Pacifiers - East Northport, NY

I had a friend who cut the nipples off the pacifiers. Her daughter would ask for one, but then wouldn't be able to keep it in her mouth. My friend told her the binkies were "broken." It took two days to wean her. Worth a shot I guess!

One of the guys at work had his daughter help mail it to the paci fairy and the fairy left a doll. She has not asked for it back

i'm a big believer in weaning! i did it with my son and he was off the paci by a year....off the bottle completely by 15 months. He's 2 1/2 now and hasn't looked back to either. I started giving it to him less frequently when he was awake...only if he asked for it. Then at naptime and bedtime....i put it in the crib....not in his mouth....if he wanted it he would take it...after that my next stage was not in the crib at all and if he truly needed it i would give it to him....it phased it out beautifully and he hasn't looked back. My newphew uses a paci and my son hands it to him if he drops it! hope that helps!

As someone who has worked in a daycare, BRAVO to you for trying to get rid of the pacifier before your daughter enters! When I worked with kids with paci's, I would see them drop them on the ground outside or on the floor, etc. and if I wasn't right there ready to snatch it away (cause you can say "NO!" until you're blue in the face, you know how it goes) they would stick it right back in their mouth. Yuck! You don't want to expose your kids to those kinds of germs. At this age, try substituting one comfort object with another, perhaps taking away the binky but keeping a soft stuffed animal or blanket for times when your daughter needs soothing. But I agree with the other moms who said just go cold turkey for her age. Good luck!

My son was about 16 months old when we began to ween him off, but we gradually "lost" most of his pacifiers until we got down to two favorite ones, then we showed him that they were "breaking" and let him throw them out when they broke. (Actually we cut the rubber so it only held on be a thread - literally because that rubbe is STRONG!! and then let him pull it off and throw it out)

He cried for a day at nap and nighttime, but then that was it.
Good luck!

K.,

The only thing that ever worked for me was just throwing them away. Out of sight, out of mind. Simple...but not painless, for you or the baby. But they quickly forget...just be sure to check under the crib and sofa and in all the corners of your house, because if your baby finds one after you have tried to get rid of them all it can be bad news!!

I hid the boppy pillow in our closet after my baby weaned, and two months later her sister found it and pulled it out and she remembered that darn pillow and got real fussy!!

Good luck,

D.

I just weaned him off of it, like I did for milk. At first, I would give it to him for naps and at bed time. Then I gave it to him less at nap time and still included bedtime. Eventually, I stopped giving it to him during the day and then only at night and then not at all; cold turkey. Good Luck!!!!! I had him off of the pacifier by 19 months

what worked for me and my son was we told him the Easter bunny took all the "binkies" and left his easter basket instead. obviously you can do that but the same idea with a gift or wait until christmas and say santa took it...hope this gives you some help.

Hi K.,

This is what I did, I stop cold turkey. I know it sounds horrible but I just did. She cried and cried at naps and betime but falls asleep after 10 min. max. She went to her 12 month check up and my peditrician said get rid of it. That simple, get rid of it. I took his advice literally and got rid of it. She will forget about it. My babysitter reminds me that we make their habits and we break them. I made this habit and I had to break it. Now the crying doesnt stop over night, it has been 2 weeks and she still cries but it is getting better each day. (Also, she is teething so I dont know if that is part of the crying thing or not). Good luck if you try to go cold turkey.

K., I have gone through this twice. MY oldest was a little older when I took it away my method then was to cut a piece of the tip off and little by little I cut more off until he really couldn't suck on it and believe it or not he threw it away. he was 2 1/2 my second was 13 mths when w stopped and for him we just went cold turkey again I agree out of sight out of mind.

Good Luck
L.

First, just do it! The first couple days may be hard, but kids get over it quickly. And it's much better to get rid of the pacifier at your daughter's age than when they get older and get even more attached.

The method that has worked very well for both of my children was cutting off the top of the binkie. When I did this with my daughter, she immediately noticed something was different and helped me throw it away. My son continued to try to suck on it, so I kept cutting a little more off each time. Within a couple of days, he didn't want it anymore. We still had a couple days of crying as he adjusted to not having it, but I've been so glad ever since that I didn't keep it around for him to grow ever-more dependent on. Good luck!

Dear K.:

My children never sucked on a pacifier, but did suck on their fingers. I always heard that putting a little bit of Aloe vera gel on the pacifier will deter the child from wanting his/her pacifier if you are consistent; it shouldn't last more than one week or so.

Good Luck!
R. C.

Hi, K.,
I agree with the moms here who've said to quit cold turkey and don't look back. At 13 months, this is the perfect time to do it. She won't even remember it, though she may feel out of sorts at times for a few days. Our pediatrician advised us to just make the pacifiers disappear after our daughters' first birthday. That's what we did -- and no problems to speak of. Although it did strike me at the time as the first Really Big Parenting Decision we made, which made it harder on my husband and me than on them.

Interestingly, one of our daughters has started sucking her thumb a lot now, but she didn't start until about six months after we lost the pacis.
Good luck!

Let me know how that goes. We are in the same boat...

K.-
A week and half after my son's first birthday we just took it away when he had put it down while he was playing. He never asked for it again. I guess it was out of sight out of mind.
Sorry I can't offer much advise, it was so easy for us.

Good luck,
J.

Yes...THROW IT IN THE GARBAGE, and direct her attention to puzzles, fun books, joke books, coloring books, music... redirect the attention (without explaining where it is), to something else. The More of a BIG deal you make about it, the More of a BIG deal she will make of it. Throw it away, don't explain or try to make her feel better about it, because chances are whatever you say, won't... The Power is in the Silence... Things like this you have to take control, because as our children get older and bigger, they start to think (rightfully so) that they control us (and situations)!
That's a NO-NO...

All the Best, ( a Mom who took her own advice)... CC

Hi K.,

At a year old, she cannot understand reasoning or explanations. You really dont' have any choice other than to simply make it disappear. If she is extremely dependent on it, then you may want to start limiting the amount of time she has it, gradually cutting it out - or if it's just occasional use, then simply get rid of them
Good luck in transitioning back to work and into day care

Start by just giving it to her at night and gradually take that away. That should do the trick.

I didn't get a chance to read the other responses but I will tell you what worked for me. When my daughter was 18 months, we heard about the BPA issue and her pacifiers were on the list of items that were made of the potentially bad plastic. I didn't want to just switch to a new type of pacifier, so I figured it was a good time to get her off of them. We collected all of the pacifiers, took them to the garbage, said "bye bye binks" and threw them out. The next two nights were very difficult and my daughter threw fits at bedtime. I just sat on the floor like we always did and read her stories out loud to myself, and carried on our routine as if everything was normal. I also gave her a new, special blanket for bed (she never used a blanket before - and it's actually my blanket from when I was a baby, so she thought that was pretty funny), and she now uses that as her comfort object. On the third night, we had no problems. This worked so well that she doesn't even bother with her brother's pacifiers (he is 15 months younger). She actually hands them to me if she finds them around the house.
We also noticed that her speech dramatically increased and improved after we threw out the pacifiers, so it seems to have had many positive side effects. Good luck on whatever you choose to do.

At that age, my SIL just took it away from my niece and never looked back. My kids, who are 1-1/2 and 2-1/2 still have theirs.

I used an event where we lost her "ninny". It was on Easter sunday at my brother-in-law's house. Olivia was, I think 2 1/2(she's now 6 1/2). I told her that I would keep checking if he found it. I made a concerted effort by calling(not really). After 2 or 3 nights of crying to sleep, it worked. Another way that I got rid of the bottle(and would work with pacifier) is the "Pacifier Fairy". Works like the tooth fairy in that you leave it at night and she replaces it with a prize, toy, candy(whatever works for your child). Good luck!!

take a pair of scissors and put a cut in the top...this will change the sucking action and she won't want it any more! It worked for 4 of my kids....the 5th one never took a passy. Try it and let us know!

Hi K.,

My first son was extremely attached to his "binky", and at the age of 28 months, we finally took it away. For us, it came down to the fact that he was going to be experiencing some major life changes - moving into a new bedroom, and new baby brother. I've read that kids can regress a little while adjusting to change, so I figured there was no sense in trying to banish the binky in the midst of all of that.

With your daughter starting daycare soon, you may want to just wait a little while longer if the pacifier helps to soothe her. That is a big change from being home with Mom all the time (been there once already & about to start again in Sept. as well!).

We saw a method on Jon & Kate + 8 that worked well for us. They gave all the binkies to their baby cousin. They gathered them all up in a plastic baggie and just handed them off, because the baby needed binkies and they weren't babies anymore. Of course, the binkies were all thrown away. We didn't have a baby cousin, but we gave them to a friend of mine who had recently had a baby. It was rough the first night with a lot of awakenings, but each nap & night time got easier. We prepped our son for this visit by talking about it every day for a few days. In the first couple of days after the binkies were gone, he'd ask about them. We'd just remind him that he gave the binkies to "baby James", and that was it. In less than a week, he wasn't asking for it anymore.

I can tell you from my experience that the longer they have it, the harder it is to get rid of it. That being said, it does need to be the right time, when everyone is ready.

Best of luck!

Just loose them all - it's a brutal few days, but you have to remain strong - our youngest was btwn 2 1/2 & 3 when we left them out for santa to give to the babies for christmas. it was hard, but well worth it - luckily her teeth straightend back out. Our oldest had one but only up to 6 months - that's when the ped told us to get rid of it so that's what we did. Good luck!

PS The cutest thing is how she still thinks she has it when she's sleeping - she sits there slurping on it!