K.P.
J.,
I feel your pain! My daughter was totally addicted to NuNu (she didn't just use it to fall asleep, she would suck on it all night!), I was so stressed out (it seemed like all of the time) because her teeth were getting bad and I was contantly worrying about the day I would have to take it away. We tried bribes and rewards nothing worked!!!
I had been telling her about NuNu Fairy since she was 2.5, I finally said, to myself, enough is enough, when she was a little over 3 years old. I went to the store and bought some princess PJs/slippers and a doll and one day when she was at preschool, I threw all the NuNus away, so there was no return. I opened her bedroom window and when we pulled up to the house from school, I showed her the window and we went running upstairs to see what happend.
It was tough for the first two nights getting her to sleep. But, I stayed firm, I told her NuNu Fairy needed the NuNu's and reminded her of the great gifts and I simply walked out of her room and let her cry.
I think in our case two things needed to happen for success.
1) My daughter needed the visual to see that NuNu's had left the building and were never going to return.
2) Most importantly, I needed to tell myself that there was no return/caving in by physically throwing them away (no back ups!) And I just told myself that no matter how bad the crying got it was for both of our well being.
P.S. When I woke up the next morning, I felt like a great weight had been lifted off of my shoulders!
Mom of a 3.5 year old and a 1 year old