The Dreaded Pacifier

Hi S.!
My son is 14 months old and my dentist told me not to worry about taking him off his pacifier at all. He said most babies just give it up when they don't need it anymore and if they're still using it at age 3, that's when you need to wean them off it. He said its better for them to suck on a paci than on their fingers or thumb.
Good luck!

I HAVE A QUESTION TO ADD TO THIS***

What do you do if they move from the pacifer to the thumb or fingers? Or already use both...how can you break that habit? Which is easier to break? How and why was one easier to break than the other?

My oldest never took a pacifier but we had to wean my youngest off of it. First we made it only at sleep times and then it was only at bed time. Eventually she didn't need it any more. I made it sound simple but it can be pretty hard...there was times she cried up a storm!

I know what you are going threw my daughter took it till she was three!!! It was very hard to take away it id a comfort for them. We decided we needed to take it away, so we had her throw them all in the trash, and say good bye to them, and after that she was fine.
with my second daughter we had to cut holes in all of them, and she finally figured out that they were broken, she didnt need them any more.
hope this helps good luck, it's a tough one!!!

I recently took the paci away from my then 14 month old. It was easy! Easier than I anticipated. We just slowly broke him out of the habit. I gave him a new "baby" (stuffed animal) to sleep with. Once he was comfortable sleeping with his baby, we took the paci away during the morning nap (his most tired time). Then after a couple of days, we took it away at afternoon nap. There were no complaints. He would ask for it and I would just say, "no you have baby and you don't need it." After a week or so the paci went bye bye for good. No problems because he had "baby" as his security and comfort. Just make sure you have hidden all the pacifiers. And just be consistent about it. Once you take it away you can't give it back. Good luck.

Your right it is a big challenge. I let me daughter use it way to long because everytime I tried to have her fall asleep without it she would have a fit. I finally had to let her scream it out for three days. She was two when I finally got her off. The longer you let them keep it, the longer they want it. And the older they get, the harder it is to get them off. There is no easy way to do it. If you can take him off now I would do that. My son is 10 weeks now, but when he's 10 to 11 months I am going to get him off of the pacifier. Good luck.

I have two daughters and I got both of them off their pacifiers at the one year mark. With my oldest, my mom was watching her at the time and I had told my mom that her pediatrician said it was time to stop using the pacifier. So, the next day, my mom didn't give it to my daughter the whole day, so I then had to keep that up at night...the worst time! I was very scared how it was going to go, but to my surprise, it went very well! Both of my daughters quit the pacifier cold turkey and it was so easy!!!! I think the younger the child is, the easier it is. Good luck!

When my daughter was about 13 months old I figured it was time to break her of her bedtime pacifier. I wanted to break her of the habit around the 10-12 month age but she got a really bad ear infection at 10 months and then after she was cured of that we took a 2-week vacation. I figured those two moments wouldn't of been the best time to break her of it. So after we got home and settled back into a routine from our trip, I took all the pacifiers in the house and threw them in the trash. I mainly did that so I wouldn't give in. :)

It was a long 2 nights but on the third night she went to bed just fine. She got very attached to her baby and blanket after she lost her pacifier but every child needs a "lovey" so I didn't mind.

Good luck to you!

S.,

if your son is only using his pacifer for nap and bedtimes i wouldn't worry about having to take it away just yet. my daughter used hers this way until she was two and then the pacifer fariy came and took them to make new pacifers for the new born babies. we had her set them out in a bowl on the coffee table and then the pacifer fairy left a little toy to say thank you. kind of like the tooth fairy. this worked really well for us i think she only asked for the pacifer once or twice after that and when we reminded her about the fairy she just went oh yeah.

good luck

My son was 2 and a half before he got off of it but what i did was cut the top off of it and told him the dogs chewed it up and was not good. I gave it to him after i said that and told him to throw it away so it would be a closure for him and it worked- he never once cried or whined for it. I did the same thing with the bottle- cut holes in the top and had him throw it away and that broke him of the bottle. Good luck- I know it is hard but have him throw it away it really did help.

Hi,
My son liked his pacifer at nap time as well. Then when he was off the bottle at 16 months, he LOVED his baba, all the time.
People made comments to me all time, I assured them he'd be off it before he started school, so they need not worry so much.
At 25 months I needed to buy new ones for him. I bought 2 packs, of the large ones. (I didn't realize they got bigger with the kids age.)
He popped the new, big ones im his mouth and started to laugh. He pulled it out, looked at and laughed again. He thought it was a bit weird I guess. He would put it in for shorter times each time for the next few days. Then day 3 he asked for it and I said "no". "Ba ba for night night time." He fussed a bit, I changed the subject. As promised I gave it to him at nap time. Few days later he didn't ask and I didn't offer.
They will get rid of it on their time. Don't rush them because of other people. And it gives your little one comfort. It's a big, sometime scary place for them. Sometimes I want a baba and a warm blanky. ;-)
Good luck

My son did the same thing... one day (2 weeks ago)-he has only used it for those and teething... we just stopped giving it to him.. He took longer in the beginning to go to sleep, but - hasn't looked back since... Perhaps go on a little trip and forget it accidentally on purpose would help... 15 mos old son.

as long as he has something to cuddle with at night...