My daughter is the love of my life but she is killingme lately. Myhusband and I are trying to get her off the pacifier , sowe hav not givenit to her in two days and the last two days have been helldue to this. My daycare is even complaining(haHa). Help...what did you Mommy's o to get your little hearts off the pacifier without wanting to shot yourself in the head???
Thanks everyone who gave me positive advice. I stuck with my original cold turkey program, delt patiently and loveingly with it's Repercussion. And now she is done and fine with not using a pacifier. She is happy as can be again and it only took four days before she stopped missing it. So, actually it was not that bad. Just her going to sleep at night was, but now she gets tired, I hold her in my arms for a bit and she passes right out. I love it.
I've never dealt with it personally, but I suggest wiening her. Only in the house, then only at night or nap, then only at night... etc. It might be easier for her. Either that or hang inn there. Another week and you will probably be through the worst of it.
I'm sorry to read that it's so hard on YOU.
It was YOUR decision to do this, so just take a deep breath and remind yourself over and over why you decided to do this.
We waited until our son was around one year old, and then took him off by gradually cutting the tip of the pacifier until there was nothing...a nub. Just a little each week. Over the course of a month, the nub was so small that he couldn't really hold it in his mouth anymore to suck, so he just gave up!
Why do you want her off the pacifier so young? She may need it for a while longer. My oldest daughter needed hers till she was three years. Let her have it and get some sleep.
God Bless and Good Luck
Why do you want her off so early? 8 Months old too young.
Hi, E.. Why are you so eager to get your little 1-year-old girl off the pacifier? She probably isn't even done with bottles yet. The pacifier isn't going to hurt her; she still has the need to suck on something, and if you just deprive her without weaning, she's going to react very, very badly to this. The crying and screaming she's doing right now is just the beginning; you're setting her up for a whole lifetime of bad habits like thumb sucking, smoking, overeating, etc., just to fulfill a need to suck that was interrupted.
Please give her back her pacifier. As long as she doesn't suck on it all day and all night, it's not going to hurt her teeth. And it's not going to keep her from learning to talk. You can get her to do without it some of the time, but let her use it to soothe herself. She's still a baby.
Peace,
Syl
Hi E.,
My husband is also a law enforcement officer and I work from home designing birth announcements and invitations. Anyway, we have a 4 1/2 year old son who was never really attached to his pacifier, but I think we finally took it away somewhere between 18-24 months.
My question is why are you trying to give it up now? I only ask because I thought our doctor had said they should definitely stop using it by 2 yrs. old. Maybe it's just too soon? If it's disrupting your sleep and her sleep, I'd let her keep it for now, but try limiting it to nap times and night time. If you really want to give it up now though, try doing it gradually instead of cold turkey. Just a suggestion...
Good luck, L.
I think 8 month is too early, she still needs it.
My daughter was SUPER attached to hers also. On her first birthday, she and I were flying and I left all the binkies at my parents house. We had just bought her a new baby doll for her birthday and I used that to distract her. That whole day when she would fuss for a binky I used her new doll or something else to distract her. Another reason I think it worked out was because for that week it was just my husband and her and her 2 brothers weren't around and we were able to pay full attention to her. That was a month ago and she hasn't had one since. Also there are no more in the house so she doesn't accidently find one!
Hi E.,
I have 2 girls both who LOVED their binkies and we went 2 different routes with each of them. First, I think 1 is a little young to take her off of it, they still have that sucking need at that age, but that of course is your call. Our first born had hers way too long, she was almost 3 and we just did cold turkey with her. (both of mine only had theirs at nap and bed times) We had her put all the binkies in a little bag and give them to the Easter Bunny at the mall because the "baby bunnies" needed them and she was a big girl. When we got home, the Easter Bunny had left her a stuffed animal to sleep with instead and a note thanking her so much for the binkies for the baby bunnies. We had one HORRIBLE night with her where she screamed and cried for HOURS. If I would have had any left in the house I definitely would have caved and given it to her. After that, she asked for it a few nights at bed time but didn't cry and actually went to bed much easier and slept more soundly. This method was awful for me that first night.
With our second daughter, I "weaned" her off at about 20 months but just cutting the tip off the pacifiers. Every few days I would cut it shorter and shorter until there was nothing left. I still gave it to her and she would hold it in her hand when she went to sleep but there was nothing to suck on. She still asked for it for probably a month after there was nothing left and just held it as she went to sleep but that the end of it. No fuss at all or broken hearts :)
Good luck!!!
We did it the cold turkey way. I thought it was going to be bad. She stopped asking for it after 3 days. Good luck.
Throw the pacifier away and don't give it back to her. If you keep it away for a day or two and you give it back, you are teaching your daughter that she can cry and cry and cry and get her way in the end. Not exactly a positive reinforcer. Throw it away and deal with the crying for a few days. It will stop...eventually. I never gave pacifiers for exactly this reason.
We started by not letting the pacifier leave the crib. So the only time they could have the pacifier is when it was time to sleep. Then we moved to no more pacifier during nap time, only bedtime. Then at bedtime, no pacifier during bedtime story or while a parent was in the room. I go to work before they wake up (6:30 a.m.), so the next step was I would sneak in and take it away so its gone when they wake up for the day. Then we moved to taking it away right before us (parents) went to sleep at night. And the final step was we went to the farm and gave the pacifiers to the baby pig. After that, it only took 2 nights before they (I have 2 boys, 45 min and 20 min respectively for the first child; 30 and 15 min respectively for the second child) didn't ask for it anymore.
Each step took 2-3 weeks each. We would have liked to do it faster, but we all needed to get good night sleeps. And my husband and I were okay with the time it took as long as we were moving forward. It worked and not once did we have to go backward.
Hope this helps.
