...

She's fine. Take it slow and let her be ready first so you don't start another problem that will be much harder to get rid of.

just cut a little off the end.
cold turkey is what works for some (i didn't do it, my kids grew out of 'em just fine) but i hate the notion that you're considering something that goes against your own instincts because of outsiders.
just because you used to be a judgmental mom (and good for you for knocking it off) doesn't mean you should let the grown-up Mean Girls parent for you now.
khairete
S.

My little man will be 3 in June and I would love to get rid of the binky! Last summer he would leave it in his bed and only use for nap and bed times. Then his grandfather was in an accident and we had to take our son to a daycare. He started using his binky all the time and I'm trying to ween him off of it. Whenever I tell him he doesn't need it, he cries for a few minutes (during this time my hubby is telling me to just give it to him). Once he's done crying about it, he's fine. He's getting better, but I would love to be done with them completely. Best of luck!

My kid never loved the binky - maybe used it twice. Pros - no expense, no running to his side every time he dropped it, etc. Cons - he sucked his thumb which was way harder to take away ;-) but he was always able to comfort himself.

Did he need braces - yes. But most kids do. I'm not sure it matters what they are putting in their mouths though.

Sanitary? I never sweated that out - kids get dirty, they need to get dirty, basic hand washing keeps hands mostly as clean as a binky hitting the floor 20 million times. Kids need germs.as all studies are showing.

You might try the binky fairy - there are many iterations. http://www.babycenter.com/0_ten-ways-to-help-your-child-g...

I think you have to figure out how important self-comfort is, how much you are willing to wait it out, and how willing you are to resist criticism from outsiders who always know more about other people's children than they do about their own.

My feeling is that it will run its course. Choose your battles. At some point, peer pressure might kick in but so would just looking around and seeing that no one else has one. I'd say, if she's in preschool, that the binky is a "home" thing. My guess is, you could probably wean her to "night time only" and ultimately find that it falls out and she doesn't wake up to search for it. I kind of feel that comfort and a good night's sleep are really important.

Ask your dentist if the binky is posing a problem for your daughter's teeth. If not, then I wouldn't push the issue. As you say, she certainly won't go off to college with it! And the binky is probably better for her than sucking her thumb, in terms of orthodontics.

That said, when my youngest turned 2, our dentist had an absolute flip-out about the binky because it was having an effect on DD's teeth and palate. You could actually see how her mouth and teeth were being distorted, and the dentist told us we had to get her off of the binky immediately. Our nanny told us the surefire and easiest way to do it was to cut the tip off of all the binkies, and our daughter would lose interest. I was skeptical, because this kid had a binky in her mouth 24/7 unless she was eating. But I did what the nanny suggested and cut the tips off of all the binkies. Sure enough, DD stood at the binky drawer (yes, we had an entire drawer in the kitchen dedicated to them, that's how bad it was) and she tried every single one of them. When she got to the last one, she looked up and said, "They all BROKEN!" with a disgusted look on her face. And then she ran off to play. She didn't take up sucking her thumb or even ask for a binky again. It was the weirdest thing! (And she was NOT an easy toddler in any other way, let me assure you.)

So, if you do need to get her off the binky, that's my suggestion. If it's not posing a problem with her teeth, I wouldn't worry about it though.

Take it from someone who sucked a pacifier until 6 years old- yes, you read that right- 6 years old. If she hasn't gotten rid of it by now, then you will have to figure something out to take it from her. If she is anything like me, I wasn't the "weaning it away" type of kid, and my parents never did take it away from me.
In the end, it was my uncle, not my parents, that finally put his foot down. He put hot sauce all over the pacifier when I wasn't looking and then let it dry. I popped that thing in my mouth that night (the saddest part is I can remember this) and it turned my mouth inside out. That was the end. Yes, I gave it up on my own, but I was 6 years old. I had permanent teeth for goodness sake.
I wore braces twice throughout my pre-teen/teenage years. The first time required 2 years of head gear and wires running all along the roof of my mouth to fix my bad cross bite. The second time was a full set for 2 years to fix my terrible over bite. Rubber bands going in every direction. I had to have all this work done because my permanent teeth were actually coming loose due to the misalignment of my bite. Now, many, many years later, I have TMJ thanks to my rearranged bite (my teeth are perfect though!). When my orthodontist back then found out I sucked a paci that long, I remember him just staring at me in awe. The only thing he said was "Well, your folks are paying for it now!" and laughed (all the way to the bank-lol).
I know my case is extreme, and I'm not trying to make you feel bad about letting it go this long. Even after all I went through, I let my kids have a pacifier as infants. But you might be waiting a long time if you are waiting on her. Step it up, get creative, and make it happen. It will be inconvenient for a while, but she will adjust.
Good luck!

I couldn't have mine go cold turkey...those outsiders can just go mind their own business. Each child is is a little different. We kind of weined our son just letting him use it in the car and at night and then just at night.....THats what worked for us.....And knock on wood, he is 13 now and has not needed braces so far (hoping I that I haven't just jinxed ourselves).
Listen to you mommy gut and do what works for you.

I wouldn't sweat it too much, but you could probably start weaning her off it gently. You might even be able to engage your older kiddo to help out. I would try to cut down on the number of binkys to just two and explain to her that now she is 3 / big girl, only pinky at nap or night time. Try that for awhile and then explain that when she is 4 or possibly sooner, the binky fairy is going to come get the binkys and give her a big girl gift. I explained this to my kiddo a couple times then she started asking me about when she would be big enough for pinky fairy to come. After that, I just threw them away one night and put out some presents. That was that. Good luck!

First of all-there will always be naysayers!
I took a medical terminology class in my early twenties and the nurse that taught it drilled into our heads that we should not be afraid of germs. Our bodies need them to build up immunities. It made me a little more relaxed mom. I do carry hand sanitizer, but don't squirt it on them every time they touch something.
My kids gave up the binkey around 2-4 months. BUT, my 2nd was on the bottle until about 3 1/2 and it was terrible for her teeth!! I Wouldn't freak out, but I like the idea of cutting the tips off. Or tying them to a bunch of baloons and wishing them goodbye. If nothing works I would gently keep trying.

My 9 year old step daughter sucks on everything! I'm convinced her mom took her binky away too soon. Poor kid sucks on pencils, shirts, hair, etc,
etc. I certainly wouldn't force the issue!

Toss them all and when she asks for her binky ask her where they are. Look for them together and then tell her I guess they are gone. She doesn't need them and if you don't stop now then it'll just continue which will impact her teeth.

How about it stays in her bed?

I know it's a little late, but what worked best for both of my kids growing up was to give them to Santa to give to other babies. A couple of weeks before Christmas we would talk about giving them to Santa and then Christmas Eve we wrapped them up and left them under the tree. Santa brought them presents the next day and all thoughts of the binky were gone. Don't know if the Easter Bunny would work.

When you're ready ...

http://www.onestepahead.com/pacifier-weaning-system.pro

And this ....

http://mom.me/home/17790-parenting-myth-ive-finally-stopp...

Cold Turkey was the only way to go for us. We tried taking it in stages, and it just made it worse.

My son was 2 years, 3 months, and still used it at night, but that was about it. His younger sister had never taken to one, so the ones we had in the house were just for him. I mentioned to Grandpa while he was visiting that I wanted him to be done with it sooner than later, and definitely before summer. The next day while my son was not at home, my dad took them all and threw them out. My son asked for it that night at bedtime, and my dad told him he was a big boy and didn't need it any more. There was a couple minutes of questions (where they went, could we buy new ones?), a few tears, and then he went to sleep. That was that - never an issue again. I think we had been making a bigger deal about it than it really was - making it harder on him. My dad simply taking them away and then telling him why was so easy.

I can honestly say now that I wish we had done it earlier. My son has some speech issues due to an "open bite" that can be caused by too much pacifier. We obviously don't know if that is the ultimate cause of it, but had we known then what we know now, we would have done it long before when we finally did it.

My son just turned5. He has this taggie toy he chews on. I had thought he'd just outgrow it-dr Ames said so!

I'm still waiting. He only has it in his bed.

All 3 of my kids were binky junkies and used them until they were about 3-3.5 years old. I went cold turkey all 3 times. I used the binky fairy method. There were tears at bedtime for a few nights, and both of my boys gave up their afternoon naps as soon as the binkies were gone. But none of my kids started sucking their fingers or thumbs.

Good luck!

We went cold turkey - I had a son who loved his soother - didn't go anywhere without it. He started daycare and was able to go without it there during the day - had it for nap times only. Made me realize he could go without it (shock for me).

So one day one of his soothers (we had a big back up supply) got a hole in it. The next morning when he was looking for a soother, I said "oh they are all broken" which shockingly - he accepted.

I had dreaded giving them up for months ... and that's how easy it was.

I did the same for my other kids (much earlier) and it worked every time. They didn't seem to know you could buy more, so I just left it at that.

Good luck :)