Weaning 2 Yo off of Her Binky

I have a 22 month old that still takes his binky with him only to sleep. I've been successful at limiting the binky only to nap-nap time and nite-nite time. In fact, he now calls it a nap-nap instead of Mr. Bink. That was my first step in stopping the binky...but I haven't pushed for any further progress. Some people say that just taking it away is the best way, others say slowly decrease use - I think it depends on your child's personality. I know that my son is soothed by having it for naps and "cold turkey" would only upset him - so I try to put him down without it occassionaly and sometimes it works and other times he'll find one that I've set in the corner of the crib. My friend told her daughter that she wasn't buying any more binks so when her's were gone they couldn't get anymore, as they had to save them for the new little babies - that worked too. Good luck!

We took our daughter off hers at 26 months. And it actually happend by accident. She was done to using it only at nap and bedtimes. So I made her keep it in bed. But one day she went up got it and brought it downstairs. When nap time came, we couldn't find it. So I told her it was lost and we would have to look for it after nap. To my surprise, she went down fine without it. So I told her the same thing at bed time. She asked for it for 3 days, and I just kept telling her it was lost. After the 3rd day, she stopped asking. She has asked for it occasionally since then. But I keep telling her it is lost. We had no tears over it. If I knew it was going to be that easy, I would have done it sooner.

Good Luck!

My son was really attached to his bink. We tried a few things, but ended up just snipping the tips of the binkies and that prevented him from sucking on them. At first he said they were broken and we needed to fix them, but we said they can't be fixed and that was that. The binkie still looked normal, but there was a slit in it.

It's not my success story but one that I know well. My brother loved to use the pacifier (I sucked my two fingers solely) as he got older my parents told him he could use it only when he was in bed and that it was not allowed off the bed. One day my mom walked passed his room and found him taking it off the bed to suck on it and then put it back. My dad took my brother and the pacifier out to the trashcan and made my brother throw it away. He knew that that was what would happen if he used it out of bed, so he was prepared for it. He threw it away himself and never made a fuss about it after that.

I always liked that my parents told us what would happen, we knew the consequences before we acted. I don't like the whole lying to kids thing.

I've also heard of the pacifier fairy (think tooth fairy!) the child has to put their pacifier in a certain spot for the pacifier fairy to come take it so she can give it to a new baby that needs it. The child in return gets a gift of somesort... money or a toy. It's a way of showing the child they're now a big kid and the pacifier is for the babies.

my daughter was 25 months old, and OBSESSED with the pacifier doesn't even begin to describe how attached to it she was. I had a 10 month old at the time too, and she could have cared less... so i have tons of pictures of the two of them, the baby with no binkie and the 2 year old with one. ahhh!
one day, i decided to get rid of it. I just told her "it's all gone!" and she accepted it! I would have never ever thought that it would have worked! I did have to drive her around at nap time for the first few days, but that was it!
Good luck!!!

Hey this is good timing, we gave ours to the Easter Bunny! She put all of them in her basket and we told her that he would leave her lot's of goodies in exchange. We really don't do candy but we gave her some really special gifts! When she would ask for a bink we would tell her, "remember sweetie we gave them to the Easter Bunny and he gave you......" It only took a few days of asking and that was it.
Good Luck!
K.

Hi there B.,

I just weaned my three year old off of her binky. It was tough, but we got through it. ;) I talked with her about it first and had her help me throw it away. I explained that there weren't any more of them. At night she cried. I just held her and told her that I was sorry she was so sad. It was nice for me to be able to hold her through it. It only lasted two days. Then it was over.

Good luck in all you do!

C. Smith
www.EnhanceYourWayOfLife.com