I want my 18mo old to stop sucking the pacifier but I can't seem to get her to let it go especially at night.
Cut the end of it off. They don't like sucking on it then, doesn't feel the same.
I know this doesn't work for everyone, but when my son was about 18-20 months we felt the same way! We actually had the "binky fairy" come to our house. The binky was taken away, and in its place a new, but very small toy was left behind. We explained the night before that if we put it down that this fairy would come by, take it, and leave an exciting surprise behind. Like I said it doesn't work for everyone, but I just wanted to run a suggestion past you.
Good luck!
J.
It is so easy for a child to replace a pacifier with a thumb, and you can't lose one of those. I work with a dentist, and I've seen so many kids who have sucked their thumbs and reshaped the roof of their mouths. Be sure that she's not sucking her thumb instead.
To get my child to get rid of the pacifier, I put a small cut in it. She was no longer able to suck on it. It was gone within a week. Good luck
I waited until after my son's 2nd birthday to wean him off the pacifier. My husband told me that he would only want one if I mentioned his "binky," but wouldn't even think about the pacifier when my husband was watching him. So it turns out that I was prolonging the habit by mentioning it. After that point, it took maybe two weeks after I stopped talking about his "binky" that he just forgot about it on his own. If he did ask for it, my husband and I would chant, "big boys don't need binkys" and that motivated him a little.
If she asks for it, maybe try to distract her by suggesting something else to do. Try hiding all the pacifiers and just giving it to her if she asks for it.
I wouldn't stress out or make a huge deal about it (you might even make it worse by turning into a battle). It's not that bad to have a pacifier as a security thing for your daughter (I think the recommendation is to absolutely stop at 3 years cuz it interferes with the child's teeth). And, like weaning from breastfeeding, the best way is gradually so that she doesn't even notice that it's gone.
Hope my rambling helped!
I was having major problems with my son's binky use; well actually it was more along the lines of a binky addiction!! My friend absolutely raved about the cut method, and all of the psychology behind it. She found it on www.bye-bye-binky.com , which is great that it was also free. We went with it and OMGosh... worked so beautifully for my son with NO tantrums, not even one! Thank you God. Five days later he did not want anything to do with his binky. What a relief it was to all of us to finally be done with those darn binkies. Highly recommended! I am also interested in others experiences.... B.
