Nuk Help - Minneapolis,MN

We took my son's paci's to the store and he got to buy a toy with the paci. We had him hand the paci's to the cashier and it worked great if he asked about it later he reminded him he bought _______ and can't get the paci's back they are at the store. Good luck.

I think it is hardest on the parents when this is going on. For goodness sake, what are you actually accomplishing. You are making your child regress and become a basket case. Your doc is correct. If your child needs to suck he will most certainly suck on something else.

Pacifiers are made to fit the mouth. Not change it's shape. If he starts sucking his thumb then he will have a habit that he will not break for years and years and years. There are still many many kids at college who suck their thumbs at night. Geesh.

I say let this child suck on the pacifier and let him wean himself off it. He will give it up one day and not look back.

If you have serious worries about the Nuk then I think you may have to try and work through the worries.

It sounds to me like he really needs to have something to suck/chew on so if you want the nuk gone you can try using chewy tubes during the day wich may give him enough satisfaction that he can give up his nuk. you may want to have him tested for a sensory processing disorder. My daughter was diagnosed with this when she was 18 months old and the theripist said she NEEDED her nuk to help process what was going on and if we didnt get her enough oral stimulation in her child her she would more than likely be come a smoker so she now is constalty chewing gum and she 9. Goodluck hope you are able to find some answers.

I second the wait a few months and try again suggestion. My first three kids were all paci lovers and we took them all away at age three, only #2 gave it up easily with a simple gift from the paci fairy. The oldest had such an extreme reaction (screaming 8 nights straight and gave up napping) that we gave it back and tried again with much better results a few months later. With #3 we took it away when we thought she was ready to give up her nap and gave it back because that plan wasn't going so well; unfortunately, giving up the paci was much harder for her the second time around. I learned an important lesson about lovies. Our rule was pacis and lovies stay in the crib/bed so she always associated the two, lovies meant nothing to her once paci was gone. To all you parents out there with lovies and pacis, I strongly suggest you leave the paci in the bed and allow lovies out for snuggles and soothing! Good luck!

If your son is only using it at night, he is not going to be buck teeth. That is only if they are sucking on it all day long. My son used it to go to sleep at night and then not again until the next night. I asked him what it did for him and he said that it relaxed him. At 3, it is his security. And just so you know, my son gave it up, on his own on his 6th birthday......he is now almost 9 and no buck teeth what so ever. That may sound old to some people, but I didn't feel like I needed to control the one thing that he needed to relax and only used once a day for about 10-15 mn. Is it really worth stressing him out over? Good luck with your decision.

Does he have a Lovey or loveys?
If not, then another comfort item would help. That he can use or carry around with him and use for sleep and nap times.

My boys were probably between 3 and 3 1/2 when they stopped. I tried to take my oldest away when he was younger but he would bit. To me if that is his secutrity you don't want to take it away till he's ready. If he's got anxiaty issues you don't want to press it. If he's only talking it at night that's really good. I got my oldest away when he finally bit a hole in it and we just told him he broke it. But he was finally att he ponit he was ready to give it up.

Good luck and God Bless!

We told him when he was three that he could only have a nuk in his bed. (He was in a big boy bed by then.) If he was in need of a little soothing, he'd go to his room, sit on his bed, and use his nuk for a few minutes, then put it back in the bowl on his bedside table, and resume playing. He used his nuk at night, still.

We told him that when he was four, the nuk fairy would take his nuks to a baby who needed them, and bring him a cool toy instead. We took them away one night and never returned them.

He ended up finding a new spot to go to when he was in need of soothing -- the bottom step of the back stairs, next to the shelf with library books. He sat there and read books when he needed to settle down.

I didn't let my kids have their pacifiers past age 3. The pedi said that past that point it would start to pull their teeth forward, but if you child is having such severe anxiety, I wouldn't suggest doing it now. Just wait a few months and try again, he might be more ready.

Since his doctor said to give it back to him how did he suggest you get him off of it? If he advised you to undo something you had done he should have a solution for you to try. Change in life is inevitable, you can't eliminate it permanently.

I would cut off at least half of the tip so the effect is not the same when he sucks on it (and do not buy new ones,) tell him they wore out from all the sucking he did. Let him use those until he tires of them.

BTW, a friend who is a preschool teacher had a student come in with a paci in her mouth one morning. She stopped what she was doing and loudly asked, "And what is this in your mouth?" The student looked at her mom and sucked furiously, her mom said she hadn't wanted to come to school so she told her she could take her paci, something she was only allowed to use at night. The teacher said that preschool was for big kids and using a paci was for babies, and babies didn't go to preschool. The child reluctantly took the paci out of her mouth to give to her mom and when it was offered to her that night she shook her head "no" and said that babies used pacis and didn't go to school so she wasn't using it anymore. Gone that route yet?