Weaning from Pacifier - La Mesa, CA

Hi,
I have three kids myself and only one of my children liked the pacifier or chupy like we called it. My sister went through the same thing that you are. We tried taking it away, we cut the tips off (he still sucked on what was left there) so we compromised with him. We got him a blanket. He got to pick it out and he was told that he had to get rid of the chupy. It worked out great. My sister got rid of the chupy and my nephew got a Elmo blanket that he took everywhere he went. She had to hide it to wash it but she got rid of the pacifier!

My daughter never had to be weened off the binkie, but I watched a Nanny 911 episode where they had the kids get involved and go around the house collecting all the pacifiers and sat down and told them that they were big kids now and didnt need them and were giving them away to other children who needed them. I dont know how well this will work however, if your little one still uses one.

My daughter just gave it up on her own around 2 1/2 years old. I think the more pressure they have to give it up the more they want it. Ask your doctor if you're really concerned he might have some suggestions or he might say it's no big deal. Good luck.

I just weaned my two and a half year old boy. We tried back in September. All was good until the third day. Then he started having trouble taking his naps and he'd wake-up in the middle of the night. He went without it for almost five days before we gave it back to him. A few weeks ago, we went to the dentist and noticed how the pacifier was affecting his teeth. The pediatric dentist suggested we get him off the pacifier sooner rather than later. So, I asked his dentist to talk to him. My son, amist his squirming, listened to the dentist. Then I told my son we'd have to get rid of the pacifier because it was bad for his teeth and told him he won't be able to talk to his friends and ask them to play. Then pretended to be an old lady with no teeth and showed him how he'd talk if he didn't give up the pacifier. He thought it was funny, but he also took it seriously. So that day we got rid of the pacifier. We praised him a lot for being a brave boy. We rarely mentioned why he was a brave boy, since we tried to use the word pacifier as little as possible, but he knew what we ment. For the next two weeks he went around telling his grandparents, and us what his dentist had told him-"no more pacifier." Then he'd do that old man mumbling sound and tell us how his teeth would get if he didn't stop using the pacifier. The the times he'd ask for it or wake up crying because he wanted it, we'd remind him he was now a big boy. Sure, he had a tantrum in the middle of the night a couple of times, but we just held him and told him it'd be alright and he soon stopped waking up. He has been pacifier-free for almost a month. Hurray!
P.S. We also promised him an ice cream party if he went five days and nights with it. He'd put a sticker on a paper everytime he took a nap or slept without his pacifier. He never even remembered the ice cream party at the end of five days. The words from the dentist and that old man mimicing sound was much more effective. Good luck.

I understand your dilema. I have B/G twins and was so afraid of taking the pacifiers away. My son was especially attached. I heard about cutting the ends too. I, personally, took them off... cold turkey. They cried for a couple of nights but got over it very quickly. I took them away when they turned 2. I didn't want the binkie to affect their teeth or their bite...that scared me more than just dealing with a little crying.
M.

If you son seems to deal with change well I would say cold turkey. My oldest daughter was really attached to her pacifier. One day I gathered them all up and told her it was time to throw them away. I even made her put them in the trash. That night she asked for a pacifier and I reminded her what we had done. She said, "oh yeah", then went to sleep and we never heard another word about it.

My husband thought this was very cruel until he saw that she was fine that night.

Now that would never have worked with my second but fortunately she never liked pacifiers.

I am in the same boat as you are. My son just turned 2 the beginning of December, and now I have to decide when I want to try and kick him of the habit. He to will wake up in the night if he can't find it.

I think I'm going to wait until he's closer to three, so that maybe he will understand it more when we throw them in the trash. Right now, he won't understand this concept, at least for him.

I'm interested in what responses you get....

J.

Be aware the longer he uses it the more prone to teeth and mouth problems he'll be in the future.
Naps and bedtime sound ok, maybe just try for bedtime and let him "rest" at nap times.
Maybe get a different type of pacifier, one that he doesn't like the shape of, and only let him use the "new" one.
Best wishes,
K. B

I have written a posting in the past almost IDENTICAL to this. Unfortunately I don't have any advice because it looks like my two toddlers are both going to take their "pappys" to college at this point - lol - they are 2 and 3 and STILL use them to sleep. I was a mama who was TOTALLY against pacifiers before they were born and now they will not fall asleep w/o them - especially my son who is the older one. They, like yours only have them to sleep and will lay there for HOURS w/o sleeping without it. We decided to do the "let em give them up when they are ready" and that has not happened yet. With my son turning 4 this year we have to do something b/c its just ridiculous now. I am looking forward to reading the responses you get and good luck!