Getting Rid of the Pacifier - Chicago,IL

I agree with the Dr. We lost the last one we had when we were on vacation and we were very far from stores that sold pacifiers. My son was 18 mos. old. He whined for the 1st 2 nights and then we were fine. I missed it when he was fussy in the car seat in the car, but we tolerated it and never looked back.
Throw it away, lose it - tell her she is too old - they are for the babies.

Good luck
This will only be one of many battles - but it will work out for the best.
M.

I'd have to agree with those who responded that the pediatrician's suggestion is quite harsh. Why torment the child? I know others who have used the "binky fairy" and that seems to have worked well. We told my son that once his birthday came, he'd have to give it up. He was only using it at night, so it wasn't a big deal anymore. There was so much anticipation for the birthday, cake, etc., that giving up the binky seemed an easy trade off for him. I think the best results are gained from positive reinforcement and ample communication. :-)

Tell her that the pacifier fairy is coming to take the pacifiers to other babies that need them. Have her help you pack all the pacifiers in a bag and leave them at the door for the pacifier fairy to come get them. When she takes a nap throw them away. Tell her (over and over) that she is helping other babies and that she is a BIG GIRL and no longer needs them. My sister did this with my nieces bottles and it worked like a charm.

For a two year old, I think cutting the tip is a good way to start. They don't understand throwing it out and being done. You need to make it so it's not appealing (not that I have room to give advice, I have a two and four year old still with binkies OH THE HORROR! I think I'll take some of the advice posted!!!

We did just that when my daughter got too old for the paci, and she is just fine emotionally. The first couple of naps and nights were tough, and then she got over it. I had her throw it in the garbage, and we celebrated this binkie going away party with cake and ice cream :)

One thing I've heard several parents do which I thought was just genius, is to leave the paci for the *binkie fairy* who brings a special toy/blanket etc.

When my daughter was about your daughters age, one day she was going down for her nap and when she asked for her "nukkie", I just told her that they "nukkie" fairy took it bye bye and I had to repeat myself a couple of times and told her she was a big girl and big girls don't need a "nukkie". She was fine and never asked about it again. I was shocked b/c she really, really liked her "nuk". Good Luck !!

When my oldest was 2 1/2, her peditrician told us to start talking about sending the paci up to the angles for the new babies about to be born. We talked it up for awhile and then when we decided it was time we had her sit with us and write a letter to the angles about how she wants her paci to be given to a new baby. Then we tied it to a string with a ton of balloons and sent it off with the note, to the angels. We made sure she watched it until she couldn't see it anymore and that was that. It really worked. Now my other 2 were really young when I got rid of it and were sick so I threw them all away and that was the end of pacis! It's a wonderful feelign not to have them anymore! It may be what my bestfriend calls "hell week" going cold turkey but they do get passed it. Good luck!
K. :0)

I have 3 kids and all were addicted to the pacifier. I think the best way is to talk to her and tell her she is a big girl and needs to give her pacifiers to a baby who needs them. Give them all away(throw them without her seeing). It will only take about 2 days. My kids dealt with it better than me. I had a hard time giving up "my baby". She will be fine quickly.

I got rid of my daughters... we just threw it in the trash and it was gone. We had one bad night. She has asked for it a few times but I just remind her that we threw it in the trash.
You could always try putting them under the Christmas tree and have Santa take them for the other babies. (not sure if you celebrate Christmas)
Best of luck to you!

My oldest was seriously hooked on her nuk.. At age 2 we went to only having it in bed. On her 3rd bday we told her that big girls don't use nuks, and we took her to Build-a-Bear workshop. She chose a bear, dropped her nuk inside, and we told her that she can sleep with her Nuk Bear now instead of having the nuk in her mouth. It was very rough the first night- she was screaming at me to cut the bear open! Each night it got easier and after a week it was over. Now at almost 5, she thinks it's funny that she can feel her old nuk inside the bear! With my younger daughter, we stopped cold turkey at 20 months due to a mouth injury, and it was so much easier. Throwing it away in front of the child seems a little harsh to me, but I'm a softie! I think the younger they are, the easier it is. Good luck... just thought I'd share my experiences.

We let our daughter have it just as night until we finally had to take it away all together at 3. Her speech wasn't as clear as it should be and she was having temper tantrums for it during the day. We let her pick out a special box from the store for it. Then we took pictures of her with it and had her put it in the box. We tied the box up with a big special ribbon and placed it on top of the garage with her other special baby items. We told her that we knew it was special and we would not throw it away or give it away. We would save it for her to give to her little girl when she's a mommy. She cried going to sleep that night for 1 1/2 hours. I held her and even let her sleep with us that night. I told her she was a big girl and could do hard things. After finally falling asleep, she was fine the rest of the night. She did ask for it the next day but was ok when I reminded her that we put it away. Other people suggested giving it to a new baby but that was definitely NOT ok with her. Letting her "keep" it seemed to work for her. Good luck!

We weaned our little girl starting at 18 months. At that point, she would only have it when sleeping (naps or at night). A couple of rough patches, but nothing too bad since she really wasn't hooked on it except for sleeping.

A little bit before her 2nd birthday, we cut a small hole in a couple of binkies (we kept a couple without holes for the sitter to use in case of emergency). She took the binkies, realized that they were "icky and broken" after sucking on them for a few seconds, and asked for different ones (and of course, we kept giving her the ones with the hole). We kept telling her that we were sorry; that there were only icky and broken ones; and that she wouldn't need them since they were icky and broken, and that she was big girl. Once again, a couple of rough naps and sleeping nights, but I think she was done within 3 or 4 days.

What's funny is that we just so happen to come across one of her binkies recently, she now calls them "icky binkies" and has no desire to have one.

I am sorry if this is a repeated post but I have had a few friends do this and its the best time since we are so close to Christmas.

Talk to your daughter about other children needing a pacifier and how she can help. Ask her to help you gather up all her pacis so on Christmas night when Santa clause comes he can see that she has left her pacis for him to pick up for other children around the world that do not have a paci... it can be her way to help others.

I hope this helps.

I have heard the "Pacifier Fairy" works like a dream. Please note, I have not had this experience personally, but friends have and it worked great for them. Basically it works like the Tooth Fairy - you tell her that she has hit the age where the pacifier fairy needs to come to take the pacifiers to little babies who really need them. Also tell her the Pacifier Fairy will leave her a "big girl" gift in exchange for the pacifiers. Make a game out of gathering up all the pacifiers and place them in a box or container (you can decorate it too) and leave them in a special place for the "Pacifier Fairy" to take them and leave her the gift.

cold turkey is what i did at 27 mos with my younger daughter. It took ONE night really and then it was done. I just told her that we were done and it was time to get rid of them. I actually cut the tips off of all of them cause they were so yucky by then and she decided they were all bad and tossed them out. That night she cried and cried for more but after that she was done.

Our daughter was 2 1/2 and we told her we were giving them to Santa. We put them all in an envelope and she said goodbye to them because she was being a big girl. The first couple of nights were pretty bad with the tears and screaming but she got over it. Make it into something more special and acknowledge her being a big girl to not make it as harsh as your doctor told you to do. The sooner she gives it up, the better for her teeth!! (My mom works for an ortho so I've heard that speech forever.) Good luck to you!

Wow! That is some pretty harsh advice from the ped. I have a completely different belief when it comes to pacifiers and thumb sucking, etc. My oldest, now 6, sucked her thumb until she was a little over 5. She only sucked it at night and sometimes in the car. She gave it up completely on her own after she lost her first tooth. I told her she was a big girl and sucking her thumb would make her grown up tooth crooked and that was it, she stopped. My younger daughter is 3 1/2 and just gave up her pacifier about 3 weeks ago. She loved it, but was only allowed to have it at night, in the car, or if she was really upset after getting hurt. I had concerns about how i'd get rid of it with her, but, didn't think about it too much. Honestly, my opinion is, "how dare i take something away from her that is a source of comfort". It just didn't seem right. I also never had any sort of pressure from a pediatrician or dentist to make them stop. I really believe children will stop when they are ready and the less you worry about it, the better off everyone is. I swear I never thought my 3 year old would give up her pacifier, but, she did. A few weeks ago i noticed it was causing some red spots around her mouth and I told her it was from the pacifier and maybe she should stop sucking it at night so the red dots would go away. And, she did! I couldn't believe it! We still have them around the house because i have a 1 year old that sucks them from time to time and she never asks for it. I am amazed! My baby is funny.....he sucks a pacifier occasionally and always sucks his thumb as soon as i put him down for a nap and at bedtime, but, that is it. I'm sure I'll do the same with him and not pressure him to give it up.....eventually, it'll happen. Good luck and my advice is to let her use the pacifier until she wants to give it up. It's really not hurting anything and it is helping something.

i agree with stopping cold turkey. my oldest took a paci and we took it away from her at 13 months. she cried for the first 2 nights, but then she forgot about it. during the day, she didn't care at all! it was just 2 (i think) nights of crying. but she'd give up and go to sleep. if i'm not mistaken, we did it on a night my hubby didn't have to work the next day....we figured we'd be up w/her crying. :)

good luck!

With both of my kids after they went for their 2 year check up they never seen the pacifier again. I told them that the doctor kept it. They were big kids now. With in a couple of days they forgot about it.

Um no!!!!

Do not use throwing the paci away as a punishment! She will see it as that and will resent you, nor will she understand why.

There are two different ways to do this:

1. Get a Box and ask her to put alllllll of her pacis in it. Have her help you wrap it up....put it under the tree for Santa....Explain to her that Santa is going to give your pacis to new babies who need them and because you were so nice, Santa is going to leave you something special in its place!!

(Most 2 yr olds will think its a great idea...my daughter did it and was so proud to "help" new babies, she told everyone!)

2. Have a balloon party, go to a park, get a helium filled balloon and tie the paci to the string, then let her say goodbye to it and tell her that the balloon is taking your paci to the babies in heaven.

But honestly, DO NOT throw it away. it will create a HUGE war, power struggle, and tantrums. Why make her sad/upset/mad when you can show her that she's helping other babies by being a BIG GIRL and giving her pacis to children that need them??

Cold turkey might be effective but it's unnecessarily harsh. Pediatricians unfortunately don't always know about child development or how to best support children emotionally. We went for a longer but easier process. First, we told our son he could only use the pacifier when sleeping, because during the day we needed to be able to hear him talk. He was fine with this, if he asked for it we just told him "later." Then we told him he could pick out something new and special to sleep with since he was growing up. We went shopping and he picked out a new stuffed animal. We asked him if he wanted to throw out the pacifier or keep it in a box in his dresser, and he chose the box. He never used it again though. He was over 2 1/2 before we got rid of it entirely, but it was a very easy process with us working with him instead of against him. He's 18 now, a great kid, even as a teen!

Whatever you decide to do, make sure she doesn't substitute her thumb for the pacifier. It can do more damage to the structure of her mouth, and she can't lose it.

I agree with getting rid of it cold turkey. We had our daughter put all of her paci's into a basket and discussed that we were going to give them to little bitty babies (after explaining that she was a big girl and no longer needed it).

She cried the first night and then never asked for them again....and she has never used her thumb. We did the same thing for her bottles, too. Actually, we got rid of the bottles at one year and the paci's a couple of months later.

we got rid of the pacifier cold turkey when our boys were 18mo. we just told them, "no more pacifier" and put them all away. it took about a week for them to be back to normal.

it's easier to take away the pacifier when they're still sleeping in a crib because they're stuck, and you can just let them cry it out to deal with it.

whatever you decide, it takes strong-willed parenting, but it's so worth it. and once you make up your mind, don't look back. you can do it!

I would start with only during sleep to let her have it, then go cold turkey from there. We are going to do this with my son (16months) soon. Maybe over Christmas. If he does not see it, he does not ask for it most of the time. My girlfriend talked to her daughter daily for about a week and said that the binki is going away and she did very well and has been weened for a while now. Good luck.

I wouldn't worry about it so much. My daughter gave up the binky a little after age 3...we had a new sister and potty training ahead of the binky in the priority list of big transitions. What we did, as things worked out, was that she gave up the binky for a new swingset in the backyard. Maybe you can tie it in if there are any developments coming at your house, say a big-girl bed? When she was 3 she was sad and we did have a rough night or two putting her to sleep, but she understood.

We've found the cold turkey method to be extremely effective in many situations with both kids. I know it sounds harsh, but I'd go with what the doctor told you. Within a day or two, all will be well. It's always tougher on the patents than it is on the kids! I don't know why we make things so hard on ourselves sometimes. Tell your child that he/she is a big kid now and that pacifiers are for babies. Then walk to the trash and throw them all away. Then celebrate with your child.