Getting Rid of the Plug!

Hi!
My son was very attached to his pacifier, his Nu Nu as he called it. I told him we were going to put the Nu Nu's in an evelope and mail them to the babies (he likes to mail things). I let him put them in all by himself, and told him was big now. He asked for it the first night, and I reminded him that he mailed them to the babies. I attached a note for the mail lady to throw them away. The next day she wrote a thank you note to my son from all the babies. He was very happy to receive the note and carried it around for days. The first few days without Nu nu were hard, but after that he forgot all about it. Good luck!!

My son is 2-1/2 and I have just gotten him off and it was much easier than I thought it was going to be. First, I cut a tiny hole in the tip - he was confused by it but he was still putting it in his mouth and just kinda chewing on it. A couple of days later I made the whole a bit bigger and now he'll ask for it at nap/bedtime and I'll hand it to him, he'll look at it and say, "no ra-ra" (that's what he's always called his pacifer). I think he doesn't fall asleep as smoothly but it's only been about 2 weeks. GOOD LUCK!

For both of my children I took my pediatricians advice...We let the supply dwindle down and kept talking about how big he/she was getting and then when we had only 1 pacifier left we cut the end off when they weren't looking. When they found the broken paci and tried to use it they were confused but not upset (we just told them it must have broken)...I'd say we had 2 or 3 tough days but nothing horrible. Good Luck

Hi K.,
Just throw it out all together! Don't keep any for just in case or you will cave in and give it to her. Our Dr. told us it is confusing for kids to have it sometimes and not others. We replaced with a special stuffed bear and it was rough for a couple of days but then everything was fine.
Good Luck!

Hi. We had the same issue with both my boys. For the older one, I tried a trick that I had read to put a tiny hole in the end of the pacifier so that it would flatten out when sucked on. That worked great for him, but not my youngest. When my now 3.5 year old son 2.5 we decided he could leave it as a gift for Santa, right next to the cookies and milk. (Of course I worried that this might scar him for life and he may never enjoy Christmas again, but it actually worked perfectly.) He asked for it once or twice after, but when we explained that he had given it to Santa and that Santa loved the gift, it made him feel better. I hope you find something that works. :)

We used a great story with my sons "binky". We told him a binky fairy needed his binky for other babys. We gave him a basket and asked him to put his binky in the basket to give to the fairy (We did this early in the day, so he had a chance to get used to it before nap time and bed time). He was happy to do this and thought it was fun. To our amazement no problem or crying at all. We put the basket outside in a tree and told him the next morning we would check if it was still there or if the fairy came to take it away. He was very excited to check the next day. When it was gone he was happy. He asked for it back a few times in the days that followed, but we just reminded him that it is with another baby now and he was fine. We did keep one pacifier around in case of emergency, but luckily we never needed it. Good Luck I hope it works out for you and your daughter.

My daughter will be two in a month, and her pediatric dentist actually told me not to try and take her pacifier away from her yet (she also just uses it at night). He said that often times he sees parents take away the pacifier and the kid resorts to sucking his thumb, which he said is much harder to break. Of course there are plenty of kids that get the pacifier taken away and are just fine...I just thought I would throw that out there. Good luck with whatever you decide to do!

I know exactly where you are coming from. My daughter has been attached to the pacifier since birth and turning two in april! However I said its time it goes bye bye so I limited the time frame to have the pacifier like you did. Then one day when she was napping in the crib I took it out of her mouth. She woke up asking for it and I said where did it go? and she started looking in her room and everywhere. She forgot about, she got sidetracked. She would continually ask me where did IT go and I kept saying I dont know where is it at? She would look for it and over and over we would go through this. Bedtime was the worst but trust me he screaming for her pacifier for an hour was hard to listen to but that was the only night she screamed. IShe would ask wheres it at and I would just say I dont know! Like I said first night = rough but today = no pacifier! She has been off of it for 4 weeks now. Doesnt faze her that other babies have either. So this is what worked for my daughter. Good luck!

Check on her during the night to see when she has dropped the pacifier. Take it and throw it away in garbage then when she looks for it, the paci fairy must have taken it away because she's such a big girl now. Polish her nails or do something "grown up" the next day.

We just went thru this with our son! We waited until he wanted something "bad" enough that HE would take HIS pacifiers to the man/woman at the store (in our case it was a skateboard from target) and exchange them for the toy. Finally, one day, he decided to do it. He cried/whined about not having them (around bed/nap time) for a few days, but we continued to remind him that HE gave them to the man at target for his skateboard. We would also tell him every time he woke how proud we were of him that he was a "big boy" now and didn't sleep with his pacis. Finally, around the 4-5 day, he came to me and said "I'm a big boy now, Mommy, I don't sleep with my pacis." I'm suprised by how "easy" it ended up being. I have to tell you that he was IN LOVE with his pacis and when others would tell me their stories, I always thought it would be harder for our situation, because he was SO attached. I'm still amazed. Good luck!

A month prior to my son's second birthday we packaged up all the pacis and headed to Toys R Us where he helped select a "big boy toy." We then took the toy and the bag of pacis to the register where he paid for the toy with his pacis. (Husband took him to the car with the toy while I paid for the toy and got the bag back for baby #2.)

We got home, set up the toy and he played. That night he asked for a paci and we reminded him that he bought his train with them. He understood. He asked again the next night and maybe the third but it was all matter of fact. No tears, no drama. The toy was a visual reminder of where his pacis went and it seemed he had much more fun playing with that than having a paci at night.

We made a pact that we would not give in unless he was sick/hurt and really needed the extra comfort but it was a non-issue for us.

Good luck in whatever you decide to do. I loved our approach b/c I couldn't see letting him cry it out - too heartbreaking for me.

you are on the right track with keeping it to set times. After a while of that you can restrict it more (only in her bed, even if she is upset). But what we had to ultimately do was cold turkey. It was a VERY hard first night, but after that she was fine. She was 29 mos old, long been potty trained but tossing that paci was much harder to do! LOL

My kids all love the plug. Our dentist said it is no big deal until 3-4 yrs old. My first child gave it up right after she turned 3. We took it to the dentist and I had already dropped off a gift, lovie and Princess, he brought in the gifts and exchanged the plug for the lovies. It went really well. The only problem was that she stopped napping the week we turned in the plug. My kids, including the 1yr old only use the plugs for sleeping. We are trading in the 3yr olds plug soon!

Good Luck

The way I weaned my daughter off of the pacifier was by cutting the tip of the pacifier little by little each day with out her knowing. The pacifier does not work well cut nor does it feel good or the same anymore for them after a week give or take they don't even want it anymore. It took my daughter a good week. Whenshe would ask for it I would show her the cut pacifier and tell her look you see yuk then she wouldn't want it. It worked for her so try it. But the secret is to cut a little piece everyday until she can't suck on it anymore. IT will probably be a little difficult for you at first but just stand strong. Don't give in

Hi K.,

I have two kids who both used pacificers. The pacifier fairy came to our house when we left it under our bed and took it and left a really nice present. With my son he was a little more attached. We wrapped them up and gave them to a friends baby who also had a really nice gift for him as a Thank you. It was hard the first couple weeks, but they got over it. You may want to introduce a new blanket/pillow/teddy bear, that they can use as security before taking it away. It is more habit right now then anything.

Good luck!!

I just went through this w/ my 2 year old. When he was about 18 months we weaned him of it from durring the day by cutting the end of the pacifier and he said it was broken and didnt want it! So that honestly completely broke him of wanting it durring the day. He would only it at nap and bedtime. I tried the same thing to wean him from nap and bedtime...it didnt work! My husband had a talk with him and told him it was time to get rid of the "flower" and that it was going bye bye and Mason said ok, so my husband hid them and it took about 4 days for him to quit asking for it but he did so good! My Pediatrician also told us to just do it cold turkey and I didnt want to loose sleep but he did so good. He woke up 3 times the first night and 1 time the next 3 nights but every since he hasn't asked for it and doesnt wake up and its been almost 2 months now! We also have a new baby and I was afraid he would take her Pacy from her and he never tried to take it.
Good Luck!

After much build up, we had a "Lolly Party". There was a special dinner with my daughter's favorites and "Bye-Bye Lolly Day" sung to the tune of Happy Birthday. After dinner, her dad, brother (1.5 yr older), my daughter and I each had a 'lolly' and paraded around the house singing the whole while. The trash can from the kitchen was place in the middle of the kitchen and when we passed by, the lolly was deposited. Before she turned 2 my daughter knew that once something went into the garbage can, it did not come out. She never asked for one again; although truth be told I did have a couple reserves out of her eyesight just in case. Good Luck!

keep doing what you are doing. You can try to get rid of it all togehter by usin gthe paci fair., Take all the pacis put them in a cute gift bag tied witha bow string and hang them on a tree outside before her nap or bedtime and tell her the fairy will take them to the babies since she is not a baby anymore the fairy will bring her a new present. Get something she really really wnats put it in a new bag and switch it out so when she wakes up and runs out to the tree her new presnt is ther in exchange. Some moms even use the same bag so they know the pacis are gone out of the bag.
My kids used pacis at night etc like yours till they were almost three and when i took them to the dentist andthe dentis said to us see the hole in their mouths from the paci. we gasped and told them infront of the dentist no more pacis it is amking a hole in your mouth. They stopped from that day on! nuts, so you never knwo what will do it or click to them.
good luck and wait till you all are ready!
J.

This will sound simple, but challenging for most. Just don't give the pacifier. Let them cry it out. You'll probably have a very hard 3 days w/o it(because of all the crying that may come with not having it), but in the end, it will be better for both. Throw it out before you start & endure to the end!! You can do it!!

With our first, we gradually weaned him from his pacifier (we call it a pipe). It took forever and he was more aware of the times he didn't have it because he was still allowed to have at nap/bed time. We had to go cold turkey with the second. It was rough for a few days, but after those few days, it was over, they were gone, and never mentioned again.
Good luck!

Paci fairy worked for us! We talked about how the babies needed the pacis (had a friend with a baby out of town so this helped because he felt like he was giving them to someone special). My mom was going to visit the family so he collected all of them himself and put them in a special bag and my mom took them out of the house to help the paci fairy. Then to thank him for his gift and helping her the paci fairy left some special toys he picked out at the story. I bought them secretly and put them on his bed during his bath with daddy. Then when it was time to go to bed when he normally had a paci he had the toys. Don't get me wrong, it was still the hardest thing I have ever done for two or three days. (He told me to give the toys back for one paci...it was hard that night) But it worked and he feels happy and proud that he helped by giving them to someone who needed them. And he still identifies the toys as coming from the paci fairy. Overall, it ended well! It is hard for them no matter what. But Super h*** o* you!

One of my girlfriends quit cold turkey with her daughter's pacifier but I wanted to share the way she went about it. She found a friend (actually me) who was having a baby and then she and her 2 year old daughter gift wrapped up all of the pacifiers and gave them to me for my new baby. Whenever her daughter asked for a pacifier she was reminded that the new baby had them and he really needed them. I know she had a rough few days with her daughter but it definitely helped ease the transition. Good luck!
K.

I clipped a small hole in my daughter's pacifier. So, she started to lose interest in sucking on it. Every other week, I would make the hole slightly bigger. During this process, we also talked about big girls not needing a pacifier, and what we should do with it on her birthday. We ended up going to Build-a-Bear and she put her pacifier in an animal she picked out. Her animal is named "Paci".

Good luck!

For 2 weeks or so we talked about the binky fairy coming to take the binky away and would leave something instead (like a furry stuffed animal). Then one night, sure as we talked about it, the binky was gone and a stuffed animal was left there!!The binky fairy had come!! unfortunately, we still had 3 nights of crying to endure, but finally it stopped! Good luck, be strong!!