Pacifier Question...

I see no reason to take it away, but I would start telling her since shes a big girl, that her pacifier is just for in bed. Just nap time or bedtime, but not out of her bed. If she chooses to go stay in bed with it for a while thats fine, but she will want to go do other stuff and will leave it behind. She may even run back now and then to get a "refill of suck" and then run back out to play. She will eventually have enough stuff to keep her busy to not need it. Dont worry about it with a new baby coming but dont buy her any more either.

Hi M.,

OK - crazy question. WHY do you want her to get rid of it? OK - I know your hubby does.... but WHY? I don't advocate her taking it college or anything, but if it makes her feel better and it's not doing any damage to her teeth.... why would you take a way a source of comfort? She'll give it up eventually.

If it's about feeling like it's not socially acceptable to have a 2 year old with a paci, then you need to make sure you teach her another source of comfort - I LOVE the build a bear idea of putting the paci inside her bear. The paci fairy wouldn't have worked for my daughter - neither would giving it to a child in need - that just used to make my daughter mad to give away her stuff.

The other thing you can do is talk with her about socially acceptable behaviors - you're at that stage anyway.... so she can have the paci only in her bed and only for nap and nitenite (or whatever). Other than that... no paci - those are the rules.

Good Luck.

When you take it away, you keep talking with her that pacifiers are for babies and she is a big girl.

Personally, I would take it away now, so a few months can pass. Then when the baby comes she'll be able to distinguish herself from being a baby and needing it.

I took my sons away just over 2. I thought the longer I let him have it the harder it would be. We had a baby on the way and read that any changes should be done early enough so that they don't "blame" anything on the baby. We took paci away, got a big boy bed and switched rooms right after I found out I was pregnant. He was down to just a paci at night (not even at naps). We had planned on taking it away and giving to the paci fairy. he chewed a hole in it one night and that was it. It went so much better than I ever thought. A rought 2 nights but then fine. I kept reinforcing he was a big boy and baby's used paci's. He had been asking for a pillow pet so the paci fairy gave him a pillow pet and some m&m's. I like the build a bear idea too.

I have heard alot of mom do creative things with pacis. One of my friends took her dd to Build a bear and had her put the paci in the bear. That way she could still have her "mommy" just a different form of it. I have also heard of another mom mailing the paci to "babyland" and that way when new baby is hear the babyland fairies can give the new baby her own "mommy".

Good luck!

Let her keep until she is ready to give it up or she will suck her finger or thumb and you won't be able to take that away when she's older. Tell hubby the current cost of braces and how much it might go up to. Sucking fingers and thumbs causes MUCH MUCH more damage to their bones. A pacifier is made to fit their mouth and not cause damage.

Have you considered not even starting number two on one? Just a thought. ;-) Don't know about how to get your daughter off, but I can understand wanting to do so if she uses it often since she's working on language skills at that age. There are lots of responses to this type of Q on this site if you want to search for more suggestions though. Good luck!

That is difficult but I think that if you explain that the new baby needs one just like she did and she is growing into a big kid and an awesome big sister then she may be able to grasp the idea of not needing one for herself anymore. There are some great ideas I had seen on SkinnyScoop that I think would help spark some ideas for your situation..check it out:

http://www.skinnyscoop.com/search/pacifier?utm_campaign=t...

In my opinion I'd let her keep it for now. There's really not much harm. Does she just use it for naps and bedtime? If that's the case then I REALLY would not worry about it. If she has it in her mouth all day long, out at the grocery store, etc, then maybe I'd work on the "we only use this in the house". My youngest loved her paci and I finally had to take it away at age 3. But so far her teeth look perfect. And my older daughter, who gave up the paci before age 1, still sucks her thumb when she's tired or sleeping (and she's almost 10!!!!!) Plus, she needs some serious dental work. I don't know if it's just luck of the draw or the thumb sucking. Anyway, stop stressing, enjoy the new baby when it comes, and deal with the paci next year :)

Nope, not crazy to stress about it. Its hard to see your babies sad. I tried cutting the top off so he wouldnt like it. Didnt work, just made him mad because it was still there but not how he liked it. Tried just doing it for naps, but he would find one around the house. He even got ahold of the pacifier thermometer.
Best way for us was cold turkey. It took about 3 days of stress and then he was over it. I would just let him cry himself to sleep for nap and bedtime. If you do it now, by November it wont be an issue. Out of sight out of mind.

What finally made me say enough was enough was a dentist visit, where the dentist pointed out how the pacificer was effecting his teeth. On the way home I threw our last binky out the window and never looked back. He was about 20 months.

I see your stress! My daughter was fairly easy to ween off her passy but I would say if you are gonna do it, do it now! One of the last times she had her passy was at our state fair. While we were there we let her give her passy to a pony at the pony rides. The owner of the ponies had all the passys attached to their collars(??) that kids had given to the "baby horsies". It was cute and seemed to work becasue there were a bunch of them.

I have also heard of parents taking their kids to Build-a-Bear and letting them customize their own bear, then implanting their passy in the bear. The child still has it and can sleep with it. Gives them the ability to "keep it".

Good luck!

take it away, if she knows about the new baby have her put her pacis in a bag for her new baby brother or sister and get her something to replace them for being a big girl now

This is one of the little things that you don't fret about .. yea! Our daughter LOVED her pacifier also and I was very concerned about what to do. We have two children and I was chatting with another mother in the drs. office one day who had five children. She assured me and laughed about the trials of getting them off the paci. She was full speed ahead and made her 1st and 2nd babies give up the paci on her schedule. By the time #5 came along, she laughed about the possibility of her getting married and still having it and it becoming someone else's problem! She was so sweet and funny! Obviously it didn't happen and I left the subject alone with our baby girl. She ended up giving it up easily on her own somewhere between 2-3 years old. Just went to the trash and threw them away! Me and my husband were scared to death that she would wake up in the middle of the night in a panic and I assured him I had one in the car. She never asked for it again. I'm sooo glad I didn't force the issue.

I haven't had to deal with this (my 2 1/2 yo sucks her thumb) but personally, I would let your daughter keep it. Too bad your husband doesn't agree with that, though!! I still haven't decided when I'm going to try to kick the thumb-sucking habit...so far it hasn't been an issue. Go with your instincts...good luck!! :)