My 2 Yr Old Still on Pacifier

Maybe I'm in the minority, but if your dentist isn't concerned and there are no medical issues, what's wrong with a pacifier? Besides what other people think, what does your gut tell you? My 8-year-old had one at night until he was 3 1/2 (I know some of you are just shaking your heads right now) and his dentist never believed me when I told him he used one. He is now a very bright, totally well-adjusted 8-year-old who brings me joy every minute...even if he did have a "dat-dat" longer than his grandmothers would have liked.

We cut the tip of the pacifier. I remember the puzzled look on my son's face as he declared it "broken". He kept going back to it for a couple days and then decided it wasn't worth it. My daughter was more attached to hers, so we had to cut it several times until it became short enough that she gave up. There was very little (if any) crying about it with either of them. And because they were allowed to use the broken paci if they wanted, it made it seem like it was their own idea to quit using it. If you try this, just make sure that all the pacifiers get cut at the same time (or better yet, get rid of all but one, and then let the last one "break"). Good luck!

S.,

Cut the tip of the pacifier. He will lose interest quickly. Also, you could box up the pacifiers and give them to the "binky fairy". Replace the pacifiers with a nice new toy or cuddle item for bedtime (stuffed animal, blanket, taggie blanket etc).

Hope this helps---

Molly

My daughter was the same age when we started to snip hers. At first, just a tiny pin prick, then snipped the top off. She was a die hard paci user and we had to cut it over and over until she could no longer keep it in her mouth because it was too short. It was a rather painless way to get rid of it, but she stopped napping consistently when the paci was gone. Although nap time was harder, she was fine going to bed at night just fine without it. Good luck on whatever you decide.

The 'cutting' idea is very interesting and very well will probably work... However our little 3yr old just gave hers up 4mths ago. Her upper lip became allergic and itchy so she understood why and didn't want it anymore! Anyway, we can already see that her teeth have moved back into place and no longer pertrude (sp?) She just used hers for sleeping as well... Good Luck!

Hi S.,
I agree with all the other moms, actually. If the dentist is fine with it, then who cares if he still has a binky? We had to break our die-hard binky lovin' toddler of it when she turned 2 because she used it so much that it started to warp her palate. The dentist told us we had to stop using the binky immediately or she was going to have big problems. So... on the advice of another mom, I cut the tip off the binky. My daughter told me it was broken, went to the binky drawer (yeah, we had a whole DRAWER of them in the kitchen) and when she discovered that all of them were broken, she just gave them up. Simple as that. No crying, no fuss. She would still put them in her mouth for a minute or two, but after a day of that, she wanted nothing more to do with them. I swear you could have knocked me over with a feather! I was braced for a big battle but it didn't come. So that is my recommendation if you want to get rid of the binkies - just cut the tip off and proceed as usual. Your child will do the rest!