Hi, my 2 year old son has been using a pacifier since birth. I am fine with him using it. But he keeps dropping it and cries for me in the middle of the night. We have put several pacifiers in his crib (3-4). I do not want to put a string on him b/c he moves around so much. I am getting so tired of waking up in the middle of the night and then I cannot go back to bed. Any suggestions-or is this time to say goodbye to his pacy?
I would say good bye to the pacifier immidiately. He does not need it at 2. He can find another way to comfort himself.
I think it is time to say goodbye to his paci. My 3 kids all took the paci for 2-3 years each. I loved it but there comes a time when it needs to go. You don't want it to affect his teeth. You need to be strong and let him cry it out at night. If you are tough, he will be fine and figure out how to get back to sleep on his one. It should take less than a week for him to forget about it if you get rid of them. It is best for both of you.
You have 3 options
1. buy a dozen more pacis so no matter what he finds one
2. go cold turkey on the pacis and get rid of them, at 2 he should be getting rid of them anyway for dental reasons
or
3. buy a cup holder for a stroller and attach that to the side of his bed. Put the pacis in there. Teach him that the pacis can be found in there, and that he should put them in there. You can put glow in the dark stuff on it if you want. Teach him to do it in the dark and practice it before bed (act out with him that he is waking in the middle of the night and what he should do). This way he will know where to find them on his own.
I highly recommend getting rid of them. You will have 3 days of terrible screaming, but then it will be done.
We pulled my sons pacifier at 18 months. He was never losing it in the middle of night and crying, but he loved his pacifier and started wanting to have it with him more than just nap/night time. It was also the suggestion of our pediatrician, as well, that we pull it. The first night was rough, he cried for about 15-20 minutes but then fell asleep. Since then, he has not cried for it at night, but nap time is different. I would suggest to try pulling it. You need to go thru your entire house and make sure that there are none hiding somewhere where he can find them because it would ruin all the hard work. It is tough, but it's going to be easier to do it now rather than when he gets a little older. It will also help his teeth to be straighter when he gets older.
Good luck.
As a speech-language pathologist, I recommend saying goodbye to the pacifier. It can cause significant problems with your son's dentition as well as his development of speech production and oral-motor skills. The longer he keeps the pacifier the more emotionally attached he will become to it. I recently heard of a suggestion on how to get rid of the pacifiers - the parent took their child to a toy store and let him pick out a toy to "buy" with his pacifiers- the boy then had to hand over the pacifiers in order to get his new toy. Hope this helps!!!!
Let him sleep in your bed then you won't have to get up out of bed. Maybe he'll decide he likes you better than the plastic thing in his mouth!
our daughter (2 in a week) uses a pacifier to sleep, too. she has 3 that we store on top of a mirror (that trianguar kind that we used to stand on the floor for tummy time back in the day). she gets two when she goes down, one in her mouth and one for her hand (something she insists on). so, there's always one on top of the mirror for her in case those two go awol. THEN, there's the "emergency pa". i have a toy attached to the top rail of her crib with a plastic clip (it's a fly that she can pull down and it "buzzes" up)... i use a pacifier clip to attach an extra pacifier to its wing because she knows how to detach the pacifier from the clip (which is why we stopped using the clips in the first place). so, when all else fails, she's got that pacifier to go to.
hope that's understandable and somewhat helpful. i've found that since some pacifiers aren't rolling around in the crib, we've had nearly no problems with her making it through the night.
good luck.
Say goodbye to paci! Tell him you are sending it to new babies who need it. Help him wrap it up in a box and take it to the post office with him to mail it. (Mail it your mom or something and have her dispose of the box)Tell him he is a big boy now and let him pick out a new toy of his choice to sleep with. Don't be all wishy washy and go back on what you've said. He may be a little upset for a few nights over it, but he will move on. He does not need a pacifier and 2 is way too old to have to have you going in at night to put him back to bed.
Hi J.,
We literally just took the paci away from our son, this past weekend. I think it was harder for me than for him b/c I hate to hear him cry but he's going to be 2 in January and we decided it was time. We took it away, cold turkey. Nap time was rough on Saturday but other than that outside of being a bit crabby, he's doing just fine. It's better to just do it sooner as opposed to later.
L.
Hi J.,
I completely agree with Anne A. It's time to say good-bye. Also, the older he gets the stronger the protest will be. My nephew is 5 and still drinks a bottle to go to bed. His teeth are rotten and breaking off, and I feel so sorry for him. It'll be changelling for a couple of nights but like Anne suggested, don't be wishy, washy about it. Once you make up your mind and start the process, don't turn back because it'll be harder the next time you try. If you're strong about it, so will he.
Good Luck!
