Seeking Help in Getting My Daughter to Give up Her Binky Without a Fuss

I never used them for my own. I tried one for my daughter once because she was a crier, but it never did much for her.

Just get rid of it. I also have a daycare and from day one, pacifiers are history. The kids don't seem to be bothered much by it. The parents are. It is shoved in their mouth as soon as they leave.

By a year, bottles are gone. Ages vary depending on the child. The kids don't need them, the parents do.

I hope this help. Be strong. Good Luck

D.

Dear H.,

Let her have the binky, she will give it up again sometime. It comforts her and the teeth will resettle after she doesn't use the binkie anymore. Sounds like you are doing a great job as a Mom. Sincerely, C. N.

My first was easy to break of the binky, out of sight out of mind kind of thing. When my daughter came along, she was more emotionally attached to hers. We first started with leaving them in her bed. I had a little basket full of binkys and when she went to bed she would pick one out, when she woke up she'd put it in the basket. Eventually, she didn't need it at all. She talked a lot about them but never really asked for them again. Then one day she found one in between her mattress and bed frame, popped it in, and excitedly came to show me what she found. I praised her find and then opened the garbage can and asked her to please throw it away...she struggled for a minute, tossed it in, and cried. I simply said you are too big for those, you haven't had one in a long time - let the garbage man take them to a safe place. She calmed down and on trash day watched the trash truck take her binky somewhere safe. I haven't heard a word about it since!

H.,
It may sound funny but poke a hole in it. My 10yr old was a binky lover up until he was about 2 1/2 and I don't remember where I heard about poking a hole but I did it and one day he put it on the table and that was the end of his binky. I took a steak knife and just took the tip and poked a small hole in the tip of the binky.... Well I hope this helps and good luck.

Hi H.. My son was a binkie fanatic! I couldn't get him to let that sucker go for anything. I asked the mama's on here, and one response really got me thinking. I took one of my son's binkies and cut the tip. He put it in his mouth and at first he thought it was funny. There wasn't enough to suck on; he had to hold it with his teeth. Then he cried for a good thirty minutes because he really wanted one he could suck on. I didn't give in! I drove him around until he cried himself to sleep, and after that, when he wanted a binkie, I gave him the same one that I had just cut. He threw it out and didn't want it again.
Not too long ago, he found about 8 binkies that I had hidden and forgotten about. He sucked on each one for a few minutes, and then wanted to walk to the store with his Uncle. I told him he would have to throw his binkies away first and he did!! Every last one of them!! So I swear this worked for me. I hope it may work for you too. Remember that he will cry, but you have to not give in. Good luck!!! Write and let us know how it goes. Best Wishes, T.

I have the same problem!! my almost THREE YEAR OLD daughter has a binkie to. She is will not give it up!! I have know clue either! If you get any good advice let me know. I bet like me you are sick of hearing " she still has that thing".

try to get her intersted in something else.. bribery.. my daughter was never a binki kid, but there are other things that I want her to do, like take medicine, or pick up her toys... She is s sucker for stickers!!! She will do almost anything for stickers. At first i told her if she gets X mount of stickers, then she can get a toy from the store. She decided that she wanted smoothies though. But now, she just wants the sticker. So I cut out a bunch of paper animals, and bought a sticker maker (cheap 20 bucks) and some kiddy daily calendars, printed clip art, cut em out and put them through the sticker maker! So every day she picks a paper animal and when ever she does something good, like go potty, get dressed, put her dishes away, pick up her toys.. pretty much anything. She picks a sticker. At the end of the day we check out her animal and see how many stickers she has, and talk about all the good things she did to desrve them! SHE LOVES THIS!!!! So you could get her to give up the binki while she does something that she usually has it.. say if you give it up for 20 min you get a sticker.. don't tell her when the 20 min is up, wait til she asks for it. Unless its a big deal, then set the timer! I know i got way off subject, but hopefully it helps!

Hi H. -

My daughter was a little over 2 and still had a binky, we tried everything as well, finally my husband cut all the sucking part off of all her binkys and when she couldn't suck on it anymore she would just throw it down and after awhile she forgot all about them. You might want to try telling her you will give her a little treat instead of the binky and then everytime she wants it tell her I will give you this if you give me that.

Hopefully this will help

J.

Personally, I have found that if you cut off the tip & give it to her for a day & then cut off a little more the next day & so on, that eventually they give up, if nothing else, keep cutting until there is nothing left for her to grip. Mine just decided it was "broken" & gave it up within a day or so. This has also worked for numerous friends of mine as well... good luck!

My friends had a cute thing they did. They said the Pacifairy came and took it. Their little boy never questioned it after that!

H., I have heard that if you cut the tip of the binky w/ scissors, it will ruin the sucking effect, and the child no longer wants it. I have recommended it to a couple of friends in the past, and it worked!

Ok, I see a lot of mothers on here who are SO anti-binky... and I don't see why. Here's my take on it- if it makes her feel better and it soothes her, making her a happier and more secure child then what's the problem? Its a GOOD thing when a child finds a way to self soothe him/herself.

And I can assure you that from a dental stand point (I work in dentistry and have for 11 years) that there is NO damage being done by using a binky while a child has their baby teeth. So unless your 5 year old is using a binky you have nothing to worry about. The space that's there SHOULD be there, as spaces between young children's teeth are a good thing. It means there will be plenty of room for the new teeth to come in. The binky MAY open the space a tad more than if she didn't use one, BUT it will not affect how the new teeth come in when she's 5-6 yrs old. There are TOO many misconseptions about binkies ruining a child's teeth.

My son is 14 months old and he LOVES his binky. He doens't always have one in his mouth and there are times when he could care less if there's one around. Sometimes he even just carries one around, because he likes having it close. He is a happy, well-adjusted child who sometimes needs a little something to help him feel good. And I'm ok with that. I don't see the harm in it all. I think its important to let our children decide (when its appropriate of course) what they need.... and obviously your daughter has some sort of need for that right now.

Good luck with everything.... take care!

I couldnt figure out how to take it away from my daughter either. Finally i just didn't buy a new one. She had one and that was it. She ended up biting the tip of it off...and since she couldn't suck on it anymore she ended up holding it for a few days and eventually forgot about it. This was a really simple way. She got used to not having it on her own.
I hope this was helpful!

Hi H.,

Binkies are a comfort item for kids like blankets, stuffed animals and a bottle for some. I have 2 suggestions that I have seen work with kids who are attached to their binky. First, try slowly replacing it with another item that comforts her, like a stuffed animal. It might take awhile but soon she might start to forget about the binky. The second sugeestion works the least amount of time, but I have seen work ( not my personal favorite). Set a timeline for her to stop usinf it. My mother had this work for my brother, she told him when he was 3 that he would be a big boy and big boys don't use binkies. The day he turn 3 he pick them all up and threw them away and never looked back. As I said it isn't my favorite choice, but sometime you need to do what works since each child is different. Good Luck

my mother in law gave me some wonderful advice about binkies. cut the nipple off and tell her it is broken. she is too young to realize that you can go to a store and buy another one. use this to your advantage. she may fuss for a while, but as along as the binkie is really " just broken" she'll get over it quickly. good luck

When my children had to give it up under a dentist's strong advise they were 18 months and 3 yo. I had them throw them out and just sucked up the crying. A friend had her son bury it inthe backyard, and then at night planted a "pacifer tree" really a peach tree.

I work with children ages 24-36 months in a day care setting. The rule is no binkies, so if a child enters the program who is an avid binky user, from day one they have to begin to cope without it. The parents are the ones who freak out more about it than the children do...kids are more flexible then adults give them credit for. My advice is cold turkey, as I do in my class. But if the crying for the binky is too heart wrenching, I would suggest snipping off the tip of the binky or poking a small hole in it. It kind of gives the child the illusion something is wrong with their binky and they really don't get the same satisfaction from it. If it does not work right away, gradually keep snipping off more and more of the end (without your child seeing you do it, of course) and act perplexed about its condition. Just chalk it up to being broken and time to throw it away...no more binky. Make is simple, but make it make sense to your child. For me, at 18 months, I threw the binky out the car window and said, "oops, the binky is gone! uh-oh." And as far as my daughter knew, her binky was gone forever. Good luck, H.!!

We gave our bottles to Santa, however with easter coming up she can leave it for the Easter bunny, and we said Santa (bunny) gave it to someone whose mommy didnt have enough money to buy one. Then if she asks for it you dont have it the bunny does. My daughter only asked for it 1 time. However it only worked with my daughter, my son it did not. But its worth a shot.
Good luck