Saying Bye-bye to the Paci

I remember when my son decided he didn't want his pacifier any more he just threw it out of his crib when i would try to give it to him. He was about 15months. Every child is different..you just have to be patient I suppose..when she doesn't want it anymore she'll let you know. :) Good Luck

My son loved his paci. We finally got him to give his up after he was 2 years old. One night we could not find it and I refuse to buy any more so we told him if he slept without it he could have a piece of gum. He went to sleep with no problem and as soon as he woke up he asked for the gum. It really was easier than I thought it would be considering he had it since birth. He wanted gum cause it was something he could not have before. He has two older sister who he saw chewing. The other thing I hear was that it does not affect their teeth until after 3 years of age. I have also heard about taking all his paci's and putting them in a bag. Take him to a toy store and tell him he can pick out anything he wants but must pay with his paci's. That way he will hand the bag of paci's over while recieving his toy. That was going to be my next step if the gum thing did not work. I hope this helps.

J.

It will probably take a few tears from you and her but if you put her down with out it she will find another way to soothe herself to sleep.

Hi A.. I am having the same problem with my little one. Although he is 13 months, he is hooked to it. We have taken it away from him during the day, so he only needs it a naptime and bedtime but i'm not sure what to do after that. If you get any good advise, please share. Thanks!!

My husband and I tried absolutely everything to get our daughter to give up her paci. Nothing worked. Finally one day on a whim I asked her if she would like to give her paci to the goats. She loved that idea and quickly went to sleep that night without it. The next night she asked for it and we reminded her that she had given it to the goats. She was fine with that and never asked for it again. Sometimes it's the stupid things that help. I've had a friend who had their child give it to the babies at daycare, and had a different friend who had her child use it at a store to purchase a toy. My advice is to get creative and try anything you think of, even if it seems stupid. Good luck!

If anyone gives you any good ideas please send them my way. My son will be two in March and he does exactly like your daughter. He will literally throw his down when it is time to play or eat. However, when it comes time for naps or bedtime he has to have his paci.

I know this may not be the popular advise but my son just turned 2 three weeks ago and he still takes his at nap and bedtimes and I don't really see anything wrong with it. After he's asleep he'll reach up and take it out and put it on the bed beside him. I think the more you try to push her to get rid of it the tighter she'll hold onto it. I've asked the dentist if it would hurt his teeth and he said he wouldn't worry as long as he only uses it when he sleeps.His dr said that if he's rid of it by 3 when he starts headstart(cuz they don't allow it) he should be fine. I'm sorry if i'm not helping I'm just hoping to give you a little piece of mind maybe? Good luck:)

my daughter used it at bed and naptimes until she was almost three. She was just so upset at the prospect of giving it up that I always gave in. We came home from a trip one day and I told her we'd left it at the hotel. This way there was no way for me to give in because it just wasn't in the house. She really only cried for a minute... asked a few times in the next week and then it was over. I wished I'd done it a whole lot sooner. Oh... we put holes in it, cut it down (although not all the way) and it did no good. If I had it to do over again I'd go cold turkey sooner.

well our friends little boy used to hide his binkies so his parents couldnt find them....well one day they went on a search and found them all and told the little boy that the easter bunny needed them and he believed them and didnt ask for them again......I think he thought he was doing a nice thing by giving them away.....he was 2 at the time.......my daughter is 18 month and we havent even thought about getting rid of hers........but good luck

In my experience, cold turkey really has been the best way to break children of thier "habits". Its hard at first, but you must be consistant and DON'T give in. Some other tricks I have heard about is putting something on the nipple to make it taste bad like vineger or tobasco sauce (the same works for thumbsucking). Also, try introducing a new bedtime ritual to help take her mind off of the paci. Hope any of this helps!

Well we went cold turky before- had them throw it away and then off to bed they went...
We also gradulally cut the tip off the pacy- one of our kids immediately decided that she didn't want it anymore and kept saying "chucha bro-bo" which ment pacy broken- lol.
One dd we kept cutting back and cutting back until all she has left was this nub that she couldn't even suck on! LOL after a month of having a nub we couldn't find it her Cucha and so that was the end- and she didn't care at that point. Hope that may help!

Hi A.,

I have 3 boys, 7,5 and 2 and the only one that took a paci was the 2 year old. With him I just started hiding it and he would get upset at first but after a week or so he just gave up looking and has never asked for it again. We did this at a little over a year old, I don't know if that made a difference.
Good luck!

I found that with both of my daughters letting them say good-bye on their own was the best bet for all. Faith (my 5 year old) gave hers up a 6 months. She had bronchitis, which made taking the paci difficult, and in no time, poof! it was gone. Now with Grace (3), she clung to hers just a little longer, not giving it up until she was 20 months. She asked me one morning if "big girls sucked on binkies" and I told her no they don't, she put it in the trash and moved on. Every child is different, and every child has a different reason to have and or give up their comfort items. If you feel that your child isn't going to let go very easily, and you feel that the pacifier is hindering the development of your child, then my recomendation would be cold turkey. Good luck!

My daughter is 22 months old and we got rid of the paci at around 18 months. We would hide it from her during the day and if there was a moment she got upset we tried to redirect her by playing with something or singing, etc. At nap time and bedtime if she was real upset we would give her a small sippy cup with a little water in it. At first she would get mad and through the cup out of her crib but I would wait about 10 minutes (and she was crying the whole time) then go in and give it to her and she would drink it and go to sleep. Now she still sleeps most nights with a cup but she goes right to sleep. Bedtime has become great in our household, she doesn't fuss anymore, she gives us kisses and goes right to bed without a noise.
Like I read in one of the other responses, we did find out that she had a stash of paci's all around the house that we just thought were lost! Everytime she would find one we would take it from her once she put it down and forgot about it. I was really surprised at how easy she let go of the paci, it only took us about a week or so!
Hope this helps you, every child is different!

My husband and I tried and tried to get my son to throw the paci away. We even tried to get him to give it to the chickens, but nothing worked..Finally, I got up enough nerve and took the paci away from my son (cold turkey) when he was 1 1/2 yrs. old. Yes, He cried and kept asking for it but i was consistent with it and always answered you dont need it, etc...
Well, I had my youngest son (which is now 6 mths) and my oldest saw that the baby had a paci, so why can't he? So him now being 2 yrs old, kept taking the paci away from the baby and found a few that he had lost around the house! So needless to say, my 2 yr old started sucking a paci AGAIN! We still tried everything we could think of! One day my mother in law just up and said ewwwww that paci has poopoo on it! He cried and cried but would not take the paci.. Now if you even try to give it to him he will say nooooo, poopoo on it....I know this sounds stupid..but it really worked for mine! My husband told me, here we have been trying everything and she says something stupid like that and it actually worked! haha Good Luck! I hope it all goes well!

Well I know I can tell you not to start snipping. I've heard that if little pieces of that rubber are loose they can continue to come off and the baby may choke on it. Espically if she sucks on it hard. To get rid of them, I'm not too sure. My son is almost 5 and still sucks his thumb and we have tried EVERYTHING! So we have ordered this stuff online to help. Its some bitter bland yucky stuff so hopefully that will help us. Maybe try telling her how yucky it is and make some pretty yucky faces while telling her. Good luck!

I don't want to have to re-type this, but this is my post on my local mom's board about my son giving up the pace two weeks ago! Good luck, you and your dd can do it!!
Amy H.
Woodstock, GA
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I finally did it. I cut a slit in Ryan's paci this morning. He has been a bit out of sorts and misbehaving anyway since all the crazy Christmas traveling and having Daddy home all last week, so I figured now was as good/bad of a time as any. He was being wild and emotional already today anyway, so what's a little extra crying going to hurt me?

So I showed it to him earlier and said "Sorry, it's broken." He has kind of messed with it, stuck his finger in the slit and put it in his mouth a few times so far today and seems dissappointed, but not too bad. We'll see how it goes tonight. He did ask for the other one, but it is hidden and I told him it was gone and that I didn't know where it was.

Wish us luck!

**See Update Below- YAY Ryan!!**

I am so proud of Ryan. Again, he has impressed me with his adaptation to change. There have been several BIG steps that *I* have dreaded making for fear that they were going to be so difficult. Like moving to a big bed and this paci thing. He has just let it go like it was no big deal. Both of his paci's are "broken" now so he didn't even want to take them to bed with him the last two nights and isn't sucking on them. He is SUCH a big boy!! Yay for Ryan!! Done with the paci in one day!

**And since he was so attached to HIS particular ones, he has zero intestest in Carter's because they are different.

My daughter just gave up her paci this past Christmas. She turned three in October. I wasn't too worried about her giving it up since she only used it to go to sleep. I also wanted her to be old enough to understand why it was time to let it go. I did not want to take it from her "cold turkey" because I felt like I had given it to her when she was a baby to sooth her and it did not seem right to just take it away from her. I began asking her months before Christmas if she would like to give her paci's to little babies since they need them and she was a big girl now. We finally decided that we would give them to Santa Claus since he would be able to give them to babies for her (only girl babies she decided). We had a Christmas party where we hired Santa to come and she gave him all five of her paci's. That night she slept with no problem and she has been sleeping well ever since. I feel good knowing that she made the decision that it was time on her own with no struggles. I hope this helps!

My sister did this with her little girl and it worked very well. My little one sucks her thumb so I can not do this but what she did is she talked with her 18 month about how she was a big girl and that the paci was something that she needed to say bye to. So to do that she took her to Build A Bear Workshop at the mall and she stuffed her paci inside the bear were the heart goes, along with the heart and they finished dressing the bear etc. Now my niece sleeps with the bear and she knows that the paci is inside the bear. When u ask her where her paci went, she says " Pappi Bear" (pointing to the bears heart). I know that she did talk to her about what they were going to do with the paci for like a week, she made it really fun and my niece was excitied about it when the time came to give her paci to the bear. SO maybe give her like a week to understand and know that she only has so many more days til the bear gets the paci. Then try it and see what happens.

As you can see - EVERYONE has different thoughts and there is no right way that works for everyone the same, but as for me - I was pregnant with our second child (my two are 16 1/2 months apart) and when my son was a few months away from turning two we made it seem like once he was two he would be a "BIG BOY" as well as a "BIG BROTHER" - (which he ALREADY was) and wouldn't need his binky anymore. He was really excited about turning two and having a party and throwing away his "baby binky" that we slowly started weening him a couple of weeks prior and on his "BIG" day he threw them away and was sooo excited because we had a party for him and everyone was soooo proud of him. I was acutally AMAZED that it worked, but again NOT all kids think the same way. I've also heard of the "binky fairy" which someone else commented about. An actress that played Jane on Melrose Place said she made a tissue box all decorated for the binky fairy and her child put the binky in the box and the next day there was money in the box - which I thought was a wonderful idea as well, but my second child never got into the binky or her fingers - Thank God - so I never got to try that idea out on her. Bottom line . . . good luck and it will happen for you - just be happy it isn't sucking fingers - you can't throw them away - lol.

I used the "snipping off" method, as recommended by our pediatrician. It worked in two days. Of course, it worked by making her really, really mad! The first little snip caused her to lose suction, and after trying to suck and failing, she took it out and threw it across the room. I did it to all of the pacifiers, and she went through them all. She eventually just let it go. We did the same thing the next day, and she just gave up. I know she didn't understand what I did. It seemed like she just decided, "Well, that doesn't work." It was great!

I hate to admit it but I never worried about when they put the "binky's" down...I have two children and both took "binky's" they loved them...I took it as they are a sense of security and I would much rather have them sucking "binky's" instead of their thumbs! They eventually just forgot about them! Granted it was around 2yrs old but they jsut said to me one day "mama, I am to old for this" and handed it over to me! I personally don't see what the "time limit" that is put on this is all about...
just my two cents
J.

I have a 26 month old girl and she gave up her "binky" on her own really. She developed a rash on her face around her mouth, very minor, but we told her the binky was causing it and she said okay and left it behind. She did ask for it at bedtime and woke up crying for it a few times. I gently reminded her why she didn't have it and she sleepily agreed again. I did stay near her that night. she would and still asks about it when she sees another child with one. the girl we keep is a year older and still uses a passy. this I thought would make it very difficult, but so far it has gone fine! we have removed all binkies from our home and we constantly tell her what a big girl she is, she also just became fully potty trained. Just go about it gently and at her own pace. Tell her why she should give it up. Children have an amazing ability to reason and understand, sometimes we overlook that. and don't stress, she'll sense that and it will make it much harder to let go!

OK, the respondes that I read were great. I just stopped giving my daughter her paci once she was about 9 months old. But I have heard of some that have done the Paci Fairy. I think that I saw it on Supernanny(one of those bad kids shows). And I thought that it was a good idea. It may not be as hard as you think. Good Luck!

I actually asked this same question back in August! What worked for us was cutting off the tip of the paci. My son looked at it, spit it out and then brought it up to me and said it was broken! I told him that I couldn't fix it and that he needed to throw it away. One by one he threw each of his 20+ pacis away (I cut them all at the same time so I couldn't give in). My son also HAD to have his paci when going to sleep, so I was shocked when he went to sleep FINE that very first night. I think it was so easy for us b/c my son was the one to get rid of them, I just helped :o)If you want to do it, make sure you give your daughter plenty of time to get over it b/4 #2 gets here! My son now knows that pacis are for babies, and he's a big boy! Good luck!!

I tried this and it worked great for my daughter. Cut the tip of the passy and give it to her. she wont like that way it feels and will not want it any more then take all passys and throw them away and of course they will be days that she will cry for passys but stay strong b/c once u give in u have to start all over

I also have a 19 month old little girl. She would never take a pacifier, so i cannot relate to you where this is concearned. She's a thumb sucker!! But anyways...i think you said it right, cold turkey is probably the way you need to go. It's not going to be easy by ANY means, but..she doesn't need the pacifier, it's a comfort thing for her, and more so for you. Maybe get her involved in the process. Explain to her (even though she's still pretty young) that she's a big girl now and she doesn't need it. Encourage her to throw it away. Maybe reward her with something else, a new doll, bear or blanket. And get rid of ALL of them! throw them away!! Then you just wait. it might take a week or so before she will go to sleep without one, but she will make it through it and you will too!

My son has never liked a pacifier, but my mom is a nurse and when my brother was little she had him help her gather all his pacifiers and bottles up into a bag, then they took them to the hospital and looked at the babies in the nursery, she told him he needed to give the paci's to the little babies, who needed them more than him, because he was a big boy! That was the end of Paci's for him!

When my husband went through the same thing with his two boys he decided to try snipping the end off...he just cut the part off that points upward so when they tried to suck on it it was really difficult to keep it in their mouths! Dresden his oldest gave up after just one afternoon and threw it away himself! Kaleb had a harder time and it took about 3 days for him to give up hope. We will do it again with our 9 m/o when the time comes. Good Luck! K.

www.workathomeunited.com/KirstenE

My daughter got rid of her paci by giving them to the paci fairy. She left them outside in a bag for the paci fairy and when she went out to get the bag the next morning the paci fairy had left her a big sister Dora. She never had one after that night.