Help Loosing the Pacifier!

Hi K.,

My son was almost 2 before we got rid of ours and what we would do is gradually "lose" them.(actually throw them away) We would tell him that it was lost and sometimes he would go look for it but get sidetracked with a toy or whatnot. One day another one would be gone and then another until finally they are all gone and resist going to buy any more.(thats the hard part) He may fuss alittle but eventually he wont care anymore. Hope this helps.

1 mom found this helpful

I agree, I have some friends who had the same problem, and they cut the tips off so when the kid sucked, he just got air...they told him it was broken and they got rid of them. He had a few rough nights, and they are trying to get him attached to something else, which I don't think is a good idea either, but I watch him every day now and he goes down for a nap just fine, no binky, and whatever blankie is there.

My daughter never wanted the binky, I forced it on her when she was a newborn but she would usually just spit it out...she is really attached to a blankie though, it's big, thick and fuzzy, I used to swaddle her in it, now she has to bring it everywhere, and always sleep with it, no matter what the weather!

This one worked better than I hoped when someone suggested I try it...
My son was down to the binky only at naptime and bedtime. Someone suggested that I dip it in vinegar before I give it to him. OMG, the look on his face was SOOO funny! I know it sounds means but it was a safe, harmless aversion therapy that worked. Within two days, if I tried to give it to him, he threw it on the floor.

Hello,
I have 25 month old twin boys that I broke from the binki recently.
I started out saying that they could only have the binki at bedtimes...but I finally just had to take them away cold Turkey. My boys were almost 2 when I did that, though. They cried for the first couple of nights, but then they were fine.
I hope this helps!
~S.

I wouldn't go cold turkey but, you might try weaning him off of it, like you would if it was a bottle. Give him something else of interest and see how that works. Maybe he has a favorite blanket he could sleep with or a stuffed animal. He may just take himself off of the paci in his own time if you let him. How are you going to explain to him that he's going to be a big brother now? Let him know he needs to let go of his binky and show his little brother or sister, depending on if you're going to find out or not, that he's a big boy and doesn't need a paci like his little bro or sis.

Anyways, that's just a suggestion. That might be something I'd try with my daughter if I thought she might understand. At 14 months they're able to comprehend more than we think they can and he might just understand wht you're saying. It may not make sense to him but, if you take away his paci at times that you want to spend with him or play or such. Tell him that big boys don't play with their paci's in their mouths the let sombody else (cartoon character, superhero, etc.) take care of their paci's while they play. That might persuade him to give up his binky more often. Someday he'll never remember ever sucking on a pacifier

My daughter was about the same age. And there was another baby around 9 months old who had a pacifier. And I told her that she is a big girl now and we should give the baby her pacifiers.So we gathered all of her binky's together and put them in a bag and gave them to the baby (just to be symbolic) we had a couple of hard nap times. But by the end of the week she was binky free! It worked for us at least.

Hello K.,
I also went through this. Quite badly! My daughter was almost three and it was starting to affect her speech as well as her teeth. We asked her doctor and she gave us advice that worked great. She told us to talk to her about the binky fairy. Warn her ahead of time about the binky fairy (same kinda thing as the tooth fairy) and then all at once, while she is sleeping, throw them all out and then talk to her again and tell her that the binky fairy must have come. I know it really sounds rediculous but it really did work great. Whenever the subject came up, she just said, the binky fairy took my binky's. Good luck with this.

Hi K.,

My son is 15 months old, and we just went through this. I would recommend cold turkey. I know this will be hard, but if you don't do it cold turkey how will you decide whether or not a particular episode should be entitled to the binky or not? It was a difficult 3-4 days, and now my son's "routines" are all different and he actually sleeps and naps less, but the good news is that he is totally off the binky. We actually just went on a short vacation, and I brought a binky for the plane because my son has a real problem with sitting still during take off and landing. Sure enough he cried like crazy on take off and when I whipped out the binky...needless to stay he spit it right out. Didn't even know what it was!

So good luck!

H.

my son was also bad with the binki and we just took it away for a while i would give it to him just for like night time but after a while i just took it away it was hard at first he would screem but it git better...

K.,
I am right there with you. We just took the plunge this weekend to get my daughter off hers completely. We cut her back to just naps and night time use about a month ago..then I took the nap one away and just this weekend the night time one. We ended up cutting the top of the nipple off so that when she sucked on it she couldn't. She was upset at first but we "tried" to fix it but couldn't so we just told her that it was broke. I asked her if she wanted to hold it to go to sleep and she did....that lasted about 20 minutes then she was crying over it again. She actually ended up wanting to just throw it away because it was broke. I had her put it in the garbage and she has done great since. Good luck with it.
A.

My son loved his binky too! I tried many things. Even going as far as hiding them and cutting the ends off. (I don't recommend that, it was too traumatic for him!) I read in Parenting magazine a few techniques. I used to sneak in at night and take the binky out of his mouth. I would leave it in his crib, just not readily within reach. A lot of it includes talking about it, working up to an actual voluntary release of the pacifier. Right before he turned 2, I told him he was a big boy and the other babies of the world needed the binkys. I explained that other kids that he admired and were older didn't have binkys. We went cold turkey the night of his 2nd birthday. It was a little hard, but he seemed to like the term "big boy" and no longer a "baby". We had a few backslides when he would get sick or hurt but overall he got rid of it. Maybe in about 8 months you can do the same and tell him it is time to give his binky up to the new baby! There is also a technique of the "Binky Fairy" and putting the binkys on the bedroom windowsill. It may take a few nights before he will keep it on the windowsill to be picked up by the "Binky Fairy".
Good luck!

Cut the tip of the nipple a little at a time so it slowly loses more suction. Also, limit it to just car rides, nap times and bed times. Then just nap times and bed times, then just bed. This will take a couple of weeks and the more you cut off, the less he'll keep it in his mouth. The last week of not having it at all will be the hardest but you could try substituting it with a sippy cup of water. Good luck!

K.,

Start by limiting binkys to one or two then start cutting just a little of the tip off,go a week and cut more off it and so until it will start to lose the "suction" but he will still have the binky for awhile until he either gets absolutely tired of it because it isnt providing him with what he wants or there wont be anything there to suck on. I did this and he was done with it after two weeks because it didnt sooth him anymore. Good luck!

Hi K.-
My son was a binky addict until he was almost 3. Then he packed them all up and tossed them. Of course that night he cried for a few minutes but we reminded him that he was big now and didn't need them. He asked for them every night for about 3 weeks. Then he quit asking. Before he was born, I did daycare and at 12 months binky's and bottles were gone. That's the way it is. There was no way I could take it away when my son turned one. Then he was two and I still didn't think it was time. If you think your son is ready to give it up, you can try poking holes in it. Then you can tell him he is getting big and his teeth are breaking the binky's. Or you can try cold turkey.
Best of luck!

I'm not a big fan of taking pacifiers away from toddlers. Mostly because my husband has alot of people in his family who suck on their fingers (some until well into adulthood) and in my opinion a pacifier does far less damage to the teeth than fingers do. I let all of my children keep their pacifiers until they were ready to get rid of them. They all let me know. My oldest (who is now 15) was 4 and threw his out of the buggy at Target. I just kept walking and the pacifier was never seen again. My husband took my youngest son's (now 6) away at about 18 months. He started sucking on his fingers so I gave it back. He threw his out of the car window about a year later and that was that. My daugher recently (at 3) just lost interest in the pacifier and stopped wanting it. In contrast, my 12 year old step son had his pacifier taken away at around 1 year. We're still trying to get him to stop sucking on his fingers.

I just think the child will let the pacifier go when they're ready. It may not be when we as parents are ready to see them go, but what harm is it really doing to let them have it? And with all of the changes coming up in your home, he'll need that comfort object. Blankets and bears get dirty and breed germs but a pacifier can be thrown in the dishwasher and cleaned in a few minutes. And they take up much less room.

I started by just giving it to my daughter only when she really needed it, then only at bed time and then I slowly took it away. It worked for me but I was suprised at how well it worked I think she just was ready to give it up.

Dip them in unsweeted grapefruit juice befor you give them to him if he doesn't like the taste he won't want the binkie.

I was in the same predicament. My oldest was almost 2 when my 2nd was coming. I thought of breaking him of the binky, but thought it would be too hard once the new baby came. One day for some reason I started putting the binky in the kitchen cabinet rather than having it laying around where he could see it all the time. It soon became out of sight, out of mind & he weaned himself! My 2nd son never toook one anyway, thank goodness! Good luck!

Nel

Try this take a colorful bag and hang it in a tree outside your home. Tell your child that the binky fairy needs his binky's for the little babies. Take him with you and put all the binky's in the bag and tell him that when the binky fairy comes to get them she will leave him a special present. Get him a present like a new truck or something that he will really like. This should work I seen it on The Nanny show you know the one from England on Channel 4 and I have seen it done and it really works. So try that. Hope this helps.

Well a little thing that worked with all four of my children was to have a big kid party just for them. This would include a few friends or maybe just the family. Go out and get the works a cake and a few little gifts. One of the gifts to be a blanket or a stuffed teddy bear that might be a replacement for the pacifier. You give them this party and make a big deal out of them becoming a big kid and as part of the party you have them throw away the pacifier. This worked for all four of my children with both the pacifier and the bottle. They loved to have a little party just for them to show what a big kid they were. I have also passed this on to several friends and it has worked with them. I would start suggesting it to the child a couple of weeks before doing it so that the child gets excided about it and talk to them about throwing the pacifier away. This alows the child to get use to the idea and to when it finlly happens to think that it is there Idea to throw it away. I hope that this will help you out some. Good luck and stay strong. God Bless J.

my friends son just made 2 and he was attached to his nuki too! She gradually got him off of it. First she told him that he can only have it if he stays in his crib. Being a very active 2 year old, this didnt work for him so he didnt ask for it as much. At night time after he got used to having it only in his crib she told him that he could have it but that he could only hold it and not put it in his mouth so he held it all night. He's asked for it once since then and she told him that she threw it away. now he doesnt even ask for it. She said that it was alot easier than she thought it would be because he was really attached!

With my daughter we started limiting the binky to only nap time and night time, then after a week we took it away at nap time and only gave it to her at night time. Then after a few weeks we took it cold turkey from nighttime. We let her cry and after that night she was binky free.

So just try weening him slowly... only giving it to him at certain times of the day or night and stay with what you choose... and limit it more and more till you get to take it away entirely. Its a bit of a long process but it works and I find it easier on the child and the parents.

I once saw in a show that a mom told her child that there were other little ones that need binki's and that the binki fairy comes and gets them(from where ever you put them) and that he now is going to be the big brother and that the binki's will help other little ones. If that doesn't work when was the last time you saw someone at their high school graduation with a binki. If you think having another baby is stressful what do you think it is for your son? Here comes someone to replace what he thinks is his space and time. Just take your time and be patient.

I think cold turkey is the only way to go. Otherwise you'll just want to give in. Just throw them away. That's what I did with both of my kids, and it'll be a rough couple of days, but then he'll get used to it.

I will tell you what our pediatrician told us (we never got a chance to test his theory as my dd weaned from paci's at 4 months. She decided I was a much better paci).

He said to take one of those paci holders... the ones that hook the paci and hook to clothing... and hook it to a stuffed animal. A stuffed animal heavy enough that they have to hold the animal with their hand (so they can't walk around with the paci in their mouth without holding it). Once they have to work at keeping it in their mouth, while trying to do tasks, they will not use it as much. BUT.. there is another side to it.

Keep the stuffed animal with the paci at all times. They learn to associate the comfort they have with the paci, with the stuffed animal. So, after a month or so, you can take the paci away, and they will still feel comforted with the animal.

Made sense to us.

We did it by cuting off the nipple part, and telling him he's too big to have it and his teeth bit through. :P he threw them away, so that way it was him getting rid of it, and not us. it worked for us. :) *hugs* and good luck! congrats BTW

Hello K.!! When I weaned my daughter off of the binky (like youys, she LOVED hers) we started slow. Giving it only at bedtime. We praised her for being a "big girl" at nap time and going to sleep with out it. Once we had naptime taken care of, we moved to bedtime and started spacing it out (every day for a couple weeks, every other day for a couple of weeks, every third day for a couple of weeks, then taking it away completely). We also slowly started "losing them"... telling her that the one in her bad was the LAST one, and it was for night-night only.

You can also try replacing it with a snugli or teddy bear too.

Hope this helps!!

Hi K.,

My pediatrician suggested not giving the binky at one of the nap times first, and then two, and then night-time. I thought it would be awful, but it really wasn't.

I started by not giving it to her at a nap-time, as recommended, and I just didn't have any problems with Gia compaining too much or not accepting it. In fact it went so smoothly that I was surprised.

Good luck!

With my 3 kids i didn't mean to get them off it,it just happened. For some reason the fav. binkie would disappear and i would look for it. In the mean time I would try to give them another one,but that wouldn't take it. By the time I would find the binkie they didn't want it anymore. lol

my daughter is 18mos and she still has her binky and i don't plan on taking it away till she turns 2. with my son we just cut the tip off a little bit and gave it to him and he didn't like that very well, he didn't even want it after he stuck it in his mouth and you know he didn't even cry for another one. I think it took him a little longer to go to sleep that night but if they are tired enough then they will do without.