Weaning Binkies

I'm probably repeating the same thing said by others, but it really is a personal choice. I wanted to get rid of the binky, a.k.a. "Timmy", at the age of 2. However, I could not deal with him sucking on his 3 fingers so much; he had drool literally dripping from his elbow. And his fingers were severely shriveled... like when you are in the tub for way tooo long!!! The dentist didn't have a problem, pediatrician said nothing. The only issue I had to deal with was other parents criticizing the fact that he still had his "Timmy". (Some people just don't know how to let others make their own decisions as a parent!!) So what happened you ask...?? When my son turned 4, I began telling him... "You're a big boy now... you don't need Timmy." Then one night "Timmy" disappeared.... I told him, well if you want him, you have to go up to your room and find him.... What 4 year old has the patience for that?!?! LOL!! He asked for him a few times... I kept telling him he had to go look for Timmy if he wanted him. After the 3rd or 4th time of this, he gave up. No problem!!! Every child is different, every parent is different... I'm sure you will find something that works for you and your son!! GOOD LUCK!!!

If he needs that sucking action he will find something to suck...a blanket corner, a toy, a finger, a thumb. All of which are nearly impossible to take away. Unless you really need him to stop using it let him keep it.

My almost-3 year old still uses his 'paci' to fall asleep for a nap and bed time. He is not allowed to have it at any other times. I have no immediate plans to force him to give it up. My son's pediatrician and dentist are still okay with him having it. I am hoping he just eventually weans himself but if not I do want it gone by age 4.

My daughter is 2 1/2 and she still uses her paci at nighttime. She was using one in the car, too. However, we ended that about 2 months ago by telling her that there was a little baby that didn't have a paci and she was such a big girl to give the baby her paci. It worked, she doesn't ask for it in the car, ever. As far as nighttime goes, I don't know what I'm going to do. I'm not too concerned about it now because it's comforting for her and she really only sucks on it until she falls asleep. Good luck, I am sorry I couldn't be of much help.

We picked a date and told my son who was 2-1/2 that that day we would be mailing all the pacifiers to another little boy who needed them. We gave him a name that was not associated with anyone we knew just in case. Every day we talked about this. We waited until he was not sick too. That day after his nap, we put them all in an envelope and he marched it down to the mailbox and said goodbye to them. That night we said he was such a big boy. He protested but slept through the night surprisingly. The next day he asked for them again but we repeated you are a big boy and baby andrew now needs them. By the 3rd day he was laughing about the situation and repeating that he was a big boy and gave his pacifiers away. He still talks about it to this day - almost a year later. Hope this helps. good luck

I would wean out the naptime pacifier (offer a stuffed animal to sleep with) and when he's no longer asking for the naptime pacifier, start working on the nightime one.

The hard part will be getting him to go to sleep with out it. Once he realizes he's not getting the pacifier it should be pretty easy. When you move to the night time weaning, you could put him to sleep with out it and then put it in his crib after he goes to sleep. That way if he wakes, he'll put himself down. But try to get up before he does so you can remove the pacifier before he wakes up in the morning (assuming it's still in the bed and not his mouth.)

For her second birthday we got dd her "big girl bed" (toddler bed) and she was SO excited to have it. We put it in her room with her crib really only because we were worried she'd want to go back to her crib. The caveat was no binkies in the big girl bed. She never went back to her crib or the binkies. She asked a couple of times and we said sure but then you can sleep in the crib - she always chose the bed (with favorite "friends" of course) We left the crib and binkies in her room maybe for a couple of weeks. She would periodically go in for a "drag" on a binkie (they had to stay in her room) Then one day my husband said to her "How about we pack up these binkies and mail them to your baby cousin?" They did and put them in our mailbox for the mailman to take (I kept them hidden "just in case" but we didn't need them) Again, she asked for one once in awhile but we didn't have any tears. Shortly after she and daddy took the crib apart together too. Good luck!!

My daughter was about 2 when I weaned her from the binkie. Fortunately at the time she was spending alot of time with her grandparents and so things were often getting left there. So one night she asked for it, told her it had been left at grandma's, she cried for a bit that night and then she never asked for it again. Hopefully it will be that easy for you. But I have heard of other people talking to their kids about it and how they are too big for it and either having the kid watch them throw it in the trash, or send it to the binky fairy or to another baby who needs the binky now, etc. One tip that I did hear was to actually throw out the binky and all other binkys so that if the child does continue to cry you won't give in. Good luck