Getting Rid of the Nuky

I have heard that some people have like a little ritual when getting rid of the paci. Like make big deal of putting them all in a little box, maybe even wrap the box, and then tell DD that she is too old for the nukes, but the new born babies at the hospital need them and that you and she are going to send them to the hospital as xmas gifts for the newborns. Then, get rid of them and never look back. She will whine and you may have a couple of nights of getting up, but after 1 or 2 nights, she should be fine.

Our daughter was completely addicted to her binky. She'd have that thing in her mouth 24/7. Around 2.5 years of age, I noticed that her two front teeth were starting to slightly jut out. That's when I started telling her about how the binky fairy will let "big kids" know when it's time to pass the binkies on to the little babies who need them.

I let this thought simmer for 2 weeks at most, then a letter from the binky fairy arrived on darling fairy paper (from Michael's or a craft store) in a whimsical font. The letter told our daughter that a new baby had been born that needed binkies and that since she was such a big girl and really didn't "need" them anymore, that the fairy would like her to package up the binkies and mail them off on such and such date (it was 3 days after the letter arrived).

On the third day, we packaged them up and ceremoniously took them to the mail box. Four days later, a thank you letter arrived from the fairy along with a picture of the newborn baby that the binkies went to (my coworker had just had a baby and sent out emailed pics, so it worked perfectly).

Our daughter felt like such a BIG GIRL after that letter arrived and she carried it around with her for a few weeks and showed EVERYONE the picture of the baby that her binkies went to.

We also went out and purchased a treasure chest of dress-up clothes for our daughter as a special treat for this milestone and to keep her mind off the binkies.

Considering how addicted our daughter was to those things, this transition went really smoothly. The first night w/out the binky was a teeny bit rough, but it passed quickly.

You may not have to go to such measures, but like I said, our daughter wasn't going to give the thing up on her own! ;) Good luck.

The "magic" they use at daycare is a matter of being consistent, and yes, stubborn.

Think about something that you just expect her to do a certain way that she just does it that way. For me it was the car seat. I NEVER "bent" on being buckled. I don't know if it was my mannerism or my voice or the way I buckled her in the same way right from birth. ONE time she tried to squirm, but that was it. She just knew it wasn't negotiable.

It took me a while to figure out that the car seat approach should be my appraoch to everything. I limited battles but the ones I picked I used my CS mentality. No emotion. total business. unyielding.

If the nuk is that for you, then YOU have to just STOP all the 'stuff' that gets in the way. Throw them out. There are no more. No emotion from you. No frustration when she cries and kicks and screams and throws a tantrum. handle it however you handle a tantrum. For me, I put my daughter in her room. she was allowed to think and act and feel however she wanted to inside her bedroom. In the rest of the world there are standards of behavior that exist DESPITE how you "feel".

The thing is.... because this is an area she's been allowed to be babied on.... it will take some time. so ramp up your patience. ramp down your emotion. and throw the nuks away if you don't want her to have them anymore.

I would make one suggestion. She uses her nuk to self-soothe. So if you take away THIS way you have to replace it with something else (at daycare they may pat backs or play music or teach them to rub their own ear.... whatever). Kids need to learn to self-soothe, so pick what you think would work. For my daughter it was patting the back of her bear (be careful, cuz if you don't manage this correctly now she will want to carry the bear everywhere. so you have to set boundaries and teach her what is socially acceptable to self-soothe in different circumstances).

Do the same approach to potty training. Just be 'done' with anything else.

Good Luck.

I did the little paci snipping trick and it worked well.
You're right--they don't want them at all when they are cut. And viola! That's what you are trying to achieve.

One of my kids was so attached to paci that even when it was snipped the third time and he didn't want it in his mouth anymore, he held it in his hand at night for a couple days. Then I think he realized (on his own) that that was pretty stupid to hold paci.

So snip all the pacis and prepare for a rough day or two, but this too shall pass. Be firm, Mom.

When my daughter was the same age as yours, we had "Santa" come and take her Nuks to give to the baby reindeer. I know it sounds crazy, but it worked great! Funny thing was, 3 years later when we were trying to rid her little sister of her Nuk, the older one asked if Santa would take the nuks like he had for her! It was so funny that she had remembered!

Go with the Nuky Fairy or else just "give them away" to a new baby. If the fairy, leave her a new stuffed animal or cool B. girl toy in place of all the nuks. I remember my little sister "giving" all her bottles and stuffed animals to our newborn cousin. Of course my aunt didn't keep and use all those old things, but it was just the act that mattered. My sister felt like she was helping someone else, so she learned a couple lessons from the whole ordeal without even realizing it.
At three your daughter may be too old for cutting the ends off the pacifiers; I think that works best with smaller children.
Wickerparkgirl is totally right about the cause of the magic at daycare! I used to be one of those magical childcare people and consistency is definitely the answer. (It's just a lot harder when it's your own child!!!)
Good luck to you!

my oldest son is 2.5 years old. We took his away a couple of months ago. We progressed to only nap time and night time. Then one day I gathered them up, hid them and cut the nipple off of one. When he asked for it at night, I gave it to him. He looked at me and told me it was broken. But, I just said that is all we have, and you can keep that one if you want it. Never a peep or a cry, just acepted that it was broken. Next day I took the broken one and he has never asked for it again. It went way smoother than I thought it would, considering he would often go to sleep with one in his mouth and one in each hand :)

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Throw them away and don't look back. Ignore any whining for the paci, just pretend like it never existed. She is waaaaay old enough to move on from the paci...

My kids weren't attached to them - but I have a friend who used the "nuky fairy" approach - put them all in a gift bag - hung it outside on a tree and in the morning there were little gifts to replace the nukys. The fairy came and got them to give to other little babies who needed them. ;o) It worked for her for all of her kids!

mine oldest was over 3 and almost potty trained and needed a nuky in stressful situations. I let her have them but never bought new ones. When they started getting lost or bitten through we would throw them away till we were down to one only. when that was getting worn thin we introduced a blanket that we told her was special. When the nuky had to go, she switched over to loving that blanket. So it was a little easier, though the first night with no nuky was hard. It was a lot of tears and a lot of redirection but it didnt last more that a day and a night. She got teary and whiny occasionally for the rest of the week but it got better that she had a blanket.