Suggestions for Getting Rid of Plug

I've heard of people packaging them up in a parcel to send to:
A) Santa for babies who need them, or
B) Elmo for his baby sibling
You take the parcel to the Post Office with instructions written on it for them to please throw the parcel in the garbage after you leave.
I personally haven't had to do this yet as my daughter is only 14 months old, but when we do I plan on using one of these options.
Good luck :O)

I don't have any advice except to say that it's good you're dealing with this now. Otherwise you could end up like us, with a 3 1/2 year old who can't fall asleep without her binky. Aagh! I'm reading all the responses in hope for advice too! Good luck!

On supernanny, they said to tell the child that the paci-fairy was going to come and take all the pacis to little babies who need them and that she would leave a present. Put all the pacis in a basket and then overnight replace with a present. It worked on the show...

We cut off full time use at 1 and let her only use it in the bed. Then at 2 when she started to understand words we told her it was time to leave her pacifiers on the window for the Pacifier Fairy to come and collect. They were gone the next morning and no looking back. I think there was only a couple of rough nights before she understood there was no more pacifier. If you are going to go this route, though, make sure there are no more pacifiers anywhere in the house for her to find.

Hi S.,
We just went through this starting last week with my twins (they will be 3 the end of April). I decided it was time to do it, since we'd been talking about it with them for months. Since before their 2nd birthdays, we said the pacis were needed soon by the babies in heaven. On 1/13, after they did not nap, I talked with them and told them it was time for the pacis to go to heaven and they said fine. They kissed them goodbye and "poof" they were gone. That night was quite trying, with one child screaming until midnight and finally succumbing to exhaustion. The next week was extremely trying, mostly at naptime (naps were almost non-existent!). Nighttime was better because we kept the kids awake longer to make them extra tired (that, and no naps, worked well to exhaust them). My husband and I were pretty tired by the end of the week, but it was nice because I had friends doing the same thing at the same time, so we coped through it together. The biggest thing is to DO IT and BE DONE WITH IT! If you give the paci back part way through, the only thing you are doing is telling them that they can eventually get their way and the next time you try to take the "plug" away, it may not work as well. Sure, there will be several days of trying times and sheer exhaustion for everyone, but the kids WILL get through. I am thrilled, because after the first few days, nighttime went back to almost 12 hours of sleep for both my kids, and the past couple of days they have also taken 3 hour naps (each day! yeah!!!). They are much more rested and so am I. Please don't put it off too long. The older the child is, the harder it gets because they know and realize more (and know how to manipulate you to get it back, or question where it is). My kids have not even mentioned their pacis in the past 3 days. It's nice to know we no longer need them! It may be rough at first, but just remember that even if it takes several days, it will be over soon and everyone will be better for it. Good luck!!!

I just did this with my 22 month old. We cut the ends off when she had made a hole in them and let her find them and told her they were broken. She then put them in the garbage. Knock on wood, two nights now and no problem. (As an aside we were only using them at naps and bed time, not sure how an all day user will respond). My very wise friend told me this trick and I love it.

It doesn't have to be a daunting task. Take it from her during the night. When she wakes up and looks for it just make off you can't find it. For all you know the tooth fairy took it so she can start getting little surprises when she gets a new tooth. Use your imagination. You'll be surprised what you can come up with.

I saw this on one of those nanny shows and it worked. Since your child isn't a baby anymore, she can give her plug to a new baby who needs one. We got a mailing envelope and addressed it to the Paci-Fairy(I'm sure the Plug Fairy would work too). She puts the plug in the envelope and mail it. The next day, she gets her own envelope with a present in it. We gave our daughter some books, and she got a note from the Paci-Fairy thanking her for the paci. Our daughter was a little over two, but she only had it at bedtime, naptime, and changing her diaper. I think we were more worried about how she would react; since it was no big deal, she was more than ready. She only asked for it a couple of times after that, and that was it!
Good luck!

At the age of 2 1/2 I would only give it to her at bedtime. I waited this long because I had another baby. When she was 3 my cousin had a baby so my 4 yr old son gave the new baby his blankie & she gave the new baby her "wa-wa"(pacifier). The 1st night was rough but that was it. Now my cousin has the blankie & wa-wa when we see them and tells both my kids that the new baby really thinks these are special & he uses them all the time. And they both get a kick seeing the new baby with their items.

Good luck this can be very trying for parents and for the child. My son was addicted to his pacifier he even went to the extent of having one in his mouth and one in his hand. We wanted to get rid of it by his second birthday not so much my husband and I were okay with it but my babysitter didnt like it. So we tried everything bribery was the only tool that worked for us. He loved Mickey Mouse and we just happened to be going to Florida in February(he turned 2 in November) so we thought we could bribe him to get rid of it to see Mickey and it worked. It was an expensive bribery but he never asked for it unless we saw a child with one and we just reminded him of Mickey and it was all over with by the time he was almost 27 months old. Good luck and keep your chin up. Dont get mad at your child as that is their security blanket!!

HI S.,
I think I had a harder time with this than my son because I was afriad of how he would react. He LOVED his binky. However with my husband's help (or nagging :)) we simply took it away altogether. Cold Turkey. There were a couple of nights where he woke up super early but honestly, we had no issues...we did around 20 months. Good luck!
L.

Hi S.,

My daughter is almost 2 and has a "plug" as well. The DR told me not to take it from her now, but to get the newborn size as it is not much to suck on. We plan on waiting until she is 3 and having the binky fairy come and take them. We are hoping she will understand then. If we were to take it now, I think it would make our lives pure hell. I also only let her have it when she is in her crib. That makes a big difference as well.

Good Luck,
C.

Both of my children "gave their pacifiers to Santa for other babies". It was COLD turkey. They asked for it a few times thereafter and it was done. I am hoping it will be just as easy with #3 who is on his way here soon!

Good Luck to you!

We stopped offering the pacifier during the day around the age of 1. It just wasn't available so he didn't think about it. He still had it for naps and for bedtime. We stopped using it for naps/bedtime about two months ago and again, just stopped it cold turkey. We used to keep them in a bin on his changing table and he knew where they were. The night we stopped using them, he looked around for it but we just simply said "Oh no, honey, they're all gone! They went bye-bye." He pouted for a little bit, and we carried on with our bedtime routine. It wasn't a huge deal at all.

Hello,
My daughter just turned 2, and we just got rid of the pacifiers! I was definitely afraid to do it, even though she only used them at night, and had some grand schemes to lull her into it. In the end, though, I just cut the nips off of them (she had three), showed her that they were 'broken' and let her play with them a little. Then we did what we do with all broken things and threw them out together. She seemed a bit stricken, but got over it. At bedtime she remembered that they were 'broken' and she still cried herself to sleep (not hard, just fussy and sad). We had a few days of bad naps and slightly longer bedtimes, but it's been a week and she's completely over it! woo hoo! Sometimes we'll still talk about it, how pacifiers are for little babies and she's a big girl now, and that they were broken, but after the first first days, she didn't ask for it at all. Overall, it was a lot less painful than I anticipated.
Hope that helps!
Jen

S., My mom does daycare and when the kids are at the age to give up the pacifier she has a throwing it away party. It is usually replaced with a "big kid" thing. A big kid cup or coloring book etc. something to signify he/she is a big kid and not a baby. this usually is done at about the same time as the giving up the bottle. if they are in on the throwing it away then they know its gone. of course she had one kid who helped throw it away and then promptly went and got another one he had hidden. it happend about 3 times lol. good luck.
S.

Our dentist told us we were ok til 3. My 1st turned hers in at 3 1/2. I had dropped off a small gift ahead of time and the dentist traded her for her plug. My 2nd will be doing this at her next appnt as well.

Good Luck

My son was this age when we were able to rid of the "bada-bing". Before we took it from him, we first started out by only allowing it when it was nap or bed time.
My son was unable to find his bada-bing one morning and we said that his puppy (stuffed animal) ate it. That is really all it took. At naptime he asked for it, but we said, remember your puppy ate it and that is all it took. It really fell behind his bed where he could not see it. So maybe if your daughter has a stuffed animal, you could try that! Good luck! It is great when the plug is gone :)

Well, we were just dealing with this! My twins are 2 yrs & 3 mos. They have only used them in their cribs for naps & at night for quite a while now. They have been the most wonderful nappers & sleepers in the whole world. (12 hrs at night & avg 2 hr naps w/o any arguing every day.)

So pediatrician & some others said it was time to get rid of them. I'd heard/read/asked for advice & know all the "tricks" that you'll hear from others here. Everyone said it'd be 2-3 days & they'd be over it. Well...

I decided to use the "they're broken" trick. On Fri 1/9 in the morning after they woke up I cut off the ends when they weren't looking & showed them to them. They agreed they were broken & needed to go in the garbage.

Naps didn't happen at all that first day, which I expected. Nearly every other day after that, naps were torturous whole afternoon ordeals that left me exhausted, and left them with maybe only 1 hr of sleep each, and many times not at the same time. I could go into details, but I won't. (Mostly, nighttime was okay, just took them 15-30 minutes to calm down & go to sleep.) Long story short, none of us are ready for their afternoon naps to be gone yet, and they just couldn't seem to nap without them. Again, I tried all the "tricks" and advice to have them calm down or soothe with something else, but nothing worked. I even checked out the Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child book from the library, but actually couldn't find anything related to giving up the binkies!

So the evening of the 12th day into this (1/20) I bought new ones. The afternoon of the 13th day I gave in after 1 hour of the usual torture & gave them back. They slept for 2 hr naps that day & now the two afternoons since then.

Bottom line: Try it and see, but don't force it if she's not ready. I hear that quite a few kids stop napping around age 3 anyway, so I figure that's when the binkies will have to go away. Right now, we all need the afternoon peace & quiet!

Good luck to you!!!

Here is what I did with my daughter to help her let go of her "binkie." She was 2 1/2 when I told her the Binkie Fairy was coming soon to take all of her binkies. I said, "You are a big girl now, and the Binkie Fairy is coming to get your binkies because little babies need them. The Binkie Fairy wil come tonight when you are asleep, take your binkies, and leave something very special for you." I had her put all of her binkies in a plastic ziplock bag that night, and we put it on her bathroom sink. She asked me for a binkie twice when I was putting her to bed, so I just repeated what was going to happen. I was pretty lucky that she went to sleep without a big problem. I waited a few hours to make sure she was asleep, then I put a huge basket of new toys in the bathroom and threw out the binkies. You don't need to spend a lot of money...I filled the basket with crayons, paper, stuffed animal, coloring books, and dress-up stuff. Just make sure the Binkie Fairy leaves something your daughter will really love. I only got a couple of "Where's my binkie?" for the next few days, but she was more curious than upset. I just told her the story again and reminded her of all the cool toys she got. It worked like a charm! Good luck!

Go ahead and do it now, you sound ready. Just cut a slice off the end of the nipple, another slice the next day, and so on if you need to. My daughter was 3 when we did this and it worked the first day! Recommended by our dentist.

2 is the age that most dentists suggest that you get rid of it.

With my oldest she would cry all night long every time it fell out of her mouth. I really started to think the thing was invented by Satan himself to drive us nuts. So when she got sick and I had to give her a decongestant (which made her drowsy) I took the thing away and by the end of four days she didn't even remember it.

The second child loved it, but was only allowed to use it when she slept. At two we decided to get rid of it, but I was a softy and kept giving it to her if she cried. My neighbor actually talked to her about being a big girl and talked her into throwing it away. So if she whined a bit after that I just reminded her that she threw it away. She was over it in a week.

My husband's brother cut the tip off his son's and when the little guy asked about it, he looked at it at explained that it was broken and it had to go in the trash. All of them were broken and they put them all in the trash. He would ask about it when he went to bed, but mom and dad would remind him that they were broken and they had to be thrown away and he would shrug his shoulders and go to bed. End of story.

I have two daughters (3 and 5 years old) who were both really attached to their pacis. For both, when each of them turned three, the "paci fairy" came - we left the pacis out for the fairy to take to all of the teeny babies that need them and the fairy left a nice present for them. I was amazed how well this worked since both were so attached to their pacis. Neither of them really ever asked for them back even, which I found staggering. Good luck!

Hi S.,

Our son was 2 when we finally got rid of the pacifier. I had talked about it for almost a year because I worried about the implications to his dental health. When he got closer to 2, and we hadn't given it up yet, I started talking about how we'd give his pacifier to Santa (thinking we'd box them up and put them near the cookies for Santa to take to boys and girls who "need" them.) When Christmas was over and I hadn't done anything, I finally got frustrated enough and I collected them all in a paper bag and put them on top of the fridge (in case he completely melted and I just couldn't handle it.) He cried a bit the first day (at nap time and at bed time) and that was it. One day and the pacifier was gone. Keep in mind, though, that we had been talking to him about giving it to Santa for a couple months.Our son only used his pacifier for naps, night and if he was really tired. He did not walk around with his pacifier in his mouth while he played. Our son was also able to communicate with us and we were able to talk about his pacifier and that he wasn't getting it back. Honestly, I think taking the pacifier away was tougher for us parents that it was for our son!

I hope this helps. Good luck losing "the plug."

I got this idea from "super nanny" & it worked great!!! the "passie fairy" came to our house. my daughter maddy, then 2 years old, helped gather all her passies & put them in a "passie" bag & when she woke up the next day-a fairy doll was waiting for her!!! the concept was to make it fun for her & reward her for giving up her security & it worked great!! good luck to you & hopefully the passie fairy will make it to your house!
N.

My son was addicted to the paci. I didn't know if I would ever be able to get rid of it. At two years old I limited it to his bed and the car. Then at two and a half I told him he was a big boy and he didn't need his paci anymore. He had a rough time for the first couple days but then he was fine. It was much easier than I expected. He even sees his little sister with a paci and he doesn't get upset.

At age 2 I started to let my daughter only use it in bed for falling asleep. She had been HOOKED on it, but agreed to keep it in bed. For her 3rd bday, we went to Build-a-Bear, and we made "Nuk Bear", a new cuddly friend to sleep with that has her nuk inside. The first night was painful- she screamed for me to cut the bear open and get the nuk out, next night was better, and within a few days it was over. Now she just laughs when she feels the nuk inside of the bear. She also now sleeps with a "Taggie", which she never did before we got rid of the nuk. I guess many kids need something for comfort. I've also heard of people having a "Plug Fairy" who takes them away and leaves a little present in its place. Any way you decide to do it, pick a few nights that you can tolerate a crying child who won't sleep, just in case it doesn't go so well. Good luck!

I literally just went through this with our almost 2 year old son 3 weeks ago. Here's what we did: the first night we cut a tiny piece off of the tip of the pacifier, so it lost it's suction (which is the appeal of the pacifier). We gave it to him and when he realized it wasn't doing what he wanted it to do, he started crying and asking for his "bink". We told him that it was his bink and he kept putting it in his mouth and taking it out and crying because it was not what he wanted. He was really tired, so he cried for about 10 minutes and fell asleep. The next day for his nap, it was truly awful. I spent 2 hours trying to get him to sleep. He kept crying and jumping in his crib. I went in and comforted him and told him it was nap time. He asked for his "bink" and I gave it to him, and he threw it on the ground. I went in to comfort him 3 times, on the fourth time I picked him up to hug him and he fell asleep with his head on my shoulder. I put him down in his crib and he slept for 2 hours. I threw out his pacifier after that nap. 20 minutes of crying that night and he slept soundly. Next nap, 20 minutes of crying and jumping, then slept for 90 minutes. After the 2nd day, we didn't really have trouble getting him to sleep at night. He would cry or whine for a few minutes, but he was usually so tired, he just went to sleep. The naps got harder though. He started only sleeping for 45 minutes at a time. I would go in there and tell him it wasn't time to get up yet, and restart his music c.d. Sometimes he went back to sleep, but mostly he was just up, and really tired and crabby. Then a couple of days ago, he started sleeping 90 minutes again for his naps. Thank God! So all in all, it took about 3 weeks to fully transition to sleeping with no pacifier. He doesn't even ask for it anymore. I think it was easier for us because he is still in his crib, and he can't get out of it. If your daughter is in a big girl bed already, I don't know how it's going to work for you. Good luck and stay strong!

I was kind of gradual about it. First I let them only have it in the house. Then only in their room. Then only in their bed. Then only at bedtime. After a few nights of that we talked about how his big brothers didn't have one and he wasn't into it anymore.

My son was older when we ditched it, almost 3. My other kids quit it on their own around 2 1/2. Are you under a lot of pressure to get rid of it now? Could you maybe give her a different lovey or way of comforting herself? Because that's what it's all about - comforting themselves.

Cut the nipple off a little at a time so that by the end, there is nothing to suck on! Or have her throw it away and tell her that big girls don't need these and the the "plug fairy" is going to take them away and leave her something in the morning. Put all the plugs in an envelope and olace them is a special place. In the morning, have the envelope filled with a surprise or lots of surprises! I saw this on Super Nanny w/ a boy that needed to give up his plugs. (Just so you don't think I'm looney!!!)

Best of luck! I didn't give mine up until I was 3! Hang in there! There's nothing a little orthodontist can't fix!

E.

S.,

I did the same thing at 2yo. My daughter was only using the pacifier for naps and bedtime. I brought her to the dentist with all her pacifiers and she gave them to him to give to other babies who would need one. She really had no clue what was going on.
He gave her a small gift and when we got home there was a big gift from "the dentist" that he had 'left" at our house. It was an adorable wooden guitar that I knew she would love.
She cried a little bit at sleep times, but never asked for it again. I will say it takes her longer to self-soothe now, but she falls asleep.

We had to go cold turkey with our daughter. We had initially tried weaning it from her, but that just drew out the ordeal. She was fine after a few days, didn't ask for it anymore, didn't look for it, etc.
Good luck!

Hi S.,
We got our son off of his "plug" right after he turned 2. We started by snipping just the end off of the pacifier with a scissors...just the tip. That way when he put it in his mouth it didn't have the same feel or suction. Then every day or so we would snip a little bit more off. He looked surprised the first time he tried it with the end cut off but kept using it for a week or so. Then one day when we had cut most of it off he put it in, then took it out, looked at it in disgust and threw it into the corner of his crib. That was the end to that! :-) It was easy and painless. Good luck! It's also a good age to wean off of it. We waited too long with our daughter who was over 3, although she only used it to sleep at night. Much more traumatic at the older age.

This was a daunting task for me too! I decided that I could not handle the pressure of someone telling me that my daughter could no longer have her pacifier, so at 2 1/2 she had a big girl party. We had family over to celebrate, a cake, presents. Just like an actual birthday. We gave up the pacifier for during the day, except of nap time, bed time and when were in the car. All other times she was not allowed to have the pacifier. This actually worked really well for us. When she was about a month away from turning 3 we also decided to get rid of the crib, since she tried to jump out of it, and when she was switched to a big girl bed on her birthday, we took away the pacifier for good. There were a few nights that were hard, but she really did well. She knew what was happening, and there was very little stress. When we went to the dentist a few weeks later, the dentist asked if she had a pacifier and I was able to say, "we don't have one anymore!" I was so proud of my big girl!!!! Good luck to you!