Looking for Ideas on How to Rid My 14 Month Old of His Pacifier

The way i had gotten rid of my Daughters was i put a lil bit of olive oil on it, She didnt like the taste so she didnt want it any more. We told her it tasted like that because she was a big girl now not a baby. Its perfectly safe and we actually got the idea from her ped. Anything the baby wont like the taste of a bit a fish oil or castors smudged on it we went with olive cus its kind of bitter, niether are bad and it really worked quick.

Hi T.,
We cut the tip of the pacifier, this makes it hard for them to suck and it worked great! It only took one day for her to throw it away because is was "broken".

Hope that helps!

The best advice we had was from a pediatric dentist. We poked holes in our daughters pacifier thus taking away the sucking ability. She carried them around with her for a few weeks, but would not put them in her mouth.

Thanks for asking this question, my daughter is 18 months and she also gets it when she takes a nap and goes to bed, or is extremly cranky.
I enjoyed reading all of the responses and I plan on telling her that for her 2nd birthday that the "fairy" or whatever will come and take the binky for all the new little babies.
Good luck and let me know what you decide to do!
C.

Hi! We had that same problem. My son was almost 3 when the "binky fairy" came. He was sooooo attached to his binky that we thought he would have it when he started school. We took the binky when he woke up, he only used it for nap and night time. When he went to take a nap there was candy and a stuffed animal under his pillow where the binky ususally was. I would definately do it at nap time first because he threw a fit. It took about an hour for him to go to sleep and he kept getting out of his bed. Eventually he fell asleep on his own and that night it was a little easier. I think it took 45 minutes. It was hard though. Good luck!

I know that I will be going through the same issue when my son gets to be that old as he is so attached to his pacifier. He only uses it when he sleeps, but he has gotten so dependent on it that he can't fall asleep without it. I do have a suggestion though - I have friends that went through the same thing and they kept telling their little boy weeks and weeks in advance that on a certain day (his birthday actually) they were going to get rid of it because he is going to be a big boy and that big boys don't use pacifiers. Now their child was 3 I believe so it was a little different, but when his birthday rolled around his dad took all the pacifiers in the house and showed them to his son and told him that they were going in the trash and that is exactly what happened to them. The boy didn't even cry or anything. It was as if he just needed a definite day when they were going to be gone for good. I am hoping that same strategy works for me, but every child is different. I don't let him have his pacifier at all unless he is sleeping so I don't see it being that big of an issue because it isn't like we are taking him out on the town and everyone is seeing him with a pacifier you know. I don't really mind so much that he uses it at home. Let me know what ends up working for you as my son is only 10 months old, but so attached to his pacifier.

Hi T.,

I had my daughter evaluated for speech at about 2 yrs (she still selpt with a pacificer). They suggested cutting a slit at the end of the pacifier (at the tip along the longer part of of the pacifier). It worked wonderfully. After a couple of days we cut the tip off. Then after a couple of more days we put it away and when she asked for it we told her we threw it away becuase it was broken. She no longer was dependent on it and the transition went very smoothly. Good Luck!

T.,
You've gotten some great responses, but jsut wantecd to share mine too. We took the paci away at 14 months with my son - cold turkey. We never called it anything, so he never had a word for it either. It was harder on me than it was for him. I was afraid that we were depriving him of something - it was silly. He was fine after a couple of days - no more than a week if memory serves me correctly.

Best of luck!
B.

Hi T.. We took our son's pacifier away at 6 months...cold turkey. We had already downsized from full-time to only at bedtime. So, I'd say you pretty much have the battle won. It only took us a couple of days and it was gone. Of course, yours is much older and wiser, so I like the idea of telling him ahead of time about something special happening the pacifier goes away. Good luck!

T.,

I had the same issue, however, my husbands family had a wonderful transition idea that worked great. We started telling my daughter that when she was two, the "binki" (our name for it) fairy was going to come down and get it for the babies that really needed it, and in turn for being such a big girl she would get a suprise when she was sleeping. It's the whole tooth fairy thing with a twist. The night before her birthday she fell asleep like always, and woke up with it gone. The day was filled with activities to keep her mind off of the missing pacifier, and she got a special blanket to sleep with at night in case she needed something to snuggle with in the absence of the pacifier. I was amazed at how well it worked. She asked for it maybe 10 times total after that, but we reminded her that the babies really needed it and that she was a big girl now. And we have been "binki" free ever since without much argument on the subject.

Good luck, sometimes I think I was more attached to the calming effects of that thing than my child was.

Regards,
H. Stockholm
Working mom of a beautiful 3 yr old girl, and wife to a wonderful husband.

Throw it out and you won't be tempted to give it back when he wants it. He will be cranky for about a week and then he will get over it. It worked for all four of my kids.

Hi T.,
I guess being consistent is one thing. While you're working, is the babysitter doing what you're doing ie., only giving it to him a nap time? We had the same problem with Alexis and as soon as she bit a hole in "Fiker" [she couldn't say pacifier so she called it "Fiker."] I took her to the trash can and said, it's broken so let's throw it away. Opened the lid and she tossed it. From then on, NO MORE FIKER! So I suggest that if Jacob bites a hole in it, don't buy a new one to replace it. And if he doesn't bite a hole in it, you do it for him! Just kidding.....:-) I will tell you that if you think this is difficult, try working with a kid who never had a pacifier and sucks their fingers or thumb. At least a pacifier can be eventually left behind. Fingers and thumbs will never go away.

Good Luck
MichellD

I had almost this exact situation. We went cold turkey when she was about 20 months old. It was fairly easy for us, but for me the key was I let her sleep with us for a couple of nights. After that she never asked for it and went back to her own bed. Good luck.

Just wanted to say that alot of kids have a sucking need that continues on beyond 12 months. So, if you took him off the bottle and he's not nursing, he may still have that need to suck. Alot of kids have pacifiers older than your boy. Now if he gets to be 3 or 4 and still is having trouble giving it up, then I might be more concerned.

I actually had a problem like this with a pacifier, and I just took it away cold turkey after about a week of prepping my daughter for it by saying I had seen the "pacifier fairy" hanging around our house. I left little stickers under her pillow or in her pockets, etc. as evidence that the fairy was hanging around! I would tell her the fairy must know that she was getting to be a big girl and would come and take her pacifier and leave her a big present when she was grown-up enough.
I tried to make it sound very exciting and it worked! I think she made have cried a little bit a few days, but I reminded her how many grown-up "big-girl" things she was learning to do now and we didn't need it anymore. It was forgotten VERY quickly!
I have also transitioned her into going to sleep without rocking or being read to sleep, etc by setting a firm date and talking through it with her a lot before hand. Then once the date is here, we tough it out and celebrate when the goal is met for a set number of times (say 2 days) and get a special reward that she has been wanting (or a trip to the park, etc.)
If you don't want to use a fairy, I suppose you could change it to anything... imaginary superhero, or just magic, etc.
My daughter does not remember any of it now anyway!
Hope this helps!
-M. (mommy to soon-to-be-six-year-old Pixie)

I never had that issue but my sister did and what she had her 3 boys do around 18 months was give it to the mailman and she told them that some other little boy needed it more than them and when the mailman came around the next day they gave all the pacifiers to him. Good luck

Hi T.,

My son took the Pacilfier every so often, but it wasn't often that we ever saw it. The last time my husband saw our son with it was at 6 months and after that never saw it again and don't know why, but some people that I've asked about this tell me that they lose it somewhere on purpose and then tell them that the garbage man took it or some other excuse. Some people like you've been trying to do with the nap/ bedtime thing try and ween their kids off it. When I watched a kid years ago they threw them all out and the first night were up all night and the next night no problem with the kid wanting it, but I think it depends on the child. As my son carrys a blanket with him everywhere he goes and he's almost 2 and trying to get him to leave it is hard because he will cry for it, but I can take the crying and my husband well that's another story. Hope this helps a little.....
V. K.