Almost 3 and Still W/ Paci at Nap and Bed Time!!!

My daughter had a paci until she was 2 and a half. About 2 months ago, my boyfriend opened the window and told her how fun it would be to throw it out the window. I couldn't believe it, but she did it. That night she didn't ask for it and went straight to bed. The next night, she cried a little for it but eventually went to bed and hasn't had a problem since. Sometimes she asks about it and she'll tell me she wants to go get it, but I just tell her that there's bugs all over it and it's all dirty and she doesn't need it anyway and then she just says ok and goes on with whatever she's doing. I was impressed because I had tried telling her the paci fairy was coming to take her pacis and give her a present and i gave her a barbie camera to replace them but that didn't last long and i tried throwing them away. I think the act of throwing it out and her actually doing it, she knew it was gone forever. I don't know. Try it. See what happens. It worked for me.

Another idea I had after she was already off of it was to take her to build a bear and let her pick out her bear and get it stuffed and instead of putting a heart inside, put her paci in it so she can still go to bed with it, it's just inside the bear. When I thought of this, I was kinda upset that I didn't think of that sooner, but oh well. I'll prob try it on my next kid. Good luck!

Hi!!

Try this story at http://www.mambaby.com then go to "Service", then "Wean the baby off from pacifier", press "read more"

You will find a story, I think is nice and maybe it could help!!

Good luck!, soon I will be in the same scenario with my little girl! please let me know what happen?

What a awesome idea to send to the babies in heaven. We did this with my granddaughter but be careful....go to a field where there are NO TREES close by. This is experience talking here.... ours got stuck in a tree and for 3 days all we did was try to get them out of the tree so we could try again!!!!! In the meantime, she drove us crazy. We gave her a simple Barbie when she sent her binkies to heaven to show her she was a big girl now. Just remember that some outfits and/or dolls come with small pieces like shoes and accessories but we just gave her the clothes and she was happy. Later we gave her the accessories and she never knew they came with the outfits. If you don't want to do Barbie right now, find her a special stuffed animal to be a comfort to the big girl.
Personally I would encourage her creativity with her idea. This is the first step to learning to give to others, learning to sacrifice. Sounds like you are getting the idea. Love her where she is and she will share her heart with others when the time is right.
C.

What a beautiful heart your daughter has! Sounds like she is going to be a really good natured loving person!

I don't have any experience with this yet because my son is still little and using them. BUT, I think sending her paci's to heaven is the sweetest thing! And that it was her idea, will help in the "growing up" process!!

Good Luck, let us know what happens!

Hi M.,

My daughter won't let go of her "binky" either and she is a little over 2. It was driving me so crazy I talked to the doctor about it at her last visit. She told us not to worry, that she would let it go when she was ready to do so. Your daughter sounds like a real gem! I think the balloons are a sweet idea and really may help her let go easier than just throwing them away. We all have habits that we should break and sometimes some kind of closer like the balloons is really necessary to do so.

As soon as my son turned one they went in the trash before he was old enough to express how he felt about pacifers...lol

Ahhh thats really would be special to tie them to balloons and send them to the babies in Heaven. Thats a great idea!!!!!

Take pictures that would be a beautiful site..."hugs"

I don't remember when my son gave up his binky but it was before he gave up his bottles (at nap mostly) but we did talk him into giving his bottles to his sister. He was 3 yrs and 3 mos when she was born. I think I should have let him go a bit longer. I nursed my daughter til she was 3 and a half. I know most people think that is "extended" and overboard but other countries don't feel that way. Anyway, I WAS glad when I finally used the idea about telling her my "binkies" were broken and even put bandaids on my nipples. She was so cute and empathetic..awww, does it hurt? she asked. After that I told her there was no more milk. She continued to play with my face/skin/places that she played with while nursing when we would cuddle for quite some time. I just think about we adults who carry around our binkies, er, I mean, coffees...chew gum...various stimulators and comforters for our mouths during our day...did we really get weaned? Ya know? I am just saying, is it worth putting so much pressure on ourselves to wean them from something that is apparently needed for self-comforting. No, you don't want her starting kindergarten with a binky, I think it will fade though because of peers for one thing. You're a big kid now speech probably helps, I did that too. But having empathy and not judgement will help as well I think.

I love your idea to tie the pacifiers to a balloon and 'send them to Heaven'. That's what I tell my son and nephews anytime we have balloons.

I would tie them and send them too granny !! .......
Also, my daughter was addicted to the pacifier, i thought we would never get her off of it ! She was almost 4 when we finally did ! I cut the nipple off the pacifier and told her it was broken & we through it out the window of the car & can you believe it worked, we no longer had to have a pacifier,but i made sure she saw it was broke !

I think tying them to a balloon is a sweet idea. However, if that doesn't work... just get rid of them! It isn't like she can go buy them herself. There may be some fights at bedtime, but eventually she will have to sleep.

I made sure that we were done with bottles right at 12 months and pacifiers at 15 months so that I wouldn't have to worry about this. It is a hard situation, but really... just take them away!

I only had one child that like those. And he was a thumb sucker too! LOL

What I did. I just gradually started putting up the ones I found lying around. I put them in a drawer he could not see into (high) and he never even knew where I put them. Finally he was down to one. I told him when that one was gone we would not buy more so we would both have to keep track of it. (wink) Of course it got lain down somewhere and never seen again.

I think if I were you. I would conveniently lose some and then take all but one and tie them to balloons like she wanted to do. In fact I would have done that the week she thought of it. She must be a very intelligent child to think that out and then want to do something so constructive and helpful--help the babies in heaven. So sweet.

I said save one because you may have a rough night and want to cave if she is the type to cry for hours over something. I know I probably would. We did not let ours sit and cry over things for hours. One trick I was told for the last one is to cut the end off. Then cut more off. So it is a damaged paci and not much fun. ;-) Then they throw it away themselves.

Good luck,

My son turned two at the end of June and is attached to the pacifier at bedtime only. I tried taking it away and he cries...so i give in...However, I have decided that when he is around 2 1/2 they are gone! Hopefully, he won't cry for it for too long. I know the feeling of trying to break an attachment. I love your baloon idea. In fact, I might try that out myself. Children love baloons and they can feel like they are a part of letting go.

I also had trouble getting rid of the paci (binky as we called it). My daughter was so attached to it. I didn't like it and I had expressed many times that we were going to get rid of it, just as you did. But the thing was we didn't know how. So when my daughter turned two we gathered them up and threw them away. I don't think we involved her, that's how attached she was. We just told her we couldn't find them and that was that. But since your daughter is older. I think involving her is a good idea. The fact that she will see them go away (like the balloon idea too) will help when she asks for it later. Tell her the paci's went to heaven to make grandma happy. Good luck to you and your daughter!

Hi, My daughter who is 2 and 1/2 stills uses her paci at nap and bedtime. Yes, I think you have a great idea to "send" them up to heaven. It's easier for children to understand why and where the paci's go. My middle daughter gave hers up because her cat kept "eating them" I told her if she kept leaving them around for the cat to eat then one day our kitty would eat he last one and just as she turned 3 .....low and behold the cat ate her last one. She loves to tell people even now at age 8 that her cat ate up all her pacis till there were none left!

I had this same problem with my 3.5 year old. About 3 months before his 3rd birthday, I told him that we were not going to use pasi's anymore. He was talking with them still in his mouth, instead of taking them out. This will cause a speech problem later in life. He did fine at nap time, but at bed time it took him 3 days where he would scream for a pasi and cry himself to sleep. I know that it sounds horrible, but it was for his own good. I did not want him to have permenant speech problems all of his life. Your daughter does sounds so sweet and I think that you should send all of the pasi's to heaven. Hopefully she wont have the "withdrawls" that my son had...LOL!! Goodluck!!

H.

Don't feel bad, mine is 4 and still the same thing. But the good thing is, they are not going ot kindergarden with it, so not to worry.

Hi M.,
I love the balloon idea.

We did something similar with our 3 yr old when she was not quite 2. Being that she has a very giving and loving nature, I told her that there were some babies that didn't have binkies. And wouldn't it be nice if we gave them our binkies?And she agreed and gathered all of them up and gave them to me. It couldn't have been more simple. We had tried many other things before like limiting them to just sleep time, cutting off the tip, etc. Nothing else worked. This may work with your child, depending on her nature. Also, we did not use the "big girl" terminology because we thought it would confuse her as we often had to tell her "when you're a big girl" about other things. if she's a big girl and doesn't need a binky, why does she still need a carseat? See where I'm going with that?

I also saw something about this on Supernanny (LOVE HER!). She had the child tie all of her binkies to a tree. Then as she slept the "binky fairy" would take her binkies and leave her a surprise. The next day she found a bag hanging in the tree with a new doll. I thought it was a cute idea.

Just think about your child's personality and try to find a solution that would best suit her.

Good luck!
Amy

A good idea would be to take the paci while your daughter is ocupied with somthing else, and hide it some wear that she cant find. So when she goes to wear she left it its not there, when she comes to you like where the heck is my paci, say , oh sweetie did you loose your paci? and after a while of her realizing it is gone, throw it away. It works, another way would be like if you are out from your house, like at the store, take it with you in the car, and get rid of it then. then they dont know wear to look. hope this helps.
K.