Pacifier Fairy

I heard another suggestion that might be easier than taking it away or the paci fairy. Take her to build-a-bear. Have her pick a bear and put the last paci inside. That way she knows where it is and she has something new to cuddle. Good luck, its a hard one to deal with.

With my older 2 kids I just took the pacifier away....With my youngest, she too only got it in bed. Well one day I saw that it was time to exchange it out since it was getting icky. So I took it, but instead decided to try the method of cutting off the end. I brought it back into her and told her is was broken. She put it in her mouth and took it back out and told me it was broken. Yes that night and the next night it took her awhile to fall asleep, but after that she was fine. She still has her 12"X12" blankey, but no more nuk. She did find one in the car one day, but we took it away immediatly. We did this right before she was 2 1/2yrs old.

I just remembered that I still have a brand new pack and a partial pack in her dresser drawer...opps....lol

1st of all, Julie... you are RUDE. If you do not have anything supportive to say, go find another forum.

2nd of all, your child is only 2 1/2. Telling her about a paci fairy is not lying. You are helping her cope with a potentially traumatic situation. So good for you.

I personally waited until my daughter was 3 so she could better understand WHY we had to take the pacifiers away. it worked out much better than my other daughter, who was 2 when we took it away (and it was a NIGHTMARE).

I simply explained that she is a big girl now, and we need to say goodbye to the pacifiers. I told her that other baby girls needed the pacifiers so we would give them to the other baby girls. She did fine. Hardly any tears. She doesn't miss the paci at all!

Dear C.;
First and foremost, please continue to disagree with any post that equates lying and the pacifier fairy as equal. An imagination is a wonderful place that children need to visit. Our children, now 21 and 19 both had wonderful imaginations that included Santa, the tooth fairy and the Easter Bunny along with Thomas the Tank Engine and company and beautiful fairies who lived in our back yard and underneath our dining room table. Our children are successful college students, both of whom still use those vivid imaginations, whether it's interacting with young family members or a future in theater. They both love to read many different types of novels and also have a love of all types of movies from the classics of Casablanca to Harry Potter. We could all use our imaginations, which are then put into action to help get the state of this country back to something we could be proud of. If your little one is continued to allow to explore her imagination at two and a half and beyond, who knows what many great things she can create. By the way, our daughter left her nookie (pacifier) for Santa to give to another child.

Yes, it is just like the tooth fairy. You can secretly snip the tip off and then tell her "Ooo, looks like it is broken. Time to leave it under your pillow so the Pacifier fairy can pick it up. She will leave you a special prize!"

Think of a small prize that she will enjoy.. Books, plush, game, dress up high heels.. Whatever she is into..

Then take the pacifier and make sure to really throw it away where you are positive she will not come across it.

We took our daughter to Build-A-Bear workshop and had her put her pacifier in the bear. She cried when we got into the car, but we kept reassuring her that her pacifier was in the bear and we'd let her feel it. Worked like a charm, never cried for it again! At first she'd ask for it every once-in-awhile, but we didn't give in, just kept giving her her bear.

.

My daughter will be turning 3 in a month and she had had a "binky" since she was a baby. Just before she turned a year we decided that the binky should only be used for sleeping, and therefore had to stay in the crib. So it was only given to her for naps and bedtime (and really really long car rides!).

Somewhere along the way, she settled on 1 binky and that was the only one she ever would accept. For numerous reasons, it never seemed like a good time to get her to give it up - I was living at my mom's for a while, I was working overnights, we were moving, etc. - and it really helped her go to sleep without a fuss. Then finally things stabilized, and we started talking to her about the Binky Fairy. I would let her know that when she was ready, the Binky Fairy would come take her binky, because she was a big girl, and big girls don't need binkies - only little babies need binkies and the Binky Fairy would give her binky to a little baby that needed it. The Binky Fairy would leave her a wonderful big-girl present in its place. She seemed to understand, but she was not about to give it up on her own.

Problem was, the thing was getting really gross, since it was the only one she would take. And she kept wanting it at other times besides sleep-time - whenever she got upset or stressed out about anything, she would start crying and screaming for her binky (she also has a stuffed bear as her main security object, and he's not going anywhere). It was just getting ridiculous and I realized that as much as I would have loved for her to have just finally decided on her own that she was ready to give it up, it wasn't going to happen. So I got a little decorated box and one night at bedtime, I said, hey, how about we leave your binky for the Binky Fairy tonight? You can put it in this special little box and we will leave it on your windowsill! And she said, okay! She just went right along with it and went to sleep without it without any fuss at all. In the morning, there was a soccer ball and a toy drum waiting for her from the Binky Fairy (which she had wanted, she's a bit of a tomboy!) and a letter thanking her for her binky. She thought that was pretty cool. And I thought, wow, that was easier than I thought it would be.

And then the second night, it was a different story. I think reality hit and she was like, what, you mean binky doesn't come back? She flipped out - "I want my binky! Binky Fairy bring binky back! Don't want baby to have binky, is MY binky!!!"

And my heart just broke, because she had really really loved that thing, and it was like she had lost her best friend. But I stood firm, no back sliding, because otherwise the whole thing would have lost all credibility. And she settled down, and went to sleep. The third night she asked about it again, got a little whiny, but still went to sleep without any issues (it helps that we have a routine in place, including brushing teeth, stories, and cuddles).

That was 3 weeks ago. Since then, she has asked about a couple of times, wondering where did Binky go? I would remind her it was the Binky Fairy, and she would giggle and say, "Oh, yeah!" She still talks about the Binky Fairy taking her binky and sometimes says she misses Binky, and I tell her, that's okay, I know you miss Binky, but you are a big girl now and you don't need Binky. I think she's been a little worried that her teddy bear will disappear too, and I've reassurred her that he won't (if she wants to sleep with it until she goes to college, I don't care - my stepson had his bear until he turned 12!).

Of course, she may end up needing therapy when she's 30, all stemming from the loss of her Binky at the tender age of 34 months, but oh well. :)~

Just for the record, she has not taken to sucking her thumb instead - I think they know there is a difference and they are not going to just suck on anything. I can understand your concerns though - I was a thumb sucker for a long time and as a result had to go through a lot of orthodontic work to get my overbite corrected!

I've known a few parents that gathered up all the pacifiers, tied them to balloons, and let them go - so when they were gone, they were gone and that was that. Not sure about the environmental impact with that one, but it still seems kind of cute.

All little kids need to believe in magic - that's part of what makes kids so wonderful. Besides, let the Binky Fairy take the heat and be the bad guy, not you. ;)

We did the Build a Bear thing. I use to run a daycare and have seen the effects of having a paci after 18mo. So the day my daughter turned 18 mo we tall ALL paci (except her fav) and put them in walmart bag and through them away at the mall. I let her hold her favorite and we went to Build a Bear. I let her pick out her favorite (Elmo) even though she did not like Sesame Street. And I had her put it in Elmo and they only half way stuffed him. After it she said where is Paci? I said uh oh! Elmo ate it? and she could feel the paci in his belly since it was the first thing placed in there. She cried a little that night and never asked for a paci again. She would say Elmo at my Paci....

We used the "Binky Fairy" when my son was 2 (he's 3 now). We had mostly limited paci use to bed and naptimes, but he did love his binky. I had my doubts about how it would work, but it worked like a charm! We gathered all of his binkies and told him the binky fairy was coming to take them to babies who don't have any, because babies use them and big boys don't. We put them in a colorful bag and hung it on the front door when he went to bed. In the morning he couldn't wait to get downstairs and see what the binky fairy left him! In his case, it was a truck, which he loved. He asked for his binky a couple of times, but we just said, "The binky fairy took them, remember?" and he was fine with it.

Kids believe in magic and there's nothing wrong with that! We should all enjoy that magic while we can. Trying to reason with a 2 year old is a little silly. Good luck!

i've heard parents that have told their kids that other babies that have been borna nd need to have a pacifer. so they have their kids put it in an enevolope and mail to a hospital so the new babies can have one.

i told my son that i coudln't find it and soon after he just forgot about it. but he still has his blankie that he sleeps with and he is 8!!

I've heard of people going to build a bear and having them put the paci in the bear so it can be their new comfort thing instead of the paci. It seems like a good idea to me.

We told our daughter that the pacifier fairy takes pacifiers away from "big" girls and gives them to babies who need them. So she came one night, and took it but also left a note saying how she was so thankful our daughter could help the babies. Oh and she left a small gift of new playdoh (which at that time, we had not yet let our daughter have-but she really wanted it) so the pacifier was forgotten pretty quickly. I think we did it around 2.5 years as well.

She talked about it for a few days, but never really freaked out. Good luck.

We knew people who did it this way. They told their son that the Pacifier Fairy was going to come that night to take his pacifier to a baby that needed it. They had him put it under his pillow (just like the tooth fairy) and in the morning, next to his bed was a gift from the pacifier fairy (something that their son had really wanted) and a note thanking him for giving his pacifier to a new baby in need. We were going to try this with my son, but my FIL offered him a toy in exchange for a the pacifier and it worked like a charm. He had a rough day or two, but then he did great (and he was over 3 when he FINALLY got rid of it). Good luck! :)

P.S. I wanted to add that you should get rid of all of the pacifiers. We kept one "just in case" and while we never used it, there were too many times when he was whiny those first few days that had I not had back-up (my in-laws), I may have caved. If I had gotten rid of all of them, it wouldn't have been a thought in my head to give it back!

You could just throw it in the garbage and tell her the truth, the garbage man took it on garbage day. T.

We told our Son, that Santa needed it to help the other kids... he was a boy who used his pacifier ALL the time. Not just at bedtime.
ALL day.
So we told him this, got a bag, and together with him, gathered up all the pacifiers we could find in the house (we had MANY). Then we told him we'd give it to Santa. And that was that.

He was fine... and it took him about 2 days to get over it. But he never had a hard time with it, he still napped and went to bed fine. He never cried or had tantrums over it. He would ask for it once in awhile, then giggle... and we'd just say he was so great to help Santa. And praised him.
He also still had his lovey anyway.

Your girl only uses it at night. So that's not much. Its a soothing thing.
But also, her wanting to go nap... RIGHT after school... is fine. A kid does get REAL tired after school..... and at her age, they still need a nap.
So it is either not letting her nap... or not letting her have the pacifier. And like the others said... try cutting a little hole in it. That works for some.
It didn't work for my son though... he'd say "Its broken.... go to the store and get another one...." and IF we were at a store, he'd go RIGHT to the pacifier aisle, and tell me "Mommy, here it is!"

Just what we did....

all the best,
Susan

This isn't about how to get rid of the paci, but just an observation (and I don't want to sound rude or preachy at all... sometimes we just don't see things from the inside)... is your daughter maybe genuinely tired after preschool? 2 1/2 is on the younger side for preschool, and I assume it's kind of new to her since that's usually about the youngest that they start going, so maybe she's just wiped out and needs a rest time. My daughter is 20 months and also takes the paci only at bedtime, and now will request nap times at off times once in a while so she can chill out in her crib with a paci. For these times we give her a couple of books to read... you could try transitionining your daughter to a quiet time with books but without the paci and for now save the paci for only at nighttime (not naps or quiet time).

I have been brave enough not to attach it to her clothes anymore. By the time she is two, the Pacifier Fairy will be visiting our home as well. Let us know how this turns out!