Help Getting Rid of Pacifer!

Hi S.,
With my kids, when they weren't around, I snipped the top of the pacifier with scissors. It was "broken" and didn't feel the same when sucked on. It caused some frustration at first, but then it was quickly tossed. We had no major problems and only one upset bedtime, which was the night it became "broken."
I thought that would be better than the pacifier getting "lost." At least with it being broken, they weren't wondering and worrying about where it was.
Hope you find a method that works for you.
Leanne

Well my daughter was super attached to her binky. If my husband or I couldn't find one when she wanted her binky we were racing to the store to get one ASAP with her crying and throwing a tantrum. Well one day my husband had this great idea to walk her to the ducks because she loved ducks. He told her that the ducks were crying when they say quack quack and needed her binky. So she threw the binky to the ducks and never looked back.

I got rid of my daughter's around the same age at 18mo. I use to run a very large daycare with 300 kids. We had soooo many kids past a 1 1/2 years with pacifiers and it was soooo fustrating. Most the kids wouldn't talk to their ability because it was in their mouth. Other kids wanted to take it etc... Plus it's just not plain good for them.

I tried the cold shoulder or cutting the tips but that didn't work for us. The tip cutting my daughter would still suck on it. So this is what we did.....

I took all the pacis we had. I let her keep her "favorite" one. And we went to Grapevine Mills Mall. Once we got there I through away all the pacis except her favorite. So I wouldn't be tempted to take them out of the trash at my house. And we went to buildabear. I let her pick out whatever animal she wanted (she wanted Elmo). And when they stuffed Elmo and put the heart in I had her put her paci in. They stitched up Elmo (they put the paci in the front by the belly). She could feel the paci in the front. And we said uh oo. Elmo ate your paci. She giggled. That night she cried and we reminded her it was in Elmo's belly. She lightly cried for two nights and that was it! No more

Now she is 6 and anytime she sees her Elmo she will say Elmo why did you eat my paci? To me spending $30 on the bear was worth my child talking and having good teeth with no lsyp. It's crazy to see 3, 4 and 5 yo with pacis at that point who is in control the child or the parent? It becomes a comfort for both of them. The parent giving into the child. At 2 they don't need one either. They can comprehend that it is time to say goodbye.

HTH

E.

I didn't take my daughter's away until she was nearly four. At about 2 she started having it only at nap & bedtime. About a year & a half later, we made her a chart with little windows to open, like an advent calendar. The morning after each night she went to bed without her paci, she was allowed to open one window. When all windows were open, a picture of her favorite cartoon character was revealed & she was allowed to go to the toy store to pick out a prize.

Giving up the paci this way was super easy for her; there was no crying or stress because it was her choice each night. Since she was older, she understood what was going on; it wasn't simply having something taken away from her without her understanding. She made the choice. If she wanted the paci, fine; but she couldn't open a window on her chart. The paci was completely gone before all the windows were open.

I took away the pacifer in stages. The first couple of weeks, I only let him have the pacifer at naps and nighttime, then I just let him have it at night time. Finally I took it away at night. He did well with that method. He cried for the first couple of nights and then it was no big deal.

My kids are all teens now so thanks for the memory! I had a stubborn 1 out 3 as well! So I made sure to rid the house of all but one pacifier and we made a trip to the zoo. I called ahead and found out there was a baby monkey that NEEDED a pacifier. When we got there, much to my surprise, he quickly donated the last one and became a BIG BOY! Thanks again and good luck!

The pacifier fairy came and got my 2 1/2 year old's and left her a very nice toy.

We cut ours down a little sliver at a time. My son just holds his in his mouth long enough to get to sleep. My daughter did the same until she threw hers away when she was a little over 2.

We were getting rid of ours around the holidays so we gave it to Santa.

With ours we had them start by putting them away when not in bed. We would say, "bye,bye see you at nap/bed time". Then we would get it out when they went to bed. We took it from awake time, then nap, then finally night time. We went about a week for each stage. We had some fussing, but not a great deal. Giving them the ability to be proactive, and say bye helped.

I waited until a time when I thought my boys could handle it without crying and being upset. My oldest had his only at naptime and bedtime from age 2 until he turned 3 and then when he seemed to loose a little interest, we "accidentally" left it at Mimi's house and couldn't go back for it for a few weeks and by then the Paci Fairy had come for it and left him a nice gift. He did just fine without it from night one because he was ready. With my second son, we just got rid of the paci a few months ago when he was around 24 months. He had a paci in his mouth nonstop all day and night for the past year and we thought we would never get rid of that thing. He would scream for it if you refused to give it to him and he is very, very persistent. The one good thing was that he loved only 2 pacis and wouldn't take any others. They don't even sell the same exact paci anymore and when his two favorites started to get tears in them, I would snip off that part so it would be safe for him to have them in his mouth. As the nipple got smaller and smaller, he lost interest. I offered him the new pacis and he was content to hold them, but wouldn't have anything to do with putting them in his mouth. After a few weeks of holding them, he lost interest and that was it. No crying and no upset little boys at bedtime. I say wait until there is a window of opportunity and act even if you have to wait until he is 2 or 3.

my son was the same way, he was a little addict! a week before his 2nd bday i decided to go cold turkey.i cut the nippples off and let him see they were broken and he threw them away. well going to bed and nap time was crappy for about a week and even somtimes during the day when he would get whiney i thought about giving in but after that first week everything was fine. now i look at my friend who have kids that are 2 and 3 and still use a paci and feel bad - the older they get the harder it can be to get rid of somtimes - i'm just so glad it's gone.

Had the same problem with my at the time 18 month old. we did the same as you did with your girls and within a few days he was done asking for it and crying. he will cry for it. Now, he only had it at nap and bed time so if your son has it all the time I don't know how much of a differance it would be, if any.

My daughter was the same way.....would NOT sleep without one and we were convinced it was going to be a battle of epic proportions. We waited until she turned 2, then took it away and only let her have it at nap and bed time. After a week we went to just nap time, and then just bed time. We were actually going to go slower, but then her last pacifier got a hole in it and she refused to take it (not that we would have actually let her use it at that point). She cried for two nights, and that was it. Now she has a brother who's a year younger and he uses one. She never tries to steal his or ask for one for herself.

Good luck!

First we restricted it to bed. Then we whittled our supply down to just one. FInally I cut the tip off. Then I cut a larger chunk off. He cried for 2 naps and a bedtime, barely a whole day and was fine. The part I didn't expect was that he instantly blamed the stuffed dog, he slept with. I thought "Buddy" would be his comfort through the transition, instead he refused to speak to Buddy for weeks. That broke my heart, we moms are a weepy bunch. Eventually Buddy won his way back into his good graces.

I didn't worry about it until my son was probably 2. Then, we actually had a ceremony. I explained why the pacifier wasn't good for him and told him it was time to give it up. We marched to the kitchen to throw it away together. He threw it in the garbage and we waved bye bye. I CAN STILL SEE HIS SAD LITTLE FACE STARING INTO THE TRASH.......he is 23 now! He missed it a little, but it didn't take long. He still had his blankie!