Getting Rid of the Pacifier - South Dartmouth,MA

Cut the tip off of it, she will soon realize it doesn't offer the same satisfaction and give it up herself.

Hi
My daughter also used her pacifier until she was 3.5. I had tried to get rid of them earlier but she would have a temper tamtrum and we would cave. My thing to get rid of them was to tell her the baby fairy was coming to get them and give them to other babies that didn't have any. We then went on vacation to Florida and when we came back the baby fairy had taken them all away. She was fine with this. Good luck.
-A.

My sister used this method and it worked perfectly: Before my nephew's 3rd birthday she told him his pacifier wouldn't taste good to him once he was a "big boy" because pacis are for babies.. and told him and told him! The night before his b-day she covered all the pacifiers with anti-nail biting polish (tastes gross and bitter). When he woke up and grabbed a pac he was horrified that it tasted so bad..after trying each one, he gathered them all and threw them in the trash himself! Good luck!

Hi A., I have an idea since she'd not too keen on the binky fairy: Most importantly, you have to make it fun, exciting and enthusiastic-get her into it. On thing that you can do is have her run and gather all her binkys and put them in a jar. You are going to "send them to BABIES that need them" then put them in the mail box the night before. The next morning, she needs to check the mail box where something special will be left behind for her as a "thank you" for donating her binkys. Then put something in the mail box that you know she'll love and tell her what a good girl she is. Something like this is bound to work!! Just cheer her on; make it a big deal if she is really hesitant. As for your 4 month old- just pull it!!! She can't miss what she doesn't have. It's so important for their teeth as you are starting to see! Obviously babies need immediate oral gratification so only use it when you absolutly positively think you must. Good luck.

cut a tiny hole in it and it "won't work" anymore and she'll hate it.. my son did that - he bit the hole in, looked at it and threw it away.. done. my daughter it was cold turkey, and that worked too.. good luck

One thing a friend of mine did something really neat to help her daughter stop using them. She brought one with them to Build-A-Bear and had them put it into the animal of her daughter's choosing, it worked great, because she still had something to comfort her. The others I think went to the binky fairy, but you can always make them "disappear". As for your younger daughter, if she is not that into it, I'd take it away ASAP, otherwise I'd try to do it before her first birthday.

With one of my kids I did the fairy thing and she received prizes for every paci she left and the another the pacifiers seemed to be getting broken ( I cut them with scissors just a little at the base ) and my son no longer wanted them. My other daughter we set a date and said no more after this day. They are all individual and I felt it really had to be thier decision on which way to do it. Go with her personality and figure out which way would work best for both of you.

Hi A., I have to agree with the other moms that every child is different and what works for one, may not work for the other. We took my son's away when he was 19 months and it was no problem at all. My daughter was just over 2 when we finally got rid of hers. It was tough for a couple of weeks, especially the first couple of nights, but got easier every day. She took an extra blanket to bed to comfort herself and some stuffed animals. At one point I didn't think there was going to be room for her!! You're daughter is old enough to understand that the binky is going bye-bye and will adjust better and quicker than you think -- they all do :) As for your younger one, my suggestion is to try and do it as soon as possible. The older they get, the more attached they get. I regretted waiting so long with my daughter. Best of luck!!!!!!

Send the pacifiers to Santa-to send to the new babies. Have her load up the envelope, and then about a day later---have a package delivered to your daughter with a present inside.
It worked for my son-he was 5

My daughter was in the same situation when she turned 3, so I was reluctant to take the pacifier away. However, what I did with her and just recently with her 2 1/2 year old brother was to let them "buy" something they had been wanting with their pacifier. I took them each to the store and let them pick a toy that they were really wanting, and they had to trade over the pacifier in order to buy the toy. It worked with both of my kids.

my daughter was only allowed her binky at nap time and bedtime, even as an infant. Then when she reached about 8 months old I only let her have it at bedtime. BY 12 months I just took it away one day. She cried a little the first night when I put her to bed, but after that she did fine. I think the fact that she had already learned to soothe herself to sleep during naptime helped the transition when I took it away completely.

For your older daughter I would tell her the binky fairy is coming and have her collect all her binkies in the house. Then you could have it be like the tooth fairy and the binky fairy leaves her a big girl present. She will be upset for little while but eventually will move on.

I have four kids 3 girls and 1 boy. My son never wanted the pacifier from the begining. My two younger girls we just kind of threw them away so they couldn't find them and they cried a little and was done with it. But my oldest was about 3 when she gave up hers. What I did was got out the saftey sissors and supervised her while she used them to have fun cutting the rubber parts. Then when shr saw the mess we threw them away together. She fussed about 3 days after that and then didnt need it anymore.

My oldest had a paci till we was over 4, but he only had it at night, never outside during the day, it has not affected his teeth though, so personally I'm not sure that the paci is the sole reason your child will need braces someday.

IMO, let her get rid of it when she's ready - you mentioned she's been through a few different transistions, the paci is probably a comfort for her.

Good luck to you!! :-)

Hi A.,

My advice is in response to your question about taking away the binky from your 4 month old. My pediatrician recommended that we take away the binky when our son was 4 months old. We did and he barely noticed! He's found other ways to sooth himself including sucking his arm and cuddling his lovie. My understanding is the longer you wait, the more difficult it is to take away the pacifier. Good luck!

S.

That's a tough one. I think cold turkey might be the answer. You've already gotten her down to just at night so maybe slowly cutting down the night time usage. When I had to get my son off bottles, I told him I couldn't find them or they were lost. If it were only that simple! I would drop the binky for the other child b/c that will be harder for the older one to get rid of hers while she is reminded that you still have them in the house. Good luck.

Hi, A.. I had a similar fear of ridding my son of his pacifier, and I, too do not want my 6-month old daughter to fall into that same attachment. I read up on it, and found that if you get rid of a pacifier around 10 months, your baby is passed the need to suck & isn't quite into the attachment phase. That is what I plan on doing.

As for your 2 1/2 year old - I was told to replace the pacifier with a new night-time routine. Which we did. We kept our normal routine of giving him his bath, watching 15-minutes of a movie, & brushing his teeth, but we added in singing lullabies and a prayer. The first couple nights, he asked for it, and we said "they are all gone, it went bu-byes, and by the third night, he just wanted to sing lullabies with us. It was a lot less painless than we had anticipated. I have also heard of people telling their kids that they could "trade-in" their pacifiers for any toy they want at the toy store. I'm not sure how well that works, but I felt my son was too young at the time to comprehend that he was trading them.

This solution worked for our "bunny" - the lovey blanket - but it was directly connected to thumb sucking. At around 4, my daughter and I picked out a shoe box and took a baby blanket of her choice to make a bed for the bunny.

At night, she'd say goodnight to her bunny and put it in her own bed (bunny was getting big, just like her, and needed her own bed...). The show box was placed next to her pillow and that's where bunny slept.

We had some fits and starts, but eventually it worked. And then my sister - one of her favorite aunts - suggested that it was time for bunny to go into the memory box (in the attic, first shoes, etc.) and off it went!

Maybe something like this will work for binky.

Another thought is a variation of the Binky Fairy and that is that there is some poor, unfortunate baby "out there" that is small and sad and really needs a binky.

What the binky fairy does is take them from big girls and gives them to the babies that need it. This also encourages compassion and charity, which can continue throughout her lifetime.

An idea is to tell her this story and let her think about that small and sad and lonely baby that needs it... One day she'll tell you she's ready to send it off.

And so you make a bit of a production of saying goodbye, you served me well, have fun in your new home! And have her put it on the windowsill. Maybe the fairy leaves a small gift.

And then it's gone...

Little privliges in the next week or so for being such a big, thoughtful and giving girl are always a good idea (if she wants ice cream... well, because you were so kind... that sort of thing.)

Builds lots of self esteem. And don't forget - self esteem is about how SHE feels about herself, not how you feel. ("Aren't you proud of yourself for being such a big girl?")

Good luck!

With my son we gave him the complete opposite kind of pacy. Meaning, he had the rounded Avent kind since birth and I gave him to NUB kind that is flat on one side. When he asked for it that is what I gave him and told him that is the only kind we have. We did this a few times. He would take it, turn it round and round in his mouth and then spit it out. The final time I gave the "new" kind to him he spit it out and said "funny pacy" and that was the end of that.

Hi A.,

When we got rid of my daughters pacifier this is what we did. We went to Walmart and used the pacifier to buy a new toy. We paid for the toy with the pacifier. When the cashier wrapped up the binkie and tried to slip it to me without my duaghter seeing I said "No thanks, please throw it away." It worked! You need to just make a clean break and all will be fine. My daughter loved hers so much too and it broke my heart to have to take it away - but it must be done, espicilally if it is causing dental issues.

Both of my daughters gave up their binkies when they were 2 1/2. Like your daughter they were only using it at night. My older daughter pretty much gave it up on her own. She stopped asking for it at night and so we didn't offer it and she just forgot about it. My younger daughter, I was having fears that she'd have that thing in kindergarten...but at one point she started biting her binky, it would develop a hole so we'd throw it out. Well it eventually got down to only a couple in the house, which I then hid in a cabinet and that night I told her that all her binkies were broken. She asked for it a few times before she fell asleep and again for a few nights afterward, but then just stopped asking. I'd just make sure that your daughter has something to comfort her in bed, a favorite blankie or stuffed animal and you may need to sit with her for a while until she's sleepy for the first few nights...but you might find those binkies easier to get rid of than you think. Good luck and let us know how it goes!

We took our son to Build a Bear and he made a monkey and put his pacifier inside. He can take his binky wherever he goues, its just not in his mouth!

With my oldest, we left the binkies for the Easter bunny in exchange for eggs with blue M&Ms in them (what she wanted). We talked about it for months before Easter so that she knew that when the day came, she'd be leaving them in her empty basket and would find her treat in it when she woke up. She bought into it and we had no problems.

My younger child never really took to the binky. However, I do agree with your other post about 10 months being a good time. I remember reading something about "before 12 months". Maybe you could get both of them off around the same time with a gift to Santa?

Hello,
I know this sounds harsh- but it's causing your child physical damage! Take them away cold turkey. Tell her that all of the binkies went bye-bye and they're all gone now. You may have a few tough days- but in the long run you will be so much better off. I have a 3 1/2 year old daughter too- so I know how stubborn and dramatic they can be. She is old enough to understand what you say to her though. Tell her that the binkies are hurting her teeth.
Just hang in there- sometimes it's hard to do what's best for our kids, especially when they think they know what they want. But in the end it's our job to do what's right.
Good luck and stay strong!
-S.

I had the same issue with my older son and thought he might go to kindergaten with it (though he only used it at night). It drove me crazy, but he was so attached to it I didn't want to push the issue. Usually he would fall asleep with it and it wold fall out of his mouth anyway. One night he was so tired he fell asleep with out it and I threw it away (along with all of the others. He was about 4 1/2 at the time. He never asked for it again. My twins never liked the pacifier, they do however love their blankies. I am trying to figure out how to wean them away from those!

Maybe for your older daughter you could let it be on her terms. I know my nephew when he was a about 3 decided at random that he was going to throw away his binky at the airport. :) Or maybe you could let her get a "prize" for getting rid of her binky and letting her know how big of a girl she is, or tell her the real reason, that her teeth are at risk...sometimes they grasp that more than we think. As for your 4 month old, we were kicking ourselves for not getting rid of our now 16 months old earlier than we did. We ended up getting rid of it a couple of months ago but she was already super attached to it so it was heart breaking because we knew that she knew something was missing. So my advice is shortly after she is 1 or sooner. Good luck. :)