Getting Rid of the Binky!

My daughter was very attached to hers too! At 21 months, we decided it was time for her "Beecy" as she called it to go on a trip. While on vacation later that month, we told her she had to leave her beecy in the ocean for the fishes. (We were in Hawaii and she had seen schools of fish in the water) We made a big deal out of it and told everyone how she was giving her beecy to the baby fishes to use. After she threw it in the ocean, I gave her a big sand bucket filled with tons of little toys and things she could use at the beach. She was so excited! That night when she asked for her beecy, I reminded her that the baby fishes needed it more and then gave her back her sand bucket. She looked a little confused but ended up sleeping with her fish toy that was in the bucket. She never asked again!
Good LUck!

You could talk about how she is becoming a big girl now and pack up all the binkies for the new babies that need them at the hospital. Then take the binkies to the hospital maternity ward and give them to a nurse, explaining that your daughter is giving them to the new babies that need them. I have heard this is quite successful.

We cut off the tip of the binky for our kids. My son (at 18 months) complained that it was broken, and since there wasn't a replacement, he decided within a couple days that he didn't want it anymore since it didn't work. With my daughter (at 2 yrs.), she was a little more attached. We needed to snip it a couple times to make it shorter and shorter before she decided she didn't like it. It was pretty easy and painless for us.

My son kicked the binky habit really quickly right before his 2nd birthday. He went through a clingy phase around 18mos, and moved from only taking it at night to wanting it during the day. We decided to wean off the binky before his birthday as he had shown he just liked to chew on it at that point and it was interfering with his talking (he tried to talk with it in his mouth). The process was pretty quick - just talked about how when he turned 2 he was too old for a binky because he would be so grown up, then one day when he asked for it told him he was old enough to go without. He was really proud of this, and actually gave it up willingly. Around 2, it was important that rules were set by some "greater force" instead of made up by us. So, as long as "2 year olds were too big for binkies" my son didn't want his binky.

... It did come back 4 mos later when his sister was born. That time he took it from her as soon as she came home from the hospital out of curiosity - like didn't even know what to do with it! He quickly re-learned what to do with it, and we just ignored this regression, re-enforced that babies need pacifiers to calm them down, and he reasonably quickly kicked the habit again on his own.

Our daughter is 18 mos, and I'm wondering if I will ditch the binky at 2, again. She's not very attached to it, only takes it when she is really tired or needs calming (new situation, not feeling well). It is NOT interfering with her speech because it is not in her mouth much.

I'd suggest playing it by ear. I've heard the habit is easier to kick when the child is younger probably because they don't have the language skills to resist. I've learned tho, that other bad habits (like crawling into bed with me at midnight!) are just as easy to kick later on when the child is receptive to rewards (like extra books at bedtime).

For what it is worth, my niece kicked the habit at 3, and I've heard of others successfully doing it later. I doubt your daughter will need the thing by elementary school ;)

My sister had close to 10 binkies for her daughter. She used the binkies like money and had her daughter pay for prizes. The big prize was a Care Bear my niece wanted. Once the binkies were gone, it was bad for a few nights, but my sister kept reminding her daughter that she now had a new teddy bear. It didn't take long for my niece's only remembrance of the binky to be that she bought her Care Bear with them. And by not long I mean less than a week. And after a month, she never even talked about it.

i dont think 2 years old is something to worry about. let it be for now.

Noelle's suggestion also worked for us. My daughter was a binky addict - ALWAYS had the thing in her mouth, from when she was just a few hours old until after she turned 2. Our dentist said it was screwing up her teeth and we had to make her stop immediately. So... we cut the tips off of all her binkies. We'd still give them to her whenever she asked, but within a few days she decided she didn't like them anymore since they didn't work right. It was painless for all of us, which surprised me. I had expected a huge battle with lots of crying, but it never came!

my step-son.. he'd put them down and we'd pick them up and throw them away. tell him we didn't know where they were... you could take all but one away and tell her it's the only one left, once that one is yucky, it's gone.. choose the oldest one. LOL my step-son was also told by mom, that the cat ate them. she did. LOL she ate all the nipples on his bottles so he was aware of the problem. made sense to him. LOL give her a new something to hold onto and love. say, the binky is going away, how about you can pick any stuffed animal.... little ty beanie babies are perfect size... to replace her beloved. make it super special.. the shopping trip.... sometimes this works with many things. :)