Binky

I have a 3 yr old little girl who loved her pacifier until she was about 30 months old. I was trying to potty train her and get her off the pacifier. You can't do both at the same time. So I got her potty trained first and slowly I took away the pacifier. First at nap time, then in the car when she got sleepy and lastly night time, which was the hardest. You can put her to sleep with it, but as soon as she goes to sleep, slowly remove it from her mouth and put it away until the next night. After about a week of that then trying putting her to sleep without it. They have to learn how to comfort and put themselves to sleep. Occasionally she will ask for it, but I just tell her that she does not need it anymore. Good Luck and I hope this helps.

Leave here alone for a while yet! If you take it away too soon she might resort to fingers or thumb, and that is a bad idea. I would wait until she doesn't seem to need it as much, or age 2 for taking naps. Sounds like she doesn't use it other times, and that is great.

Ooooh, you will get a million replies on this one and I guarantee it won't be a united opinion :)

Ask your pediatrician. Half the mom's will say it affects the teeth, half the other will say otherwise. Most will say quit, cold turkey and ALL answers may be absolutely RIGHT!

Every kid is different. My hubby dumped our pacifiers when my girl was 2 1/2. That is late, I know!! But her teeth are perfect. I do believe there are studies out there that say they can affect jaw formation.....again....ask YOUR pediatrician. Info. on the internet can be majorly skewed.

Without the pacifier, my daughter cried and cried for MONTHS without it for every nap and every bed time! Yes, I went COLD TURKEY and that is what I had to deal with....MONTHS! By the way, my first born child never used a pacifier so I'm not a pro-pacifier nut here :)

Seems to be a passionate topic....one mom just "ripped" on my previous response to this question. Apparently, she didn't agree :)

I can't remember how old my daughter was when I weened her from both the bottle first then the binky. I took her outside with the dog and threw the bottle, first, to the dog once the dog went off with it we went back in the house. Later that day when she wanted a bottle I told her, 'Whitney (the dog)got your BaBa.' She replied, 'Whitney got my BaBa?' I told her yes. She never asked the the bottle again. A couple of months later, I did the same with her binky, then she never asked for her binky again.

My daughter and son-in-law had a good, common-sense way of weaning their kids off the "binky". They let them have the pacifier ONLY in bed (naps and nightime). In the morning (or after naps), it was understood that the "binky" had to go bye-bye into its special place. This can be a drawer, or a special little box--whatever. (They had each child learn to put it there themselves, so it grew to be a kind of ritual.

Gradually, as the binkies wore out, they would throw them away and not replace them.

Just bear in mind that the sucking reflex is VERY comforting for your little one. Don't make her try to go "cold turkey". It will traumatize her.

My daughter stopped using the pacifier at one year...and then decided that she wanted it again when we stopped nursing at 18 months. At that time, I instituted a bed-only policy for the pacifier.

If your daughter is only using it for sleep, I wouldn't worry too much about it. I have cut the tiniest little hole in hers to make it less attractive when she sucks. I remove it when she is asleep and she sleeps through most nights without any problems.

If you decide to cut a hole, make sure you are boiling them regularly to keep them extra clean. Also, be sure you are consistent with brushing her teeth to avoid decay problems.

Hi there. I wouldn't worry about it too much yet. Our daughter (now 5) was very dependent on her binky for sleeping and also riding in the car. It seemed to bother others much more than it bothered us as everyone seemed willing to voice an opinion about how she should be rid of it. But as with most things, we let our kid lead the way. I am not a believer in doing anything "cold turkey" with a child this age. They need their comfort and I just could not bring myself to do it to her. But when she was still going strong at 2 years old, we made a promise to wean her from it by her third b-day as we had started to worry about dental problems and such. So, once she was 2, we began working on cutting down the time she had it. Our goal was to get her to the point where she only had it at home. They did not leave the house. Then over the next few months, the binky stayed in her bed only. We also stopped buying replacements so their numbers started to dwindle and she was aware. By, the time she was approaching her 3rd b-day, she was down to only one binky. We set a date with her, promised some kind of little reward, and when the day came. We had a little ceremony and she dropped it in the trash. (I even took it out of the trash when she left the room because I was afraid when night came she might have a fit and I would cave.) She asked for it for a couple of nights but we reminded her it was gone.
Then it was all done.
So- longwinded response, I know. But I would just say, listen to your child. They will lead you.
There is no real need to rush.
Set a date. Make it fun with a reward. It will be fine.
Good luck!

I weaned my daughter cold turkey at 15 months and she cried for about 2-3 nights (it was just a whimper by the 3rd night) and she never looked back. She had a blankie that she slept with also and she was fine with that. Also, she was only using it for sleep by that point anyway, so it didn't impact her during her awake time at all. I've heard that snipping the end of the paci will make them not want it anymore, so you could try that and just tell her it's broken. I haven't tried that method though, so I don't know how it would work for a baby as young as yours (I hear it works well with older kids that can understand that concept).

My honest opinion is that at this age, cold turkey is probably best. Their memories are shorter and they won't think to keep looking for it after a few days. This is advice from my pediatrician. I took it and I was happy I did because there really wasn't a fight over it and I didn't have a 2-3 year old walking around trying to talk with a binky in her mouth!

My son just turned a year, so we're going to start the "bed only" policy and work our way towards weaning him around the same age. Good luck to you. I hope it all works out whatever you decide.

What is your reason for wanting to take it away from her? When my kids turned one I took the binky away except for nap and bedtime which it already sounds like you are doing. I then waited until she agreed to throw it out and she never asked for it again. She was about 30 months or so. I wish I would have left her with it a bit longer because right after that she quite taking naps. I do not see the rush that is my personal opinion. Good luck!

My sister-in-law swears by this method! She cut the tip of the binky off, very little bit, each day... apparently theyslowly lose the interest because it's just not the same, it was recommended to her by a friend, and has worked with there 5 kids. I havent tried it yet as mine is only 3 months, but good luck!

My son used the pacifier only for sleep, but we lost it at grandma's and had no time to buy another before getting on an international flight. He was fine, never missed it. He was 22 months old and had used it only for sleep. Each kid is different.
I would definitely never allow it out of the bedroom though. One wonders abut a 2 or 3 yr old in the supermarket trying to talk around a binky.

14 months old is too young to be weaning from binky. You are in for many, many sleepless nights if you try to do that now.

About 2 or 3, start thinking about weaning from binky, assuming it is only used at night.

If binky is used during the day now, go "night time only." You will have to stay busy keeping her distracted from needing it in the day.

Hi R.,
I would not even try at this age- she will eventually get rid of it by herself. It is her comfort zone so let her decide when she does not need it any more.
good luck and blessings

We started weaning our son by only giving it to him during nap and bedtime, then only at bedtime. Then, we took it away altogether. It is not going to be easy, but the longer you wait the harder it will get. It took about two weeks before our son was okay with it. Good luck!!

All three of mine loved their binky. Weaning from the bottle was a piece of cake, but the binky was much trickier. While weaning our second child she had chewed on the nipple (of her favorite) soooo much it tore off. She kept trying to suck on it, but it wouldn't 'stick' in her mouth...*light bulb moment*...so, rather than taking them away we just cut the tip of the nipples off. When she'd come to us we'd just tell her "Oh, baby, it broke". She eventually lost interest and didn't want them anymore. We did the same thing with our son. Worked like a charm.

Also, they both had "back-ups" hidden in the toy box, bed, dresser, etc. As they popped up we just did the same thing to those. AND we did it while they were asleep or not paying attention.

...and my kids were all around 2 yrs, when "the time came".

Good Luck!

I was having major problems with my son's binky use; well actually it was more along the lines of a binky addiction!! My friend absolutely raved about the cut method, and all of the psychology behind it. She found it on www.bye-bye-binky.com , which is great that it was also free. We went with it and OMGosh... worked so beautifully for my son with NO tantrums, not even one! Thank you God. Five days later he did not want anything to do with his binky. What a relief it was to all of us to finally be done with those darn binkies. Highly recommended! I am also interested in others experiences.... B.

My first hated the binky so no problem there.

My second loved the binky, but we limited it to nap/night time. At 11 months we quit cold turkey and it was a rough 3 nights, but then all was good. And she does not suck her fingers or her thumb FYI.

My neighbor's son used it well into 3 and it was a killer to get that thing out of his mouth! I think the older they get, the harder it is to let it go. When they're younger, they seem to adjust more easily - at least that's what it seems like in my experience.

I'm a speech-language pathologist and certified orofacial myologist and highly recommend weaning children off of pacifiers by 12 months. Pacifier use is considered non-nutritive sucking and extended use can lead to open bites and posterior cross bites (upper side teeth resting inside of lower side teeth). Although it is often VERY painful for the parents to go through the weaning process, it is the best thing to do for your child and his/her teeth and palate!

Here is a link for an article that lists ways to wean your daughter from her binky: http://gomestic.com/family/10-ways-to-wean-your-child-off...

Good luck!
J. Sherman, MA, CCC-SLP, COM

I understand your dilemma as we were in the "binki ridding" situation recently. Our daughter was 17 months old and we were going to be moving to a new city soon. I asked our pediatrician what to do, whether to lose it now or wait, and she simply said to go cold turkey now and just take the pacifiers away. She assured me P would be just fine given her young age. So...the next day, I took ALL pacifiers and tossed them in the trash (without her seeing, of course). At nap time, we just kept saying, "Ba ba (her term) is all gone...you are a big girl now." I will be honest, nap time was hell for four days straight (stay strong!!). However, putting her to bed without it was no problem. After four days of reiterating "baba is all gone" she got it. We were done! I know there are all kinds of cutesy ways to eliminate but I loved this way the best. No drama, just done! So glad we did it this way! Good luck to you!