How to Get My Daughter off of a Pacifier!

Well my advice might seem kinda mean but it worked for us. We cut the tips off of her binkies so she no longer felt the satisfaction from sucking. She was pretty upset for a couple of days but there's really no way to do it and keep her happy. I think she cried herself to sleep like 2 or 3 nights. Just don't cave in or you'll just keep playing the same game over and over. Just plan it at a time that you can afford a little sleep deprevation and it will be over before you know it. We were a binkie free house in less than a week. Good luck.

A.

I don't have first-hand experience but I do have two funny, if not helpful, stories about getting rid of pacifiers. My co-worker,s son was a paci fanatic and after trying several different techniques the one that worked was quite funny. They were driving down the road and he was screaming for his pacifier. They searched the car and finally found it, rolled down the window, threw it out and said "It's gone". He asked about it for two days and then nothing!!!
Second one is a little more creative. My best friend's little girl(Hannah) ALWAYS had her pacifier in her mouth. Her mom told her there were alot of babies at the hospital who didn't have pacifiers and so they bagged her's up and "mailed" them to the babies at the hospital so they would have one. Of course three days later later hannah told her mom she wanted her paci and her mom told her they had given them to the baies at the hospital. Hannah replied, "let's go get them, their mommmy can buy them one." She was 2.

I would try cutting it. We did that with my son and it worked great. I am in the process of doing that with my daughter she is 22 months and so far there have been no major fits. We just continue to snip a little off every couple of days and then when there is nothing left I am hoping she will just be done with it. Good luck

J.,

My oldest had a pacifier (we called it a noochie). We tried to transition him slowly.

First, we made it for only in the bed and in the car, times he would be entertaining/soothing himself. We gave him plenty of reminders that when we got out of the car, up from nap, etc. that the noochie had to go to mommy.

Next, we made it for bedtimes only. The pacifier had to stay in the bed. At that point we started to groom him for the final step, no noochies at all.

We told him the noochie fairy took the noochies from kids when they turned 3, so the new babies can have them, BUT she left a GIFT to say THANKS!. I made a point to show him little babies with pacifiers when out at the store, played up how much bigger he was than that.

Finally, I got a basket and we gathered all the pacifiers and left them at the front door with a note from my boy saying something along the lines of "here are my noochies, I want roller blades." He went to bed fine that night, and was thrilled with his roller blades the next day.

The second night when he went to bed he was less pleased, (Why can't the noochie fairy buy them at the store mommy!!)
But I said something about special fairy magic helping the babies sleep. It took him awhile to sleep, but he after that night he was fine. When he did fuss, I reminded him how much he loved his fairy gift.

I would say that if her daddy is coming and going for work, and you're trying to get rid of the pacifier, I would wait a bit to potty train. She's on the young side to begin with, and with all those other transitions she might start to feel stressed about everything.

Good Luck,
J.

Young children can be a handful with both parents at home and I am sure it is harder for you without him there. Just be thankful that he is out working and providing for your family. All the other things will fall into place. Your daughter may also be feeling the absence of her Daddy and the pacifier may be her security. I don't know if there is a normal age for getting rid of the pacifier but if it makes her calm why rush getting rid of it. She will be older soon enough. Let her use the pacifier to soothe her and it will make things easier on you also.

Ash & AJ had the pacifier taken away once they turned 2. They really didn't have a hard time getting over the fact that they no longer had them. Everytime they would lose one, I wouldn't buy another one to replace it. So they got down to 2 each and I cut the tips off them so they couldn't suck. They tried and since they couldn't, we threw them in the trash and said, "Bye Bye Paccy" and that was the end of that. Of course if they found one, they would want to suck on it, but we told them that they were for babies and asked if they were babies, and they said No, so that was the end of the pacifiers.
I think it was easier on them to loose it since they had a "comfort" stuffed toy or blanket. They are more attached to that than the pacifier.
When she is ready is ready you will know. Just like potty training. She will maybe not like the idea of not having her pacifier, but she will get over it. They tend to focus on something else and forget about the things they are upset about.
Maybe give her stickers in place of the pacifier. Everytime she goes without it, reward her with a sticker. Just an idea.
Hope all works out for you.
Not having your hubby around a lot makes it harder on us as Moms but I understand what you are going thru. My DH (dear hubby) works full-time and goes to school full-time, so we don't see him a lot, and the twins don't either, so I feel like a "single mom" most of the time, but it is worth it. I get to see my children grow into amazing people. :)
Take care,
God Bless,
J. D

Blessed Momma to Ashleigh & Austin ~ 3 1/2 yrs old

I had trouble with my middle son and his pacifier. He had those things hid all over the house and would hide and not answer me and scare me to death and then I would find him in a corner with a blanket over his head just suckying away. (He knew that I was trying to break him and it was like he was a paciholic and would have to hide to get his fix.)
I put some stuff on them and his thumb that I got in the baby isle for that particular problem but that didn't help. He would suck off all the bad and still keep sucking the pacifier. What I did learn is that when I took the pacifier away, he started sucking his thumb. I think that I would rather him suck the pacifier than his thumb.
What worked for me after trying EVERYTHING is I just simply didn't buy anymore and then when he couldn't find one before bed, he eventually just weened himself on his own. He would find one every once in a while so it was like a gradual thing.
good luck.

Hey J.! I am with Jean. Ya know we always want our lil ones to be better than all the other lil ones. It is just our pride as parents! Ya know. I was that way too. But she is young. I would just wait til she is lil older. Nothing wrong with that. It too may stress her out doing everything all at once. My son is 22 mos and has been training for a bit with the potty. Doing well. But I would pick one or the other. If you are going to take the binki, then wait on the training. If you want to train, wait on the binki. That is what we are doing. Training and then the binki will go because he is a BIG BOY!

Let us know how it turns out!

T.
www.EnhancingYourWayOfLife.com

Hey J.,
I raised 7 kids and now am raising my oldest grandson. I used to listen to drs. and friends advise, but the best method is to listen to the heart of a mother. I had only one who was attached to binky's and she was my 7th child. I had already heard it all about how it would damage their teeth and she was too old to have it. But like I said I had by that time learned to trust my instinct as a mother , and let her have it. She was so attached to them she had to hook one on every finger. People made fun of me and ridiculed me but at the age of three she gave it up on her own. And I will say this she is my most grounded sensible, stable, sure of her self child. She is independent, and knows what she want out of life. She now has her own business. If I could go back and change some of the advise I took for my kids I would. Use your own judgement. You know your child best, better than anyone else, and if that pacifier means that much let them have it.
Bev

J. R.,

My name is M. D. I'm a nanny to a set of triplet's that are going to be three in Feb. They were still on the pacifier, but they can only have them when they go to sleep. No other times can they have them and after a couple of day's they didn't ask for them until it was time for a nap or bedtime.

M. D.

My daughter was about the age your child is when we took the pacifier away. For us, there wasn't an easy way. She loved that thing!!! Honestly, if you want her to get away from the pacifier---you are just going to have to get thick skinned and take it away. Your child is going to get mad about it. It sucks---believe me I can truely sympathize with you! At first we went back and forth with her because we didn't want to hear her cry. For our daughter...it took about 2 weeks of just sticking with it. You are not being mean...you are helping her grow up!!! If your child is like mine...it's never going to be easy or fun!!! Good luck and you're not alone.

I really don't think you need to worry about it too much yet. Many children still use pacifiers at this age. My daughter gave up her pacifier by herself, without any effort from us (she just lost interest) just around 20 months or so. Some children need more encouragement than that, but I'd personally give her longer to decide to give it up herself before starting to worry. On the other hand, I think that many people do wean them at this age and don't want to discourage you if that's what's right for you. I just found it easier to let my daughter do it herself. Good luck!

When my son was about your daughter's age, we took the pacifier away except at naptime and bedtime. When he got out of bed, he knew he was supposed to leave it on his pillow. He had it for about 15 months after that and we started telling him about four or five months before his 3rd birthday that when he turned 3 he wouldn't have it anymore. He accelerated the process by running around the house one night after he was supposed to be in bed and dropping it somewhere. We couldn't find it and told him it was lost and he would have to sleep without it. (He did fine. I found it the next day, but we didn't tell him that.) After that, whenever he asked for it, we just told him he'd lost it and we weren't going to buy another one. Within a week or so, he stopped asking for it.

My mother-in-law told me once about a mom she knew who cut the end off of her baby's pacifier when she wanted him to give it up. With the end off, the sucking wasn't as satisfying and the baby quit using it on his own within a few days. (I personally don't think I'd do anything that drastic, but it's an idea to consider anyway.)

We had to go through the same thing and I must say that cutting the tip off the binky works. Our son was 2 1/2 when we stopped using the bink and I also expected a major battle. We cut off the tip and gave it to him as requested. He put it in his mouth and immediately took it out, looked at it, and replied "it's broken". You then just go along, act puzzled, perhaps say that a family pet must have chewed it up, and then say that you'll have to get another one at the store. My son asked for it only 3 or so times more and I would just remind him that it is "broken". If your daughter insists on having it then just give her the "broken" pacifier. This way it is not your fault (you act as puzzled as she is about what happened to the paci). Believe it or not this works like a charm. Within a couple of days our son completely forgot about it and we never looked back.

my sisters daughter was hooked on the passy and when they came to visit my mom would hide it from my neice, if they don't see it its out of site out of mind. but when they went back home my sister gave it back to her then when she was about 2 she cut the tips off of all the passy's and her daughter wanted nothing more to do with them!!