Help Trying to Get Rid of My Sons Binky

I did the same w/ my boy. Only naps + nite time, but I noticed he was chewing on it + was afraid he'd chew off the tip + choke so I just cut the whole rubber piece off ( at this point he only had one left in the house anyway).So at nap or bedtime , I still kept it on his dresser + when he'd cry and point at it I'd hand it to him. He'd try to put it in his mouth but w/out the rubber peice it was no good to him so he'd hand it back or through it in the floor. I kept it on the dresser for a few days and gave it to him when the wanted it, but he'd hand it back and I'd just say o well it's broke. When you have thrown them all out + the only one left in the house is "broke" it don't take long for them to move on. He will cry just like mine did. Let him cry, if mine cried more then 15 minutes I'd take him a drink so he could calm down + cool this throat. They will ,after enough crying , go to sleep. Just be strong, it will only be hard for a few nites. Good luck.

My best friend snipped the tip of the binky with her two kids. She says this causes the binky to lose its "suckability", and the baby will lose interest soon after. I plan on trying this tactic soon with my 11 mo old (even though I dread even thinking about it). Let me know what you end up doing!

Since that is his comfort item, I wouldn't just throw it out unless he will take a blankie or something in place of it. My oldest son had a pacifier until he was 3...but he was restricted to using it just for naps and bedtime by a year old. Sometimes we would let him have it if he was in an unfamiliar situation and was stressing about it, but that usually was not the case with him. He just decided one night that he didnt' want it anymore and that was it. Never asked for it again. My second son never would take one. My older daughter was the only one we kind of took it away from...we'd bought her several and she kept losing them. My husband said, when she loses her last one, we won't buy her anymore. It was a little rough for a few days afer she lost it, but she wasn't too bad about it. She was kind of weaning herself from it anyway. She was about 15 months old at the time. My youngest didnt' want hers anymore after she was weaned from nursing/bottles...that was at about 11 months old. My boys are now 16 (17 in a month) and 15 and my girls are 9 (in two days) and 20 months.

I would recommend a few things with the binky. When we broke our son of the binky at 13 months I just took it away. He was pretty upset the first 2 nights that he didn't have it. But then he just sort of forgot it.
If this wouldn't have worked I was going to try a technique my sis-n-law tried. She took the binky away and replaced it with a stuffed animal. She told her daughter to hug the animal everytime she wanted the binky. It worked great for them.
Hope this helps!

My middle son was the only one of my kids that loved his binky and we tried everything to get him to give it up. He was about 20 months when he did finally got rid of it and we did get him off of it (except for nap and bed time) when he was about 14 months. I was pregnant with his sister and he still had the binky and then the best thing happend...he lost it! He cried for it for a little bit and then finally went to sleep cause he looked for it and so did I..he didn't remember where he had put it. Of course he really did look but I kinda just followed him around hoping he wouldn't remember where it was! LOL Anyway..we did find one about a day later and I said it was nasty and for babies and he said ok and we would give it to baby sister. It worked so well for me and it was so easy after all that time worrying about it. One of my friends said her son threw his in Wal-Mart and they couldn't reach it under the shelves and that's how he got off his. Another story is that my cousin's little girl dropped her's at a petting zoo and her daddy told her that the goats took it! LOL Anyway..hope something in here helps out. Good luck!

Hi! I am actually a 27 year old with a 20 month old to!!!! My son Freddie was attached to his binky and then 1 1/2 months ago, I decided to get rid of it. He was not happy adn cried every night, he did okay during the day, but night was hard. I was like you adn had weined him down to naps and bed, but still asked for it then. It took about 2 weeks of crying and trying to explain to him what was going on and he finally stopped crying and now he is fine without it. Actually better!!Hang in there and stay strong, it was hard for a while there, especially knowing you could make him stop crying, by giving it back to him. Its better now then later!! Good luck!!! ~T.

Pediatric dentist can give you professional advice on any damage that can be done by having a binky and when the damage begins. Pediatric dentist has told us 30-36 months is a good time to omit it. Good luck, don't stress! My personal opinion (and my own way of approaching it with my son) is that I gave it to him to begin with, and he trusts me, so it will confuse him when I take it. I will take it away gradually, and I will make sure that he understands why! We'll probably do what my parents did with me, wait until he really communicates well, around 24-28 months, and offer for him to 'trade' his binky for a new toy or book. And if he backs out, we'll just wait until he's brave enough to do it!! Don't worry, he will not be 18 with a passy! You'll do great!

I had my girls each throw their pacifiers away as they got worn, knowing they wouldn't get any more; they handled it pretty well. But I've heard of people using the "binky fairy," who comes and takes the pacifiers away to kids who really need them, leaving a small gift in return. Good luck! It can be a difficult transition!

I feel like I'm so late on this one...lol. Anyway, I can give you my experience on this. My son is currently 5-years-old. When he was 6-months-old and I started introducing him to juices, I had a rule to not put juice in a bottle and would only give him maybe one serving a day of juice in a sippy cup. The day after his first birthday, I switched him completely to whole milk and took away his bottle all-together. Didn't have a problem at all. I was worried the passy wouldn't be as easy, so for months I went back and forth trying to decide if I wanted to ween or just take it away abruptly, I decided at least I wouldn't buy anymore. Well I never actually made the decision because we moved right before his second birthday, and somehow the final existing passies were lost. So, I informed all my family that if they found any passies at their houses to get rid of them. I honestly didn't have a problem with him at all -- even when several weeks later he found one and wasn't concerned about it at all. I think it's a matter of how sensitive they are too because I've heard several mothers talk about how they separated the habit (i.e. some spent weeks of restless nights, some a few days, some with only minor reactions). And sometimes they start to get rid of it on their own...so I think that's another way to look at it, watching to see when THEY are more ready to give it a try. I also read a reply below about giving it to them at night and taking it away after they fall asleep...I've heard that that is a positive way too. I see that you're already working on it, so I wish you peaceful nights! 0:-)

My daughter was just over 2 years old when we got rid of her binky. I had tried just giving her to her at bedtime and naptime, but there always seemed to be some exception so that didn't work for us at all. One morning my husband and I explained to her that the binky was hurting her teeth and we needed to give them to babies who didn't have any binkies and took them away. She was fine with it until naptime. She cried herself to sleep. She cried again for it at bedtime. And that was it. I think it helped her that she has 2 little babies she is attached to more than she was the binkies.

Our friend is an oral surgeon and he let his son have a binky until he was 3. His son is now almost 5 and has great teeth and jaw alignmnet so it obviously didn't hurt him to have it for so long.

Hi K.,

I've passed this advice along before, so I hope it works for you, too.

When my son was 3 or 3 1/2, I started talking to him about the paci messing up his teeth and that he was going to have to stop using it when he turned 4. At that point he was only using it at night, so I didn't have to worry about the daytime.

A few months before his 4th birthday, I started taking it out of his mouth after he fell asleep and I would put it in the bed near his pillow. If he woke up during the night, he could find it. I also let his paci get old and when he wanted a new one, I told him that pretty soon we wouldn't have any paci's and I wasn't buying any new ones. If he wanted one, this was it.

A week or so before his 4th birthday, once he fell asleep, we took it out and put it where he couldn't find it. If it was really bad during the night, we would give it to him for a few minutes (with a reminder that when he was 4, no more paci's) then we'd have him give it to us. (And he would!)

On his 4th birthday, no more paci. We told him that since he was a big kid now, big kids don't have paci's. About a week later, he hit his head pretty hard and said he needed his paci. We let him have it for a few minutes and he felt better and gave it back to us.

He's 5 now, his teeth are perfect and he doesn't miss his paci at all. On the other hand, my 3 1/2 year old has a blanket.....but that's another story!:)

Good luck, hope it helps!

I have a great Aunt who raised 8 children...her famous phrase is this " They are not going to go to college with it, and if it brings YOU some peace as primary caregiver, then let them get rid of it on their own." I was a Nanny for 14 years between two families, started with the kids when they were 4 weeks old,,and the second one in the first family, I knew him before he was born :-) They all three got rid of passys on their own by the time they were two and a half. The parents in both families were drs,,and they all said that the passys of today will not cause braces,,,but they WILL cause cavaties in baby teeth, as kids eat then suck the passy without brushing their teeth, so we as parents/caregivers, have to be very diligent about brushing their baby teeth. toothpaste not importat,,but the act of brushing VERY IMPORTANT! (pardon chopped thoughts, both of my kids r asleep, which NEVER happens, so trying to rush while i have time to write to you! i hve 7 week old and two and a half yr old) its good that he only has it at night and naps,,that is what we do with my daughter as well. it is a NATURAL need for a baby/toddler to suckle, as it is put. why take that natural need away? always remember, you can get rid of a passy, not a thumb. the natural need of suckling comes from the inherent need for being comforted, which originally stems from the brest of mommy...but if they are bottle fed, then its the bottle, and then the passy,,or binky. my son is nursed, so does not take a passy, but my daughter, was both bottle fed and nursed (as i had milk production issues with her) and she took a passy. one day, she was just done with them. nothing i did or didnt to,,same with the kids I nannnied to. let me know how it all turns out,,because getting rid of them all together abruptly will more than likely cause your son to have some really upset, crying nights and naps,,which in turn, will be really hard on you,,,so know i am thinking of you and wishing you well.
sincerely,
Jenny

If your fiance wants it gone altogether, get him involved in the weaning process. It's important that he knows just how hard it is for the child to depart from his source of comfort and security, so he won't be so aggressive in his methods. You've managed to wean your son to the point that he doesn't need it all the time. That's very good. During naps and bedtimes are when babies and toddlers need security blankets and the like the most---because that's when the 'monsters under the bed' come out. I've heard about sugar-free lollipops specially designed for children that age. Try transferring him from the binky to the sugar-free lollipop, and if that works, problem solved. An idea on how to do that: say it's a magic lolli, and the longer it lasts, the longer he'll be protected. Or something like that.

hey, i have a 2 year old and it was nasty when we took hers away. the first 2 nights she cried and cried but did fall asleep. the next nights after that i started to keep her mind off of it by reading stories and let her read them herself (she can't read) until she just turned over and went to sleep. happy to say she sleeps teh whole night and never once asked for it. don't get me wrong it may not be that simple for you but the first few nights are gonna be hell but you'll survive.