Stopping the Pacifier at 13 Months

I had five kids and never gave the binky to any of them (partly because none of them would take it...LOL.) Anyway, without having experience, I'd probably just say (I have a 13 month old too and they understand more than you think they do) "No more binkies!!! YAY!!! Say bye-bye!!!" Then have her throw it away and clap and say "Good job!!" and then don't ever mention it again. She'll forget about it. My opinion is that binkies are good for babies to help console them. At 13 months, I'd think that they don't need them anymore. Take my opinion with a grain of salt though since I didn't use them and neither did my mom who also had 5 kids... Good luck!!

I cut the tips off of mine, one at a time and told her they were broken and had her throw them away. One by one, they left. When asked , she was reminded that they were broken and we threw them away. It was a process, I didn't do it all in one day. Then one day, they were "all gone"

I was all set to take it away at a year and our doc told me she was okay with her having it until 18 months. We just changed around a year or 13 months and she only got it a nap and bed time. When we did take it away a few months later she didn't even really notice...
Good luck... doing it over a long weekend is a good idea..

First stop giving it to her during the day. the hardest part is stopping it at night and nap time. We just "lost" them one at a time, and she did fine. However, 3 months after getting rid of them all, we had another baby. When she saw the binky in the babies mouth she yanked it out exclaiming, "my binky, my binky!" put it in her own mouth. We then let her have her own for a couple more months again while getting used to the new baby.

We took it away from my son cold turkey. We just took them all and threw them away. The first bedtime was a bit of a trial, but by bedtime day 2 he had forgotten all about it. If I remember correct, he was about 15 months old.
Good Luck!!

I always think that when the bottle goes so does the binky. I hate when I see a kid who is 3 or so and they have a pacifier. I took my son's away at 8 months before he had an emotional attachment to it. He had a bad cold and couldn't use it for a few days, so he never got it back. I think the sooner the better!! good luck!!!

My advice would be to try it nap time first, then at night. I think it's good that you're doing it now. The earlier the better. I know from experience. My older two were both 3.5 when we finally took them away. I'm going down that road again with 21 month old. I will do just about anything to get him to sleep at night and he loves that binky. Part of it is also he's my baby and him having the binky in his mouth kind of keeps him in that baby stage a bit longer. I do need to get rid of it though and am aiming to do that by age 2.

Both my kids were that age when I got rid of the binky. For my son, I cut every one i could find, then when it was time for him to want it, I showed him it was broke and we had to throw it away. Bedtime was the hardest...it took about 2 days for him to get over it at bedtime. I tried to give him a stuffed animal or blanket to soothe him and sort of take the place of the blanket.
My daughter took a couple of days longer and cried about it more, but then again she was a colicky baby and always fussy from the time she was born.
It's normally harder on the parent than it is on the kids. Do it now cause the older they get the harder it gets to get rid of habits.

Good Luck!

We stopped giving my daughter her paci when she was 12 months. Like yours, she was mostly just using it at naps and bedtime. I hid ther pacis in a drawer (just in case it got really bad and I decided to "give in") and just told her we didn't have any more. Going to sleep was hard for a day or two, but then she was over it. On the 3rd or 4th night, she was really cranky and I was really tired, so I tried to give her a paci that night....she just spit it out and that's when I knew she was really done. :)

I'm taking my 18 month olds away right now. We are on day three. I think the younger you do it the easier it is. We did cold turkey and it means a little more comforting throughout the night but hasn't been too bad. I remember getting ride of my oldest dd's when she was 3 and it took almost a year, it was so hard! Good luck.

I agree w/ Susan C.- stop letting her have it during the day 1st- then maybe the next step could be to take it away for naps- then eventually at night.
Good luck :)

If she needs to suck she needs it whether you want her to have it or not. "IF" she needs to suck. She will find something else to suck, like a thumb, her fingers, a blanket corner, a toy, etc...a binky can be a good thing because it is shaped to her mouth contours and will not hurt her teeth and bones.

Otherwise you can just stop and ignore any issues that come up.

that is the easiest age to stop at. Just go cold turkey and take it away. A few days of crying and messed up sleep and you will be done and they will forget all about it.

My daughter used the paci at naps and bedtime as well, and once she hit a year I felt cultural pressure to get rid of it. We ended up deciding to keep it - I loved that she actually liked going down for naps and bedtime because that was when she got her paci. Around two years old one morning we just said, hey, why don't we say goodbye to the paci today. She said ok and went to sleep fine without them after that. Never had any drama about it - which I couldn't believe because she was so attached to them! So anyway, I just wanted to say that if you'd rather keep using the paci, go ahead and don't feel bad about it :)

We looked at the Farmer's Almanac and when it says to ween calf's from their Mom's Milk that is the best time to show her that the binky is going in the trash and throw it away in front of her. Say No More Binky and then move on to either playing a toy or having her go to bed. It worked both times for my Daughter and Son and they never cried or missed it.

There are no magic answers for this one. The truth is, the pacifier is only useful up to three months. It should be taken away then, when the baby has no choice in the matter. At that age, they will then find their thumb or fist, or blankey, or something else to soothe themselves. Any age beyond three months, the child is aware of the dynamics of "who is in control". You have already lost the battle. Now is the time for damage control. You have to use the same techniques that you need for everything else, consistency, patience, love, and above all else do not substitute something else that you will have to struggle to take away later. In other words don't teach something that you will have to unteach later.

Also, using the pacifier to keep her quiet during the day, stifles language. Allow her to express herself with words, crying, for what she needs. Babies don't cry for "NO" reason, there is always a reason, and we need to be detectives to figure it out, that's our job. Even if the only reason is "attention", they are demanding it, that's their job.